On this day, the hundredth anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War, it seems appropriate to remember those in our village who died in service. I’m grateful to John Beynon’s exhaustive account in ‘That Their Names Shall Live’ for the following details.
The loss of 17 men in a village the size of Haslingfield would impact upon most households, but it is a story repeated across the United Kingdom. I’ve just stayed at Edgefield, in North Norfolk, which was no more than a handful of cottages in 1914, and even there five men were lost in the war. In Haslingfield two Barnards (Elias and Josiah), Jennings (Alick and Harry) and Newlings (Ted and William) were all killed in action. Two others were lost at sea – George Coveney in an accidental explosion in Sheerness and Albert Flack at the battle of Jutland. A number died in major battles – Frederick Goode, Harry Jennings and Arthur Pagram at the Somme, Frederick Charles and Alick Jennings at Arras, and Ernest Mills at Passchendaele.
Only William Daintry is buried in Haslingfield. William Douglas was buried in Belgium, and William Hoy in northern France. Tragically, the remaining fourteen have no known graves.