Oldfield Park Junior School (Bath) WW1 Memorial Project
Bath YMCA Scouts WW1 Memorial
This memorial is currently missing, having originally been installed in the hall of the YMCA in Broad Street in 1920. There was also a separate YMCA memorial which was installed in the same hall in November of the same year. Enquiries at the YMCA reveal that no-one knows what has happened to either memorial.
We know what the memorial looked like from a contemporary newspaper photograph:
Fortunately, the names of those commemorated are known and are included in this contemporary newspaper report:
From Bath Weekly Chronicle & Gazette, 18th September 1920:
FALLEN SCOUTS
Memorial Unveiled at Bath Y.M.C.A.
A PATROL THAT HAS GONE ON AHEAD.
Memories of their late comrades, who fell in the war, still
linger with present members of the 1st North Somerset (Y.M.C.A.) Troop of B.P.
Scouts. To keep such memories green, a handsome perpetual reminder has been
erected in the sports hall of the Bath Y.M.C.A., in Broad Street, and this was
unveiled on Sunday afternoon by Mr. W. G. Vowles and dedicated by the Rev. H. F.
Napier, Rector of Bathwick. It is made of old British oak, the memorial board
being canopied with a moulding of chaste design sustained by massive turned
pillars. On the board is inscribed the names of the fallen, against each being
carved the badge of the regiment to which the deceased comrade belonged. In addition
to the names are also a couple of lines from Rupert Brooke's well-known poem:
"If I should die, think only this of me, that there's some corner of a
foreign field that is for ever England." The tablet was subscribed for by
past and present members of the troop.
Among those present were Brigadier-General Molesworth
(Commissioner), Mr. G. E. A. Skinner (City Secretary), Mr. A. Pryor (County
Secretary), Mr. W. N. Foster (Y.M.C.A. General Secretary), Scoutmaster A. E.
Meyer, Hon. Scoutmaster G. W. Hinton, Assistant Scoutmaster H. Sleigh, Mr. F.
R. Bruce, and many of the parents and relatives of the fallen lads, who brought
some beautiful floral tributes.
After the Rev. H. F. Napier had recited the Lord's Prayer,
and read the passage from Ecclesiasticus 45 ch., 1-15 v., beginning with the
words "Let us now praise famous men," Mr. F. R. Bruce read the poem
of Rupert Brooke "The Soldier," and that of Laurence Binyon, “To the fallen."
Mr. W. G. Vowles (first Scoutmaster of the Troop and
President of the North Somerset Veterans, a member of the Scout Council for the
Transvaal), gave a short address. He said they had gathered to establish a
memorial to the honour of their comrades who had fallen in the Great War. Their
names conjured up a host happy memories of past days. They went out with their
duty absolutely clear before them, and with the consciousness that in the end
the right would win. He liked to think them as a patrol who had gone on ahead,
and as those whose memories and splendid sacrifices would always an
inspiration.
To the roll of drums and the sounding of the "Last Post"
the Troop standing at the salute, the memorial was then unveiled, and Hon.
Scoutmaster Hinton proceeded to read the names of those inscribed on the tablet
as follows:
Charles Ashmore : A Scout in the Wolf Patrol, who served as
a private in the 1/4th Battalion the Somerset Light Infantry, and was killed in
action in Mesopotamia in April, 1916.
Cyril Brampton: A Scout in the Curlew Patrol, who served as
private in the Lancashire Fusiliers and died of wounds in France in November,
1917.
John Fox: Who was successively a Scout in the Otter Patrol,
Leader of the Fox Patrol, Assistant Scoutmaster in the Troop, and a member the
North Somerset Veterans. He obtained a commission the Royal Air Force and was
killed in a collision while flying in December 1918, having sacrificed his
leave in favour of a brother officer.
Bert Govan: A Scout in the Wolf Patrol, who served as a
signaller in the Gloucester Regiment, from 1914 till died in September 1916, of
wounds received while in action with the Battalion of his regiment at Ovillers.
Denis Inman: A patrol leader in the Troop at the time of its
formation and an original member of the North Somerset Veterans. He received a
commission in the Corps of Royal Engineers at the outbreak of war, and was
killed in action in France in 1915.
Maurice Perrett: A Scout and afterwards Leader of the Wolf
Patrol and a member of the North Somerset Veterans. He served in France with
the 3rd Battalion of the Coldstream Guards and was reported missing after the
fighting round Merville from April 9th-15th 1918, when
his regiment was surrounded by the enemy and practically wiped out.
Herbert Saxty:
A Scout in the Woodpigeon Patrol, who joined
the Army in 1914 and served in France as a private in the
8th Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry till the Battle of
Loos on September
28th, 1915, after which he was reported missing and since officially
presumed
killed.
Bert Williams: A Scout in the Wolf Patrol, who served as a private in the 1/4th Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry and was killed in action on the Somme in September, 1916.
The prayer of dedication having been offered by the Rector of Bathwick and the blessing asked, "The Reveille" was sounded by the bugler, and a short but impressive service was concluded.