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Beeston St John the Baptist

War Memorial

The War Memorial panels

Principal War Memorial

The 1914 War Memorial is on the north side, recording all the names on five bronze tablets which are fixed in the organ arch near the chancel. Those who died in the 1939-45 War, the Falklands War and Gulf War are recorded in a book supplied by the British Legion and kept in a display cabinet supplied by Broxtowe Council. A British Legion standard has been laid up in the church and hangs by the memorial altar.

Setting up the War Memorial

After the First World War, these bronze memorial plaques were installed here, recording the names of all the local men who died in the War ‘without any distinction’. Articles from the Beeston and West Nottinghamshire Gazette 1919-21 detail how the money for this memorial was raised:

12 July 1919

Church War Memorial

In connection with the proposal to erect five bronze tablets to commemorate within the walls of Beeston Parish Church the names of local heroes without distinction of creed subscriptions are coming in well. Already £269 14s 6d has been received and a further £12 1s 6d promised. The work is now in hand and the cost of the memorial is expected to be between £500-600. Tablets are to be erected in the organ arch close to the chancel so that they will be in view of the whole congregation.

17 July 1920

Church War Memorial: the bronze tablets cost £450, the total nearly £650. The cost is more than expected, especially to enamel the names. A large number of names and ranks were incorporated. It was hoped the money will be raised.

19 March 1921

The memorial screen at the Beeston Parish Church on which is inscribed all the names (as far as can be ascertained) of Beeston men who sacrificed their lives in the Great War will be dedicated and unveiled on Sunday afternoon 3 April by the Venerable Archdeacon of Nottingham and the Colonel Dennis R Bayley respectively. Readers are asked to note that the screen is not yet paid for and the Committee are anxious that the dedication will take place with the memorial being free from debt. Mr A Nicholson of Grove Street will be pleased to receive subscriptions.

2 April 1921

The unveiling takes place at 3.00pm tomorrow. Considerable sums are still required to defray the cost of the memorial and it is hoped that with the offerings on Sunday afternoon a memorial will be unveiled which is free from debt.

9 April 1921

War Memorial unveiled in Beeston Parish Church

‘And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels’ is the inscription on the War Memorial unveiled and dedicated at Beeston Parish Church on Sunday afternoon. The church was packed with representatives from Beeston Council, Nottinghamshire County Council, political organisations, St John Ambulance Brigade, Girl Guides and all religious denominations. The service opened with singing ‘Through the night of doubt and sorrow’ followed by the 27th Psalm ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom then shall I fear’. The lesson was read by Rev LAW Graves MA. The ceremony of unveiling the memorial was performed by Col Sir H Dennis Bayley KBE, DL who released the Union Jack while repeating the words ‘To the Glory of God and in grateful memory of those who gave their lives for King and Country and the Righteous Cause of Freedom’.

The Ven Archdeacon of Nottingham dedicated the memorial saying ‘In the faith of Jesus Christ we dedicate this memorial to the Glory of God and in memory of those who gave their lives in the Great War for their country and in the sure and certain hope of the Resurrection from the dead and in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.’

The Archdeacon preached the sermon taking for his text ‘For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.’ (1 Thess 4.14).

Inscriptions on the War Memorial

The panels are engraved as follows:

First Panel

Second Panel

Third Panel

Fourth Panel

Fifth Panel

Other War Memorials in the Church

Also dedicated to people who lost their lives in war are: The Sunday School Teachers’ Memorial, the Fox Plaque, the Spendlove Memorial, the Walton Memorial, the Howard Charlton Brown window.

Crimean War Memorial in the Churchyard

In the churchyard there is an stone obelisk to those who died in the Crimean War. The wording reads:

The Crimean Memorial

The Crimean Memorial (north and west faces)