Page 2 St Mary’s Church


In keeping with the World War One theme of this Newsletter, I thought it would be appropriate to mention the significant part played by the Chaplaincy Services during the War.


The Revd John Holliman has kindly contributed the following:


“In August 1914 there were 120 serving Army chaplains: by 11th November 1918 there were more than 3500 from all the main Christian denominations (plus some 16 from the Jewish community), and during the period of the war, almost 400 had been killed. Typically a WW1 chaplain saw his role as praying with and for his men and holding services wherever possible.


In time of battle and in the aftermath,


chaplains ministered to the wounded and dying - often under fire and in the midst of no-man’s land – and later conducted burials. The chaplains were officially recognised as non-combatants and therefore did not carry a weapon of any kind. Much of their work with the wounded and the dying was gruesome and highly dangerous:


so much so


that in the course of the War, three were awarded the Victo- ria Cross, and Church of England Chaplains alone amassed 37 DSOs and 205 MCs and bars. There was of course no RAF until 1918, but it should also be remembered that there were a large number of Royal Navy Chaplains who served during this war


There were many characters and many brave men. Best known nationally was the Reverend GA Studdert Kennedy (nick-named Woodbine Willy for his habit of handing out a particular brand of cigarette). He wrote several books and many "rough rhymes", and after the war he worked tirelessly for the demobbed and unemployed ex-soldiers. However, the most decorated non-combatant of the war was the Reverend Theodore Bailey Hardy - the Vicar of Hutton Roof in Westmorland. He volunteered as a chaplain from the start of the war, but poor health meant that he could not be considered for active Service. However he persisted and by mid 1916, as the need for chaplains was so critical, he was permitted to join up at the age of 54. In the course of eleven months he was awarded the VC, DSO and MC. He was wounded on the11th October 1918, during a different battle, and died a week later, two days before his 55th birth- day, and barely three weeks before Armistice Day.”


Nearer to home, the need for Chaplaincy support at the Front was such that many Benefices were without Rectors for much of the war. At St Mary’s the Village was more fortunate because it would seem that we had a permanent Rector, the Revd William Neville, throughout the war years. The East Knoylians who fell during the War are commemorated on a plaque beside the British Legion Standards in the side Chapel.


Briony Hamilton WW1 RBL Supplement


Inside this issue you will find a 12 page supplement written in association with the Royal British Legion researching the men who fought in WW1 and the effect that the war had on our community. It has been a great pleasure for me to write this article and I have had a fascinating insight to the lives of villagers at the time. Many thanks to the Royal British Legion East Knoyle Branch for their kind sponsorship of this supplement.


I would like to thank Joan Claydon for loaning me some of Tony’s pictures and books which have been invaluable and I’m sure Tony would have loved this project and written it far better than I. Also to Jan Oliver, the OPC for East Knoyle (www.wiltshire- opc.org.uk) and anyone wanting to know more about the History of East Knoyle this is a great place to start..


I hope you find it interesting. Dawn Small


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