Welcome to My Methodist History where you can enjoy sharing photos, memories or research about anything to do with the Methodist Church since the various strands joined together in 1932.
Four Oaks, Wesleyan Methodist Chapel is a stone built structure situated in a prominent position on rising ground at the junction of Four Oaks Road and Lichfield Road. In 1940 the chapel seated 340 and there was schoolroom and eight other rooms. A modern extension has been added at the back of the building. The section visible from the road has been built in masonry to blend in with the older building but the opposite end has a very modern appearance. Sources Methodist Church Buildings: Statistical returns including seating accommodation as at July 1st 1940, No173 25 inch OS for Warwickshire sheet IV 11, 1901-2. 1913-4. Site visit 7.8.2019
The correct wording on the Memorial Plaque reads:
THIS ORGAN IS ERECTED TO THE GLORY OF GOD, AND IN EVER GRATEFUL MEMORY OF THOSE WHOSE NAMES ARE RECORDED BELOW, WHO VALIANTLY GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918
Bishop, Albert E Bishop, George Burgess, Horace R Burgess, John E Goodman, Harold Goodsell, H Allen Goodsell, Sydney J Link, Horace B Parsons, Percy W Taunt, Arthur F Taunt, Herbert J Wiles, Frank
GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS.
(1) Lance Corporal ALBERT EDWARD BISHOP served with 3rd Dragoon Guards (Prince of Wales Own) and died aged 18 on 6 July 1916, having married earlier that year. He is buried at Corbie Communal Cemetery France and had lived in High Street Tenterden.
(2) Sergeant GEORGE BISHOP served with 1st Battalion Buffs (East Kent Regiment) and died aged 32 on 2 October 1917, having married the previous year. He is buried at Loos British Cemetery France and had lived at Six Fields, Tenterden.
(3) Private JOHN ERNEST BURGESS served with 1st/5th Buffs (Royal West Kent Regiment). He was younger brother of Horace and died unmarried aged 20 at Gallipoli on 21 August 1915. His name is recorded on the Helles Memorial. He had lived at Pickhill Smallhythe Road Tenterden.
(4) Lance Corporal HORACE RICHARD BURGESS, elder brother of John, served with 1st Battalion Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry and died aged 24 on 19 August 1917 in the Isle of Wight having married earlier that year and shortly after the birth of a daughter. He is buried in St. Mary The Virgin Churchyard at Brading in the Isle of Wight but had been resident in Tenterden.
(5) Lance Sergeant HAROLD JAMES GOODMAN served with 15th Battalion Durham Light Infantry and died aged 26 on 10 April 1917, having married in Norwich 3 years earlier. He is buried in Cojeul British Cemetery, St. Martin-sur-Cojeul in France. He had a 17 months old daughter and his parents had lived in Gas Lane Tenterden.
(6) Private HENRY ALLAN GOODSELL served with the Machine Gun Corps and died unmarried aged 20 on 9 November 1918 two days before the Armistice. He is buried at Terlincthun British Cemetery in France. He lived in Fosten Green Biddenden and is named also on the War Memorial there. His brother Sidney John had also been killed during the Great War.
(7) Lance Corporal SIDNEY JOHN GOODSELL, brother of Henry Allan, served with the Machine Gun Corps and died unmarried aged 20 on 7 June 1917. He has no known grave but is commemorated also on both the Menin Gate Memorial in Belgium and the Biddenden War Memorial, having lived at Fosten Green Biddenden.
(8) Private HORACE BURT LINK served with 6th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment and died aged 32 on 4 October 1917, a month before his 33rd birthday. He had a boy and a girl born in 1907 and 1909. He is buried in Tyne Cott Cemetery Zonnebeke in Belgium. He was born in Bethersden but lived at Silver Hill Tenterden.
(9) Private PERCY WILLIAM PARSONS served with 14th Battalion Australian Imperial Force and was wounded in action by shrapnel in France on 28 August 1916 resulting in amputation of the right leg. He was discharged to Australia where he died of pneumonia aged 28 on 15 November 1918 in Melbourne. He had lived in Rolvenden but his mother lived with her sister at High Street Tenterden
(10) Private ARTHUR FRANK TAUNT, brother of Herbert James Taunt, served with 14th King’s Hussars and died unmarried aged 27 on 26 October 1914. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial Ypres, having lived at Station Road Tenterden.
(11) Private HERBERT JAMES TAUNT served with the Queen’s Own West Kent Yeomanry and died unmarried aged 20 on 31 August 1916. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France having lived at Station Road Tenterden.
(12) Sapper FRANK WILES served with the Canadian 1st Army Troops Company and died unmarried aged 34 on 19 March 1919 and is buried at Seaford Cemetery. His name is recorded on the Virtual War Memorial Index Canada and the Book of Remembrance in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower Ottawa. He was born in Tenterden and lived in Butchers Lane.
Horace R Burgess should be added as one of the fallen named on the Plaque.
Details of the twelve who gave their lives have now been traced noted above.
I have arranged for a Rededication Service at 3pm on Wednesday 13th November 2019 along the lines of the Original Dedication with the organist of Canterbury Cathedral to play.
