I recently went to see the installation ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’ at the Tower of London, which will see 888,246 ceramic poppies planted in the Tower’s moat, each poppy representing a British military fatality during the war. It really is an impressive and moving sight. Fortunately both my grandfathers who served in the First World War came home again, but as I looked over the sea of poppies I thought about how many of them represented people from our own area who did not.
As a decision was taken that the fallen would not be brought back to this country, but buried with their comrades near where they fell, it became an imperative for communities to have a memorial locally to record their loss. The War Memorial at Shepperton records the names of 53 men from the village who died in WW1. Built with funds raised from the local population, it was unveiled on 27th March 1921.
One of those commemorated was Lieutenant Hugh Vivien Wadham, son of Hugh and Mabel Wadham of Thamesfield, Russell Road, Shepperton (nearby Wadham Close is named after the family). One of the first to join the Royal Flying Corps when it was formed in 1912, Lt. Wadham flew to France with 3 Squadron R.F.C. on 12th August 1914, only 8 days after war was declared.
Whilst flying a reconnaissance mission on 22nd August, he and another pilot spotted the German First Army attempting to outflank the British Expeditionary force near Mons, enabling the commander, Sir John French, to withdraw his force in good order and so avoid a disastrous defeat. Lt. Wadham was Mentioned in Dispatches for this action. Pilots suffered a higher casualty rate than even the soldiers in the trenches, and sadly Hugh Wadham was killed in January 1916. He lies in the Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Cemetery near Ypres.
‘Sunbury and Shepperton in World War One’ is the latest publication by the Sunbury and Shepperton Local History Society. It costs £7 and is available from Squire’s Garden Centre and other outlets.
The next Society talk is ‘World War One- Myth and Reality’ and takes place at 8pm on Tues 18th November at Halliford School, Russell Road Shepperton. The speaker is the headmaster, Phillip Cottam. All welcome, admission £2 for non-members.