Ewhurst History Society

« October 1914

November 1914

Belgian refugees

More refugees from Belgium arrived in the village. The Parish Magazine reported that “Three houses are now full, a party of 6 having arrived at Oxmead on November 23rd. They are artisans from Antwerp and have lost everything they possessed.  A special village fund has been started to provide them with warm clothing and a little tobacco. ‘Leave your change’ boxes have been placed in different shops in the village and it is hoped they will soon be full.”

On the 30th November the headmaster at the village school recorded admitting two more refugee children - Joseph and Alphonse Verlinder.

The First Battle of Ypres

Abroad, Ewhurst suffered two more casualties in the First Battle of Ypres. On the 2nd November Rifleman Charles George Barnett of the 1st Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps was reported Killed in Action on the Menin Road, near Ypres; and Private Timothy Benjamin Woodley of the 2nd Bn Border Regiment, Died of Wounds, at hospital at Wimereux, France on the 29th November.

Of the 72 names on the list pinned to the church door, three had now fallen in the first four months of the war.

 




December 1914