military hospital at Netley, Southampton.
However, the treatment was unsuccessful
and Francis died on 20th November
1915. His body was brought home for
burial in the local village churchyard of
St. Mary’s – his grave marked today by a
Commonwealth War Graves headstone.
Former agricultural worker,
Walter Fitchett
,
originally volunteered for service with the
OBLI but was later transferred to the 10th
Bn. Gloucestershire Regiment. He landed in
France with his unit on 9th August 1915. In
July 1916, during the Battle of the Somme,
Walter was attached to the 8th Royal
Berkshire Regiment when it took part in
an offensive operation at Bazentin Ridge.
It was there that he was killed in action.
His body was never identified and he has
no known grave. Today Walter’s name is
remembered on the Thiepval Memorial to
the missing of the Somme.
Originally from Aston, former agricultural
worker
Arthur Johnson
, moved with his
family to Black Bourton around 1908. He
joined the army and by the spring of 1917
was serving in France with the 5th Bn.
OBLI. He was killed in action on 9th April
1917 – the first day of the Battle of Arras.
Originally buried on the battlefield, Arthur’s
grave was later moved to the Tilloy British
Cemetery, a large purpose built cemetery in
the Pas-de-Calais.
The village’s final fatality from the Great
War was former farm carter,
Thomas
Johnson
. The son of Thomas (senior) and
his wife Esther, Thomas joined the army in
early 1917, following his marriage to Violet
Burrows, and served with the 3rd Bn.
Coldstream Guards. He was killed in action
in Flanders in the Ypres salient on 13th April
1918. He has no known grave and is today
remembered on the Ploegsteert Memorial
to the missing of that sector.
In front of the original memorial there
stands a stone flower holder, also made
from Cornish granite, upon which one name
is commemorated – that of the village’s only
casualty from World War Two:
Wilfred John Edgington
was born in Black
Bourton in 1920, but by 1939 he was living
in London. Initially joining the Middlesex
Regiment, by the summer of 1944 he was
serving with the 1st Bn., Worcestershire
Regiment in France. On 27th August 1944,
following the crossing of the River Seine,
Wilfred and another man, Private Ronald
Cherry, both of 7 Platoon, “A” Company,
were working as a two-man Bren gun team.
As the pair advanced along a road they
were confronted by a German Tiger tank
and a number of infantry soldiers in support.
Before they could react there was a burst of
fire and both men were hit. Wilfred was shot
twice in the chest and killed instantly with
one of the bullets passing straight through
him before wounding Cherry, who was later
taken prisoner.
Today Wilfred’s grave can be found in the
Vernon (Vernonnet) Communal Cemetery
near Vernon, France.
If you have any further information
concerning this or any of the other war
memorials mentioned in the Crier which
you would like to share with Jeff, he can be
contacted at:
Copies of Jeff’s books,
Remembered,
the Men on the War Memorials of Witney,
Crawley and Hailey Vols 1 & 2 are available
from Waterstones in Witney and Blackwell’s
in Oxford.
The churchyard of St. Mary’s also contains a number of other
Commonwealth War Graves, the majority from the Second World War.
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