The Crawley War Memorial
The Hailey War Memorial
The response from the public to an appeal in the local
press in 2010 allowed Jeff to begin to include more
personal details for some of the men as relatives
came forward with letters, diaries, photographs
and associated ephemera. However, by this stage
it had become clear that the task in hand was quite
huge and with the 2014 commemorations looming
Jeff took the decision to split his research and
concentrate primarily on producing his first book
‘Remembered, The Men on the War Memorials of
Witney, Crawley and Hailey Volume 1: 1914-1919.’
In this first publication Jeff explores the context in
which the three War Memorials came into being,
the great debate that raged within the town as to
how best to remember the town’s fallen heroes - a
debate which was echoed in neighbouring villages.
He tells of the disappointment of the failed attempt
to raise sufficient funds for a cottage hospital in the
locality - to be built in memory of the war dead and
of the services of dedication which took place at the
three sites in 1920 when the memorials were unveiled.
The work is concluded by the inclusion of individual
biographies of each of the men recorded upon
the memorials from the First World War: 142 from
Witney, 12 from Hailey and 6 from Crawley.
Following the successful release in May 2013,
of ‘Remembered Volume 1’ Jeff was able to
concentrate on writing his second book which
deals with the war dead of World War Two and
the subsequent campaign, after the war’s end, to
suitably remember the local heroes from that conflict.
As in the earlier publication the second volume of
‘Remembered’ which covers the period of the Second
World War, 1939-1945, includes biographies of each
of the men recorded on the three memorials who
died during that later conflict: 33 from Witney, 1 from
Hailey and 1 from Crawley.
Pleased with the success of both his books Jeff
says he is keen to continue writing and researching
although, he told Michelle with a smile, “My next
project is still a closely guarded secret.”
Jeff, a civil servant working within the Ministry of
Justice, lives in Carterton with his wife and children.
‘Remembered, The Men on the War Memorials of
Witney, Crawley and Hailey Volume 1: 1914-1919’ and
‘Remembered, The Men on the War Memorials of
Witney, Crawley and Hailey Volume 2: 1939-1945’
(both published by Wendy House Books Ltd.) are
available locally from Waterstones and Church
Green Books and in Oxford at Blackwell’s bookshop,
Broad Street.
44
