Five more men who lost their lives in 1917 from St Michael's WW1 Roll of Honour were remembered earlier this year

During the Holy Communion Service at 9.30 am on Sunday 2nd April 2017, we specifically remembered another of the 33 men listed on the carved memorial in St Michael’s Church, Elmwood Road. These men lost their lives in a week between the 29th March and 26th April 1917 . The men were:



Ernest Richard Arundell, Australian Imperial Force, died of wounds, 29th March 1917, Aveluy Cemetery Extension*, France


Corporal Charles Richard Larner, 9th Battalion King’s Royal Rifle Corps, killed in action, 9th April 1917, Tilloy British Cemetery*, near Arras, France.

Rodney James Mansfield Bowdidge, 10th Battalion Royal Fusiliers, killed in action 10th April 1917 during the Battle of Arras and commemorated on the Arras Memorial*, France

Robert Dudley (Bob) Gidley, Section Sanitaire Ecossaise 20 attached to the French Red Cross, killed 26th April 1917 driving an ambulance,  Suippes French National Cemetery*, France. Awarded French Croix de Guerre as a mark of his devotion to duty.

On 16th July, we also remembered Lance Corporal Howell Whitehead Williams, 10th Battalion Dukes of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment) who died of heat stoke in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) on 17th July 1917, Basra War Cemetery, Part II M-Z*.

Note: * indicates place of Burial or Memorial