By early 1919 a War Memorial Committee had been set up for the borough and it was initially hoped to enlarge the Phillips Memorial Grounds in
remembrance of the men who had fallen. However, the Rev. M. J. Simmonds had declined to sell the necessary land[1].
Unfortunately, by October that year the town seemed to have reached an impasse as various schemes had been put forward at a public meeting
but there were found to be "too many critics and too few friends", so the committee were both unwilling and unable to do more. Godalming
was said to be not the only town in the land to encounter such difficulties[2].
Shortly afterwards a second attempt was made to devise a war memorial scheme as the first plans had not been approved and the original
committee had been dissolved. Four suggestions were put forward including purchasing and improving 35 acres of the Lammas Land, with an outlay
of £2,400 for the land alone. Rev. G. C. Fanshawe, then vicar of Godalming, said the church intended to erect a handsome cross, that
would cost £860[3].
In very early January 1920 Godalming Town Council's General Purposes Committee received a letter from Rev. Fanshawe, formally proposing
provision of a memorial and asking for their permission to erect it. There would be a cross on the north side of the churchyard,
overlooking the municipal gardens. The intitial design was to include an approach to the gardens below, but the steps proposed were rejected[4].
By July 2021 the first part of the scheme had been completed as a tablet had been placed on the south interior wall of SS. Peter & Paul Church.
It was made of cast lead and bore the names of all the Godalming men who had fallen in the First World War. No names would appear on the memorial
cross in the churchyard[5].
This view of the memorial from the churchyard looks out across the valley and the Phillips Memorial Ground to Frith Hill.
The years 1914 and 1918 are engraved on the base of the cross, just above the plinth.
Today the years 1939 and 1945 are also on the plinth below.
Both sets of dates are also engraved on the side facing Phillips Memorial.
The War Memorial was unveiled on Sunday, 25 September 1921[6]. The church bells were rung half-muffled
for half an hour before the ceremony began. A procession formed in Bridge Street and the band, the Godalming Territorials and the fire brigade (who
joined at Queen Street), met the police and the Mayor and Corporation at the Old Town Hall (known as the Pepperpot today). The clergy and choir
formed their own procession. Clergy from other denominations in the district, the headmaster of Charterhouse School and various companies of Scouts
and Guides, Wolf Cubs and Brownies, including those from SS. Peter and Paul also took part. Hundreds, and possibly well over a thousand,
people attended the unveiling and during the service the cross had been covered with a Union Jack. Afterwards many of the relatives of the
fallen laid wreaths and posies of cottage garden flowers around the base.
The memorial, dedicated to the 105 men who fell in the war, is a cross of Doulton stone, 15 feet high. It stands on a base of Bargate
stone that measures 8 feet by 6 feet. Apart from the dates 1914-1918 there was no other inscription. It had been designed by A. R. B. Powys, A.R.I.B.A.,
of the firm of Balfour and Turner architects, who were connected to H. Thackery Turner. Below the cross is rising ground with two steps and a paved recess,
where two oak seats were to be provided at a later date. J. W. Humphries of Godalming had erected the memorial[7].
The final total was about £400, including the tablet in the church. This was considerably less than those first predictions.
Despite searches, no information has come to light to explain
why there is a the field gun outside the hut in the image at the top of the page, taken in 1922.
This view would have been taken a few years after the unveiling, and was a place for quiet reflection.
It is quite possible that because of the spelling error very few copies of this card came into the public domain.
Two women are sitting on one of the benches below the memorial and a man is gardening in the flower bed on their left.
And two men are sitting beside the bowling green, possibly hoping to watch a game.
Two yew trees had been planted, one on each side of the memorial. They are now considerably larger!
Names added to the memorial wall.
In 1992, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Second World War (1939-45), the names of the fallen from that war were added to the wall
below the memorial by Godalming Town Council[8]. This was a very tasteful addition,
with the inscribed names on the black marble picked out in gold leaf. As the maths doesn't quite add up, it is assumed that the plans
for this were drawn up in 1989 and the plaques were installed in 1992.
The first group of photographs, the Second World War casulaties, were taken in 2010.
The full caption reads:
IN MEMORY OF THE PEOPLE OF THIS TOWN WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE WAR 1939 - 1945
(109 names in total).
The names on the right hand side of the plaque, which would not quite fit on the long photograph, above.
The names include Wing Commander Henry de C A Woodhouse. He was a pilot of Bomber Command, who was lost over the sea during
a night Diver patrol after shooting down a V-1 flying bomb in 1944.
There had been an earlier plaque, of Doulting stone, that was let into the centre of the wall of the recess before the unveiling ceremony.
This second plaque was added in 1992, and was of the same black marble. The words on it were the same as those on the original stone.
However, this plaque was removed when the additional names were added to the memorial wall in 2018 (see the photograph immediately below).
The 1914-18 casualties, added in 2018.
On Remembrance Sunday 2018 Godalming's Town Council held a service to rededicate the memorial, having added four
additional plaques on the wall with names of the fallen from the First World War. At the same time they added the lovely, tranquil
Nightingale Memorial Garden to the Cemetery on Deanery Road (scroll down to the
bottom of that page). The Town Council and Museum had found more names of people from Godalming and District who had died. It
was also funded by public subscription and the Peter Caudle Memorial Trust.
The metal letters that form the names seem to have been pressed into holes in the stone as, where some of them have unfortunately
come off the wall, there are holes and the shape of each letter underneath.
The memorial, with the recent additions, autumn 2024.
There is a similar photo, also showing the memorial as it looks today, on the
Godalming, Surrey (about) page. You will need to scroll down the page.
In this image from near the River Wey, the war memorial seems to be slowly disappearing into the surrounding yew trees!
Related pages
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Church from River
