War Memorial At St Peter'S Church

War Memorial at St Peter's Church

This war memorial cross with Calvary was erected in 1921 to commemorate the men from Chalvey who fell in the First World War.

The memorial is constructed of Clipsham stone with a cast lead crucifix. It takes the form of a column with Calvary rising from a pedestal on a stepped base. The base is tri-partite and octagonal; the pedestal is also octagonal with a battered plinth and a surbase carved with floral and foliate decoration. The column has a simple moulded base and capital and is subtly octagonal, tapering elegantly as it rises. The Calvary features a gabled canopy and the cast lead crucifix faces north onto Church Street.

Memorial inscriptions are carved in sans serif lettering in relief on the north, south, east and west faces of the plinth. The main dedication on the north face reads: TO THE GLORY OF GOD/AND IN THANKFUL/REMEMBRANCE OF/THE MEN OF CHALVEY/WHO FELL/IN THE GREAT WAR/1914-1918/GRANT THEM ETERNAL/REST O LORD AND LET/LIGHT PERPETUAL/SHINE UPON THEM. The remaining inscriptions appear within recessed panels listing the names of the fallen in the form of initials followed by surnames, with over eighty names inscribed.

The memorial was funded by public subscription at a cost of £225, organised by a parish committee. It was designed by architect HC King, based at Dean's Yard, Westminster, who was architect to the St Dunstan Society, an organisation concerned with church architecture and the design of vestments and altar hangings. King was better known as a church architect and authored "The Chancel and the Altar" published in 1911, now held in the British Library. The stone mason was E Sargeant of Slough, who also worked on the Slough Town War Memorial. The St Dunstan Society was responsible for casting the lead crucifix. Contemporary accounts indicate the design sought to emulate the Beaumond medieval cross in Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, although the resemblance is not striking.

The memorial was unveiled by Major General Carteret Carey, Acting Governor of Windsor Castle, and blessed by the Bishop of Buckingham, Dr P Eliot, at a dedication ceremony on 28 June 1921. Among the over eighty names inscribed is Frederick Youens, a teacher at Chalvey Junior School before enlisting, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry.

The memorial stands in the graveyard of St Peter's Church, a Grade II* neo-Gothic church dating from 1860-1.