Dedham War Memorial

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13 Responses to Dedham War Memorial

  1. Joseph Orgar says:

    Looks like 3 sets of brothers/cousins.

    This name is rather sad for the parents

    Leonard Passiful
    2/2/16
    Age 17
    1/1 Essex yeomanry
    Bethune town cemetery

    • Magicfingers says:

      Agreed Joe. Also a mother and baby among the WWII names.

      • Nick Kilner says:

        I’ve just noticed that! Extremely unusual to see on a British war memorial. Possibly even unique in the UK?

        • Magicfingers says:

          I wonder. No idea how we find out…….

          • Epsom Girl says:

            Google is your friend …….

            Civilians 1939-1945
            COOMBER Joan A
            Died Friday 10 December 1943. Age 21 at The Firs, Long Road, Dedham. Lived at The Firs, Long Road, Dedham, Colchester. Wife of William Coomber. Commemorated in the RURAL DISTRICT OF LEXDEN AND WINSTREE section of the Civilian War Dead Register.
            COOMBER Robert William
            Died Friday 10 December 1943. Age 6, at The Firs, Long Road, Dedham. Lived at The Firs, Long Road, Dedham, Colchester. Son of William Coomber, and of Joan Coomber. Commemorated in the RURAL DISTRICT OF LEXDEN AND WINSTREE section of the Civilian War Dead Register.

            Also:
            “Two of the names on the memorial are those of civilians; Joan Coomber and her six week old son Robert died on 10th December 1943. There are not many details available about this terrible event but one can only imagine that it was caused by an enemy bomb.”

            Although it’s unclear if the child was 6 weeks or 6, there is another reference to ‘her baby’, so presumably 6 weeks.

          • Nick Kilner says:

            Great research and info, thank you for that.
            We were actually referring to whether or not them appearing on a war memorial in the U.K. is unique. That would be very difficult to discover

  2. Epsom Girl says:

    Ah, I see, sorry. Well, an initial search reveals that the names of 1,000 civilians who were killed in Portsmouth during World War Two were added to the city’s war memorial in 2016.

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