Monkton War Memorial

The village war memorial stands [location — near the church / on the green]. Its inscription reads:

To the glory of God and in loving memory of the men of Monkton who made the supreme sacrifice during the Great Wars: 1914 – 1918, 1939 – 1945. This memorial [raised by public subscription] is dedicated.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

1914 – 1918

  • Charles Andrews

  • John Carthew

  • Ernest Fitall

  • George Foad

  • Cecil Garlinge

  • William Garlinge

  • Albert Hammond

  • Frederick Hammond

  • Frederick William Ireland

  • Frederick Thomas Johnson

  • Charles Alfred Pritchard

  • Sidney (Sydney) Shonk — Private, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), 7th Bn., died 1 July 1916 (the first day of the Battle of the Somme), aged 22; buried at Dantzig Alley British Cemetery, Mametz, France. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records him as “son of the late Stephen and Sarah Shonk” — almost certainly the Stephen and Sarah Shonk buried in the churchyard alongside later generations of the same family.

  • Percy William Stevens

1939 – 1945

  • Arthur Dunk

  • Ernest Fagg

  • Norman Hood

  • Cyril Smith

  • Ronald Bushell

  • Digby Alfred Fuller

Grant them O Lord eternal rest and let light perpetual shine upon them.

Names added later

Two further names appear separately on the memorial, associated with the 1914–1918 list:

  • Driver Jack Matthews

  • William John Knight

  • Henry John Martin

  • Daniel Rogers

Note

Driver John Matthews, who died of flu on 29 December 1918 while serving with the Royal Army Service Corps, is buried in the churchyard (plot 191) but was not originally included on the village war memorial — see his churchyard entry for more on his story.

Commonwealth War Graves in the churchyard

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records four First World War graves at St Mary Magdalene — all four of the men above with a churchyard plot number. Their CWGC records add service numbers, next-of-kin, and precise grave positions not given in the churchyard survey itself:

  • Private Ernest Fitall, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), 3rd Bn. (service no. 6453; latterly 426th Agricultural Company, Labour Corps), died 31 October 1918, aged 31. Husband of Fanny Fitall of Monkton Street, Ramsgate. Grave position: “South of Church tower, near South boundary.” Headstone inscription: “R.I.P. THY WILL BE DONE.” (plot 182)

  • Private Walter George Long, East Surrey Regiment, 2nd/6th Bn. (service no. 5060), died 10 October 1916, aged 40. Husband of Florence Kate Long, of Walthamstow. (plot 8)

  • Private James Booth Bradbury, East Surrey Regiment, 2nd/6th Bn. (service no. 242209), died 3 September 1917, aged 19. Son of Charles James and Ann Bradbury, of Back-o’th-Lee, Diggle, Oldham. Grave position: “North-West of Church, near West boundary.” (plot 9)

  • Driver J. (Jack) Matthews, Royal Army Service Corps (service no. 261564), died 29 December 1918. Grave position: “South-West of Church, near South boundary.” (plot 191)

See Memorials Inside the Church and the churchyard survey for these men’s gravestones themselves.