St Peter's church

Having seen the poignant memorials to the centenary of the Somme I decided to blip something related to the Great War. I decided to go to St Peter's at Boughton Monchelsea because the Commonwealth War Graves site told me that there were some First World War graves. However, when I got there the church was open so I decided to go and have a look.

There was an art display and a lady who came and showed me around and I saw the Millennium Window which is tremendous. It was designed by Graham Clarke, the artist, who lives just along the lane. 

The image shows one of two pillars supporting an arch between the pews and the altar. Some surnames are repeated and others appear in the 1914 - 1918 section and again in the 1939 - 1945 section; here you will see Allen in both and with Alfred as a middle name it would suggest that they are related. Not shown here but the Winch family are named; they lived in Boughton Monchelsea Place, the manor house, next door. The Winch's were a wealthy brewing family. The reason that I took the shot at this angle is that you'll see a single name on the right-hand side; it is Hubert Percival Baker, a bugler with the Canadian Light Infantry. Baker was born in 1890 in Maidstone and he served 3 years with the Canadian Field Artillery in Toronto and then transferred to the infantry. He landed in France in August 1916 and was wounded in November. After a period of recuperation he rejoined his battalion in December and was one of more than 3,500 men killed in action at Vimy Ridge in April, 1917. Much of these details are from Soldiers of the 38th.

I would certainly recommend a visit to this lovely church because there are also tremendous views from the churchyard too.

Edit: A PDF showing all four panels here and it's called a chancel screen (the arch thingy)