Whatfield

The Hadleigh & District Royal British Legion includes the surrounding villages of Aldham, Elmsett, Kersey, Layham and Whatfield in its catchment area. The population of all these villages would have had very close contact with Hadleigh and so their memorials are recorded here.

The Whatfield War Memorial is a small engraved wooden plaque mounted inside the church.

The memorial lists the names of the 10 Whatfield men killed during the Great War.

There is also a framed print listing all the men of Whatfield who served during the Great war. The print was made by Mr Percy Taylor of Hadleigh and is hanging on the wall opposite the wooden plaque.

Research undertaken by Mary Browne of Australia

Mary Browne has researched many of her relatives, one branch of which came from Whatfield in Suffolk. During her research she discovered that many of her relatives died during the Great War.

Mary worked at a high school in Australia, where every 2nd year, some students and teachers travel to Gallipoli, Turkey and France to commemorate WW1 soldiers who died. Mary passed on the information about her relatives to the teacher in charge who subsequently visited their memorials or graves.

In 2011 Mary visited the battlefields herself and found the graves and memorials of family members.

Rifleman Benjamin Mowles
No. S/11295 - 9th Battalion Rifle Brigade - aged 25
Benjamin was born in Whatfield to parents William & Emily Mowles & was killed in action east of Arras, France near the small village of Monchy le Preux on 27 April, 1917. He has no known grave & is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.

Private Frederick G Mowles
No. 26036 - 11th Company Machine Gun Corps - aged 20
Frederick was born in Whatfield to parents John & Elizabeth Mowles. As a member of the 11th Machine Gun Corps, he was killed in action during the Battle of Broodseinde Ridge in Belgium
on 6 Oct., 1917. Australian forces were heavily involved in this action as well. He has no known grave & his name is recorded on the Tyne Cot Memorial.

The photo below is the grave of Rupert Mowles taken by Mary during her 2011 visit. Rupert was 1 of 3 brothers killed in WW1 (the others Benjamin and George).