HOLYWOOD PARISH CHURCH, Co. Down

These made the Supreme Sacrifice.

Lance-Corporal Robert C. Alexander,

Trooper Edward Bagley,

Second-Lieutenant Charles F. Beverland,

Sergeant Robert Beverland,

Corporal George J. Bonner,

Captain J. M. Briggs,

Captain H. Ouseley Davis,

Lance-Corporal Hugh Doggard,

Private James Doggart,

Private William Doggart,

Captain George M. Dunlop,

Second-Lieutenant John D. M. Dunlop, M.A.,

Second-Lieutenant John G. Dunville, V.C.,

Sergeant Francis Elliott,

Lance-Corporal Joshua Elliott,

Private William Elliott,

Lance-Corporal Richard Graser,

Private Charles Gaussan,

Private Waldemar Heininger,

Private Ernest G. W. Hind,

Private Patrick Hudson,

Private Samuel Hutchinson,

Second-Lieutenant. James M. Inglis,

Sergeant Henry Lomax,

Private James Mcwhinney,  

Private Frederick J. G. Mills,

Lance-Corporal Henry Mills,

Lieutenant-Colonel T. V. P. M’Cammon,

Second-Lieutenant Joseph R. G. M’Lean,

Private Alex. William B. Orr,

Corporal John Read,

Major John F. Robin,

Second-Lieutenant Kenneth Ross,

Second-Lieutenant Melbourne Ross,

Rifleman Wason Ross,

Sapper Samuel J. Russell,

Corporal James Savage,

Private William Savage,

Private Joseph Semple,

Private Alfred Smith,

Rifleman Ernest Stephenson,

Captain Robert Suffern.

“At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.”

HOLYWOOD'S War Record.

V.C. in list of Fallen.

Address by Rev. Canon King.

An interesting and impressive service was held in Holywood Parish Church yesterday afternoon [April 24, 1921], when Rev. Canon R. G. S. King, M.A., of Derry Cathedral, the senior chaplain of the Ulster Division, Dedicated the parochial war memorials in presence of a large congregation. The service was conducted by the vicar of the parish, Rev. C. C. Manning, M.C., M.A., Who served for a period of four years as a chaplain in the Ulster Division, being decorated for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in the field. The vicar was assisted by Rev. G. W. Capsey, M.A., of Glencraig, and Rev. Thomas Parr, B.A., curate. The recessional hymn was Kilping’s “God of Fathers,” and the lesson -Revelations vii., verse 9 to end-was read by Rev. Dr. Woodburn, of First Holywood Presbyterian Church. Other clergy present were-Revs. W. J. Crosthwaite, M.C., M.A., C.F.; F. W. Wilkinson, M.A., R.N.; J. A. Carey, M.A.; R. C. Elliott, M.A.; D. H. Maconachie, B.D.; and H. M’Connell, B.A. Between 40 and 50 members of the Holywood Branch of the Comrades of the Great War, of which Mr. H. Small is honorary secretary, were accommodated, with seats in front of the church. A party of Boy Scouts was also present, the local association of the 1st and 2nd Holywood Troops being represented by the following officers:-Sir Robert Kennedy, K.C.M.G., D.L., (president); Scoutmaster W. V. Heasley under Assistant Scoutmaster W. E. Burke, 1st Holywood Troop; Scoutmaster W. E. Lucy, 2nd Holywood Troop; and the patrol leaders of both troops. The Holywood Boy Scouts have 57 names on their roll of honour. Many of those whose names appear on that roll of honour are connected with the parish church, and some of them are to be found amongst the list of the fallen on the mural tablet dedicated yesterday.

The tablet erected to the members of the fallen was unveiled by Major R. E. M’Lean, at the request of Mr. J. M. Small, the people’s churchwarden, who also read the list of names thereon-42. The dedication ceremony was then performed by Canon King, After which two buglers of the 1st Battalion Somerset Light Infantry sounded the “Last Post.” The memorial tablet consists of a white Italian marble plate, bearing the names of the fallen, with a gypsum marble border, richly moulded and carved. The plate with its rich Gothic border is surmounted by a pediment enclosing the crown of glory, With a broad ribbon containing palm leaves and bearing the motto “Faithful unto Death.” In each of the corners of the frame are distinctive carvings representing Faith, Hope, Love and Peace. The tablet bears the following inscription: “To the glory of God and in grateful memory of the following parishioners, who gives their lives for the King and country in the great war; L-Corpl. Robert C. Alexander, Trooper Edward Bagley, Second-Lieut. Charles F. Beverland, Sergt. Robt. Beverland, Corpl. Geo. J. Bonner, Capt. J. M. Briggs, Capt. H. Ouseley Davis, L-Corpl. Hugh Doggard, Pte. James Doggart, Pte. Wm. Doggart, Capt. Geo. M. Dunlop, Second Lieut. John D. M. Dunlop, M.A., Second Lieut. John G. Dunville, V.C., Sergt. Francis Elliott, L.-Corpl. Joshua Elliott, Pte. Wm. Elliott, L.-Corpl. Richard Graser, Pte. Charles Gaussan, Pte. Waldemar Heininger, Pte. Ernest G. W. Hind, Pte. Patrick Hudson, Pte. Samuel Hutchinson, Second-Lieut. James M. Inglis, Sergt. Henry Lomax, Pte. James Mcwhinney,  Pte. Frederick J. G. Mills, L-Corpl. Henry Mills, Lieut.-Col. T. V. P. M’Cammon, Second-Lieut. Joseph R. G. M’Lean, Pte. Alex. Wm. B. Orr, Cpl. John Read, Major John F. Robin, Second-Lieut. Kenneth Ross, Second-Lieut. Melbourne Ross, Rfm. Wason Ross, Sapper Samuel J. Russell, Corpl. James Savage, Pte. William Savage, Pte. Joseph Semple, Pte. Alfred Smith, Rfm. Ernest Stephenson, Capt. Robert Suffern.

The Roll of Honour which has been placed in the porch, contains 139 names. It was unveiled by Major M’Lean at the request of Mr. H. J. Bristow, vicar’s churchwarden, and was dedicated by Canon King. The names appear on polished brass mounted on oak, and the inscription is “In sincere appreciation of the loyalty and courage of the men of this congregation you served with the colours in the defence of empire and liberty.” The mural tablet was designed and executed by a parishioner, Mr. J. Edgar Winter, of Shaftesbury Square, Belfast, and the Roll of Honour was made by Mr. H. Maguire, King Street, Belfast.

CANON KING’S SERMON.

Rev. Canon King based his sermon on the text, “Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews xii., 1) He said that day they commemorated those brave and loyal men who worthly upheld the noble traditions of an Imperial race in the greatest conflict, the most appalling crisis, since the Crucifixion. They had seen the world in the furnish. Today they were unable to judge the result. Had humanity gained or lost. Extreme men took extreme views on this question, and most men forgot their own position in regard to it. they overlooked the fact that they themselves were a part of the answer. Were they the better of the noble examples set them. Had the tremendous sacrifice of the generous and brave made them less selfish? Did they love more dearly and cherish more carefully the hopes and ideals that supported them? If so, they could never despair. Through a country largely absorbed in pleasure seeking rang the terrible summons to war, to war hated and dreaded by every wise and good man, even as by God himself, yet a thing, like every other awful experience, proving men and women and nations, often the highest opportunities for heroism, for self-sacrifice, for patriotism, and every other noble quality in man, distinguishing the cowardly from the brave, the selfish from the generous, the callous from the sympathetic, the mean from the noble. The crucible of war forced men to decide between ease and safety with dishonour on the one hand, and suffering, danger, and possibly death on the other. It compelled them to declare if the riot of pleasure in which their world was involved was really what appealed to them above all other things. It made them look death in the face calmly, as a thing possibly to be desired rather than long life with dishonour. Victorious over death. This was their victory in the day when death seemed less terrible than to play the coward and let others defend their homes and families and Empire. To those brave men whom they commemorated that day, and to their comrades, they owed not merely the preservation of their liberty and the safety of their Empire, but something even greater. They might not suppose that all would recognise or respond to the lesson they had given to the world, any more than that all men should respond to the example and message of the Saviour. Yet for thoughtful men of our own time and in all days to come these men had raised and elevated humanity. Their courage, their steadfastness, perhaps above all their sympathy and their self-sacrifice, how to resulted these men who brothers despair of mankind.

They had proved that when the right appeal was made men would rise high above the apparent level and would make every sacrifice in a cause which they held sacred. The indomitable spirt which defeated the Armada, which held Derry, which saved India in the mutiny, burned in our children still. Continuing, the preacher said that sense of duty which impelled our men to serve was somewhere in all of them. Did they respond to the call of duty?

They were there with their comrades; could they not be there with their Saviour? They would stand up for their country; could they not do so for righteousness? Unless the valour of those who fell fired those who are living with as great a purpose, unless their spirit was reproduced in successive generations, unless they were all stirred by a like determination, the sacrifice of the fallen was wasted on them. To those who had fallen they owed a glorious inspiration, the legacy of a noble example. Their memory would live not merely graven on the tablets that commemorate their great achievements, but from age to age woven into the stuff from which successive generations were made. Since death came to all, happy were they to whom it came to die so splendidly. Happy even also were they to whom sorrow had come in so noble form.

During the service the anthem “What are these” was rendered with devotional feeling by the choir, Mr. E. Godfrey Brown playing the organ accompaniment.

The service concluded with the singing of the National Anthem, and pronouncement of the Benediction, and the sounding of “Reveille.”

Belfast News-Letter, April 25, 1921.

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