The plaque is on the back of one of the choristers stalls in the chancel.
South side, front row, nearest the west end.
DIED DURING THE
CRIMEAN WAR.
DD: ARMY CHAPLAINS
Further Information (From the 1873 Guide to the Church)
The Chaplains who fell during the Crimean War were:-
|
THE REV. G. MOCKLER |
died 29th September 1854 |
Many of these Chaplains and others that survived and are not mentioned here were sent to the Crimea at the instigation of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Further information can be found at http://anglicanhistory.org.
Lest we lose sight of the fact, it should be remembered that the Chaplains commemorated on this plaque were not necessarily of the Anglican faith. Of the twelve named, 6 were Anglicans and 6 were Roman Catholics. The following information about all 12 was supplied by David Blake, (Curator, Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre) with Crimean gravestone inscriptions from "The Last of the Brave" by Colborne and Brine. Several of the dates of death differ from those in the 1873 Guide:-
ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS
Rev Michael Canty - 2 Feb 1855 - Westminster Diocese - Died of disease.
Rev James Doyle - 28th July 1855 - Westminster Diocese - Died of disease at Kingstown
Rev Denis Sheehan - 10th March 1855 - Southwark Diocese - Died of disease. Aged 31. He is buried in Second Brigade, Light Division Cemetery in the Crimea. The inscription on his gravestone reads:-
IHS
of the
REV'D DENIS SHEEHAN
Catholic Chaplain to the British Forces
The 88th Connaught Rangers have had the
honor of erecting to his Sacred Memory
this Monument, for with them he lived and
with them he died 10th March 1855
Aged 31 years
In the Battle Field he stood beside them;
In their sickness and wounds he consoled them
Many a British soldier filled with hope
did pass to GOD, aided by the prayers and
fortified by the administration of this
HOLY PRIEST
May he rest in peace
AMEN
Rev James Shiel - 8th August 1855 - English College - Valladolid - Attached to the 2nd Division. Died of fever caught in the discharge of his duty. Aged 27. He was buried along with 116 members of the Light 2nd and 4th Divisions in a cemetery on the left side of the Woronzoff Ravine, towards Sebastopol. The gravestone inscription read:-
THIS SIMPLE TOMB WAS ERECTED BY THE
CATHOLIC SOLDIERS OF THE 2ND DIVISION
OVER THE MORTAL REMAINS OF THEIR BELOVED
CHAPLAIN THE REVD. JAMES SHEIL WHO ON
THE 8TH AUGT. 1855 DIED OF FEVER
CAUGHT IN THE DISCHARGE OF HIS DUTY
REQUIESCAT IN PACE AMEN
Rev Gerald Strickland - 22nd April 1856 (this differs from Archdeacon Wright's account) - Society of Jesus (SJ = Jesuits) Died of a fever caught whilst voluntarily attending the sick in the French Hospital. He was buried in Cathcart's Hill Cemetery above Balaklava with the following inscription on a tombstone.
BENEATH
REPOSES ALL THAT WAS MORTAL OF
THE
REV'D GERARD STRICKLAND
CATHOLIC CHAPLAIN OF THE
BRITISH ARMY IN THE EAST
HE DIED ON 22ND APRIL 1856
OF A MALIGNANT FEVER CAUGHT
WHILE VOLUNTARILY ATTENDING
THE SICK IN THE FRENCH HOSPITAL
MAY HIS SPIRIT REST IN PEACE
AMEN ***
THIS SIMPLE MONUMENT WAS ERECTED
BY THE CATHOLIC OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS
OF THE 4TH DIVISION IN TESTIMONY OF THEIR
GRATITUDE FOR HIS SERVICES AMONG THEM
AND OF ADMIRATION OF HIS NOBLE
QUALITIES AND GREAT ZEAL
Rev John Joshua Wheble - 3rd November 1854 - Westminster Diocese - Attached to the 3rd Division. Died of dysentery and buried in front of the Balaklava General Hospital. An inscription on his gravestone read as follows.
PRO ANIMA
R.D. JOANIS WHEBLE
SACERDOTIS
ORBIT DIE 3a NOVEMBER 1854
R.I.P.
ANGLICAN (CHURCH OF ENGLAND) CLERGY
Rev George Mockler - 29th September 1854. Attached to the 3rd Division Died at Balaklava, aged 39 and buried in front of the Balaklava General Hospital. The inscription on the gravestone read:-
The Revd.
G. MOCKLER
Chaplain to the 3rd Division
of the British Army who
Died
Septr. 29th 1854
Aged 39 Years
Memorial in Christchurch, Watney Street.
Erected to the memory of the Rev. George Mockler M.A., formerly Curate of this church and later Chaplain attached to Third Division of the British Army in alliance with France and Turkey engaged against Russia in actual warfare. He had endeared himself during a ministry of 7 years to his late Congregation who have raised this memorial of their attachment and esteem. The zeal evinced by him for the welfare of the dying, sick and wounded after the battle of the Alma so enervated his physical energies that he sank under the heavy labour imposed upon his exhausted nature. He died on the 2nd day of October 1854, in the 34th year of his age. His remains were interred upon the heights of Sebastopol.
From www.stgite.org.uk/chchwatneystreet.html
Rev Willian Whyatt - 17th February 1855 - Assistant Chaplain to the 2nd Division. Died on board the Hertfordshire, to which he had been moved from the camp before Sebastopol, of Crimean fever. He was a graduate of University College Durham, first as an Engineering student and then in arts. Sometime a curate of St Peter's Leeds, and afterwards the district of Crumpsall in the chapelry of St Mark's Cheetham Hill, Manchester. BA 1850. MA, 1855.
Memorial at St. Barnabus Church, Openshaw, Manchester- "In memory of William Whyatt MA one of the Chaplains attached to the Second Division of Her Majesty's Army in the Crimea, youngest son of the late George Whyatt of Openshaw. His mortal remains lie at Balaclava where he fell a victim to the fever taken at his post of duty at Sebastopol. Feb. MDCCCLV aged 29 years. This tablet was erected by his brother George."
Rev George Henry Proctor - 10th March 1855. Attached to the 4th Division. Died at Scutari of fever, aged 34.
Son of Revd. George Proctor, rector of Hadley, Middlesex. The inscription on his gravestone at Scutari read:-
REVD. GEO. HENRY PROCTOR
CHAPLAIN H.M.F.
SON OF GEO PROCTOR DD
RECTOR OF HADLEY
WHO DIED AT SCUTARI
AGED 34 YEARS
HIS PARENTS HAVE PLACED
THIS STONE
Memorial at St. Denys, Stanford-in-the-Vale, Oxfordshire - "In memory of the Revd George Henry Proctor MA four years Curate of this Parish who died at Scutari near Constantinople March 10th 1855 aged 34 years of a fever caught in the discharge of his duty as Assistant Chaplain to Her Majesty's Forces in the Crimea."
Rev Henry John Whitfield - 17th June 1855. Died at Scutari, aged 46 and was buried under a marble headstone. The inscription read:-
shall be raised
Reverend
Henry John Whitfield
June 18 1855
Rev Robert Freeman - 19th August 1855 - Attached to the Light Brigade from 22nd April 1855. Died on board the 'Clyde', aged 38.
Rev R Lee 18th June 1855 - Died at Scutari and buried with 'a piece of wood' for a headstone which remained in place until at least 15th July 1856. Colborne and Brine noted that underneath the name of Lee the name of Thomas Onien had been written in pencil.
REFERENCES
"Recusant History", a record of the Catholic Military Chaplains in the Crimean War, by Hagerty, J. Johnstone, T.
"The Last of the Brave, The Resting places of our Fallen Heroes in the Crimea and at Scutari" (1857) By Captain, The Hon. John Colborne and Captain Frederick Brine.
