Felpham’s Fallen was a project undertaken by the Felpham Village Conservation Society History Heritage and Archive Group in 2018 to commemorate the centenary of the 1918 Armistice.

Felpham is unique in that it has two memorial plaques each with 39 names. One is in the Felpham and Middleton Memorial cottages. These were two semi-detached cottages, now detached, built just after what became known as the Great War, for the family or descendants of local casualties. A plaque inside the cottages gives the names of 39 of the casualties. The other is the memorial in St. Mary’s church. This also has 39 names, but in each memorial two names are different from the other giving a total of 41.

For the project, the Group selected 17 of the 41 whose names appear on the two Felpham memorials for detailed research. One further casualty was included whose name appears on his parents’ memorial in St. Mary’s churchyard making 18 in all. The following paragraph explains why some or all details of some men’s service cannot be found.

From The National Archives reference WO363

“In September 1940, as the result of a fire caused by an incendiary bomb at the War Office Record Store in Arnside Street, London, approximately two thirds of 6.5 million soldiers' documents for the First World War were destroyed. Those records which survived were mostly charred or water damaged and unfit for consultation and became known as the 'burnt documents”.

During the 2018 Remembrance weekend the Society put on an exhibition of the research, consisting of boards displaying the information on each soldier. It also held a Lyons Corner House type tea party. This was followed on the Sunday by the Remembrance Day service and a walk through the village showing, where possible, the homes of some of the 18 and each man’s story.

In 2021 one member of the group carried out further research on all of those whose names appear on the two memorials. During that subsequent research it became apparent that there were a number of casualties of the Great War who had some connection with Felpham but are not recognised as such.

It is the intention of the Group to research all the remaining names and where possible include them on the website.

If you have any information about any of Felpham’s Fallen please do contact the Felpham Village Conservation Society History, Heritage and Archive GroupGroup.