The War Memorial
Froyle’s War Memorial is situated, appropriately, midway between Upper and Lower Froyle (click here for a location map). It was dedicated by the Bishop of Guildford on Thursday, April 14th, 1921 in the presence of “an exceedingly large gathering”. Engraved on it were the names of thirty Froyle men who gave their lives in the Great War.
War Memorial 2008
On September 23rd 1947 Froyle Parish Council received a letter from the Froyle Welcome Home Fund, asking to use surplus funds to have the 1914-18 Memorial names cleaned and the names of men who lost their lives in the 1939-45 War added. The Parish Council whole-heartedly agreed. (see the two lists of names on the next page).
In the Autumn of 2009 the Parish Council obtained a grant through the War Memorials Trust and a magnificent job has been done in cleaning the fabric and restoring the engravings.
War Memorial 1921 War Memorial 2009
The left hand picture shows the memorial in 1921 - the steps were originally wooden baulks held in place by iron ties made by Jesse Bowram Martin at the forge in Upper Froyle. Later they were replaced by brick and concrete steps as seen in the right hand picture taken in October 2009.
In 2010, Froyle Parish Council commissioned a handrail for the right hand side of the steps which has made access easier and. due to its design, enhanced the appearance of the entire site. Follow the menu item below for pictures of it.
For the past three years the Froyle Archive has been researching the names on the memorial as part of a book, commemorating the Centenary of the Great War, which was published at the beginning of October 2014. We worked with other local villages to record the names and details of what turned out to be 223 men of Hampshire who gave their lives for their country. As a result of all the information we found out about the Froyle men, the Parish Council asked if we would produce a book to commemorate the Centenary which would greatly expand the story of Froyle during the Great War and the men who gave their lives.
“Lest We Forget - Froyle in the Great War” was launched on Remembrance Sunday, November 9th, 2014, and a copy was given free to every household in the village. As the book neared publication it became obvious that more and more information would be released over the coming years, and so a dedicated website has been created to provide a place for these updates - the next few years will be most exciting, culminating in, hopefully, the release of the 1921 Census, which might help to answer some of the questions thrown up in the book!
We will also be updating the information about each individual person whose name is on the War Memorial.