St
Luke's Church Cemetery WWI and WWII Roll of Honour
Opened in 1877 as a funerary chapel (it became a church near the end of that century) to serve the needs of Hatfield new town – opened in the 1850's following the building of the Great Northern Railway. It is located on St Albans Road East by Hatfield town centre and is the final resting place of 22 WWI and WWII era military casualties according to CWGC records. It is also the last resting place of at least 6 civilians killed in a German bombing raid on the de Havilland factory in October 1940. Six of the military casualties are not listed on the Hatfield War Memorial (possibly because they may not have been from the town. Others perhaps because they were post war and / or non-combat deaths).
There is a memorial plaque inside the church commemorating some of the military dead. The cemetery is also the final resting place for some service personnel who passed away naturally and some were veterans of earlier conflicts.
St Luke's WWI Hatfield Newtown Memorial Board
Inside St Luke's is a memorial board listing the names of 46 men of Hatfield Newtown who lost their lives in World War One. The names are arranged in two columns and appear to be listed in chronological rather than alphabetical order. There is some inconsistency in that some names are given in full; in others the middle name is either an initial or not listed at all.
| David Page John Hipgrave Frederick Hipgrave John Canham Hubert H Phillips William Parrott George Webster William Randall Cecil Parker Vincent J Austin John Hedger James Matthews Charles Chandler Gilbert Goody George Wright Herbert Baker James Payne Patrick Caesar James Hope Walker James Munday Walter Risboro John Coe Frederick Basil |
Newtown 1914-1918 Grant Them, O Lord, Eternal Rest |
William Hipgrave Conrad Austin Albert Stallon Albert E Skeggs John Charles Page Frederick Nason Ernest Adams Charles Garland Walter Berry Ernest James Page William Stallon Arthur Stallon George Johnson Frederick Halsey Arthur Smith William Alfred Hill Robert William Moore Herbert Beach Harry Randall Harry Warren Jack Green Hubert John Hall Albert Halsey |
All of the men are listed on the main Hatfield Town War Memorial. Four of them – John Henry Canham, William John Parrott, James Hope Walker and James Munday – are buried outside. Of the seven other WWI casualties buried at St Lukes (but not listed on the church's memorial board) – Percy A Arnett, James Frost, Charles Massam, George Aubin Powell, George Rice, James Andrew Starkey and Albert William Walker – five died in hospitals in the UK. In most other records 'Walter Risboro' is listed as 'Walter Risbero'.
AGER, Charles Peter, Driver
Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers
England, July 1944
[CWGC entry: service no. 14543296; age 34; Plot 1. Row 12. Grave 3, St Luke's Churchyard, Hatfield. Entry lists date of death as 12.07.1944]
ARNETT, P(ercy) A, Private
27th Battalion, Canadian Infantry
England, 16 June 1916
[CWGC entry: service no. 424318; Plot 1. Row 1 Grave 20, St Luke's Churchyard, Hatfield. Not listed on the Hatfield war memorial. Genealogical records indicate aged 19; died of wounds in the Ontario Military Hospital, Orpington. Next of kin given lived in Manitoba, Canada]
BOXALL, Frederick William, Lance Corporal
Royal Engineers
England, March 1946
[CWGC entry: service no. 14810212 ; age 23; Plot 1. Row 7. Grave 27, St Luke's Churchyard, Hatfield. Entry lists date of death as 28.03.1946]
CANHAM, John H(enry), Private
1st Hertfordshire Regiment
Died of Wounds, Festubert(/England), 2 June 1915
[CWGC entry: service no. 3113; age unknown; I. I. 17., St Luke's Churchyard, Hatfield]
CATLIN, Herbert Charles, Lance Bombardier
Royal Artillery, HQ 303rd Infantry Brigade
9 April 1946
[CWGC entry: service no. 1649608; age 34; Plot 1. Row 11. Grave 1, St Luke's Churchyard, Hatfield. Not listed on the Hatfield war memorial.]
DAVIS, Harry, Company Quartermaster Sergeant
Machine Gun Corps
England, January 1920
[War memorial listing only.
CWGC entry: service no. 29629; age unknown; 2. I. 16., St Luke's
Churchyard, Hatfield. Entry lists date of death as 20.01.1920]
FROST, James, Private
Royal Army Service Corps
Died, Netley Hospital, (England), 14 May 1917
[CWGC entry: service no. T4/211873; age unknown; West 17. 78, St Luke's Churchyard, Hatfield. Entry lists rank as Driver]
LAURENCE, Alan Robert, Sergeant Navigator
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Europe, December 1943
[CWGC entry: service no. 1395121; age 21; Plot 1. Row 12. Grave 2, St Luke's Churchyard, Hatfield. Entry lists date of death as 24.12.1943]
LEACH, Arthur, Leading Aircraftsman
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
19 February 1947
[CWGC entry: service no. 1475832; age 34; Plot 1. Row 6. Grave 31. St Luke's Churchyard, Hatfield. Not listed on the Hatfield war memorial.]
MASSAM, Charles A., Private (Lance Corporal)
3rd Bedfordshire Regiment
Killed at Felixstowe, (England), 22 July 1917
[CWGC entry: service no. 20947; age 21; Plot 1. Nth of Church Grave
5, St Luke's Churchyard, Hatfield. Entry lists rank as Private.
According to the headstone inscription he was a Lance-Corporal, killed
by 'hostile aircraft', aged 21. His loss appears to be the second
tragedy to befall the family. The original grave was for John W. Massam,
who died 11.03.1914, aged 19]
MINCHIN, Denis, Captain
Royal Artillery
England, 1940
[CWGC entry: service no. 74508; age 22; Plot 1. Row 12. Grave 1, St Luke's Churchyard, Hatfield. Entry lists date of death as 11.11.1940]
MUNDAY, James, Private
Essex Regiment
England, March 1918
[War memorial listing only.
CWGC entry: service no. 30320; age 37; 2. I. 19, St Luke's Churchyard,
Hatfield. Entry lists date of death as 18.03.1918
Family headstone lists service no. 30321, place of death as Egypt, and
date of death as 18.03.1917]
NICHOLS, Alfred Edward, Corporal
Royal Air Force
England, November 1945
[CWGC entry: service no. 540396; age 28; Plot 1. Row 10. Grave 6, St Luke's Churchyard, Hatfield. Entry lists date of death as 01.11.1945]
PARROTT, William J(ohn), Sapper
Royal Engineers
Died, St Thomas's Hospital, 8 August (/June) 1915
[CWGC entry: service no. 86431; age 39; 1. I. 18, St Luke's Churchyard, Hatfield. Entry (and headstone) lists date of death as 08.06.1915]
PATERSON, James Cedric, Pilot Officer
26 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
1 June 1940
[CWGC entry: service no. 77683; Plot 3. Row 6. Grave 16, St Luke's Churchyard, Hatfield. Not listed on the Hatfield war memorial. Gazetted as a Pilot Officer effective 01.02.40. Previously Sergeant 740955.]
POWELL, G(eorge) A(ubin), Second Lieutenant
Royal Flying Corps
7 December 1916
[CWGC entry: service no. 77683; Plot 1. Row 1. Grave 21, St Luke's Churchyard, Hatfield. Not listed on the Hatfield war memorial. Listed by Hobson as belonging to 25 Reserve Squadron, and accidentally killed (accident or friendly fire)]
POWER. Frank Trevor, Lieutenant Colonel
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment
25 December 1947
[CWGC entry: service no. 95834; Plot 1. Row 13. Grave 9, St Luke's Churchyard, Hatfield. Not listed on the Hatfield war memorial.]
RICE, George, Sergeant
18th Gloucestershire Regiment (Bedfordshire Regiment)
Died, Hatfield VAD Hospital, 3 September 1918
[CWGC entry: service no. 52268; age unknown; 2. I. 14, St Luke's Churchyard, Hatfield. Entry lists unit as Gloucestershire Regiment]
SHEPPARD, Benjamin Quinney, Sergeant
Royal Air Force
England, December 1940
[CWGC entry: service no. 910413; age 20; Plot 3. Row 3. Grave 17, St Luke's Churchyard, Hatfield. Entry (and headstone) lists date of death as 23.12.1940]
STARKEY, James A(ndrew), 1st Air Mechanic
Royal Air Force
Died, Lincoln Hospital, (England), 6 November 1918
[CWGC entry: service no. 208863; age unknown; South 3. 6, St Luke's
Churchyard, Hatfield. Entry lists name as J A Starkey
Family headstone lists unit as AMI - RAF, age as 25]
WALKER, Albert (William), Sergeant
Royal Army Service Corps
Died, Denmark Hill Hospital, London, (England), 15 February 1915
[CWGC entry: service no. T/15071; age unknown; I. I. 16, St Luke's Churchyard, Hatfield. Entry lists name as Albert William Walker, unit as Army Service Corps, and date of death as 19.02.1915]
WALKER, James Hope, (2nd) Lieutenant
Royal Flying Corps
Killed at Cirencester, (England), 16 March 1917
[CWGC entry: service no. unknown; age 20; 2. I. 9, St Luke's Churchyard, Hatfield. Entry lists rank as 2nd Lieutenant]
Civilian Casualties
ALLEN, Horace Frederick George (37)*
FORDHAM, Cecil Harry (34)*
GIBBS, Frederick William (24)*
HARTLEY, Frederick (27)*
SIM, William James Geddes (41)*
SMITH, John Holmes (26)*
[*Buried in a mass grave in St Luke's Churchyard, Hatfield. Headstone lists Cecil Harry Fordham as Harry Fordham, and William James Geddes Sim as William George Sim]
Rest in Peace