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Plymouth Naval Memorial

Why these pages?

This part of my site is given over to the Naval Memorial in Plymouth. But first, a quick explanation of why it's here.

My maternal grandfather, Reginald Flicker, served on board HMS Dominion during the First World War. He was at the Battle of Jutland in 1916. While in the Navy he met Charles Maclachlan Harvey. On shore leave, "Mac" took Reg home to Charlton, SE London, and Reg met Mac's sister Gwyn. After the war, in 1921, Gwyn and Reg got married.

I can't claim any personal links to the Memorial myself - it's more of a negative link, because my grandfather was one of the lucky ones who survived the Great War.

I inherited from my grandfather a volume of the complete works of Shakespeare. Inside he noted that he bought it from "Stoker Wheway". Checking the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website recently I discovered that Stoker First Class Harold Wheway, unlike my grandfather, did not survive the war.

The son of Henry T. and Amy Wheway of 87 Oxford St., Leicester, Harold was just 24 when died on board the "H.M.S. Queen Mary" at the Battle of Jutland. He is recorded on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial (this link will take you to a page on the CWGC site and which contains information copyrighted by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission).

There are also some musical links to the Navy in the Great War on this website:

Sir Charles Stanford's song "Farewell" from his cycle "Songs of the Fleet" can be downloaded as an MP3 file. This is a vintage recording from 1923 sung by the baritone Harold Williams and conducted by the composer himself - it is Stanford's last ever recording. You can read more about the recording, including its text, here.

You can also download Sir Edward Elgar's song "Submarines" from his cycle Fringes of the Fleet as an MP3 file. This is another vintage recording from July 1917 conducted by the composer. You can read more about the recording, including its text, here.

What will you find here?

The Memorial in its context

History of the Memorial

The 1914 Register

The Great War - South Side

The Great War - North Side

The Great War - East Side

The Great War - West Side

Second World War - North-East Corner

Second World War - North-East Wing

Second World War - North-West Corner

Second World War - North-West Wing

Photos of every panel on the memorial

Cleaning the Memorial in 2003

© Chris Goddard, 27 November, 2004