Memorial service to take place to mark 100th anniversary since the death of WW1 soldier - The Redditch Standard

Memorial service to take place to mark 100th anniversary since the death of WW1 soldier

Redditch Editorial 14th Sep, 2018   0

A MEMORIAL service to mark the 100th anniversary of death of one of the last soldiers from the Beoley parish to die in World War War is to be held on Bomford Hill in Church Hill next month.

The event, on Saturday, October 6, will also see the opening of a Remembrance Garden with stone benches around an oak tree and the installation of a toposcope with the points of the compass.

At the ceremony will be relatives of those who fought and died in the war, including descendants of the soldier being honoured, Private Stephen Mumford, who died, aged 24, on October 6, 1918.

Born in Alcester his family, agricultural workers, were from the parish.




Stephen joined the Worcestershire Regiment in 1915 but later transferred to the Machine Gun Corps.

In February 1918 he was awarded the Military Medal for bravery but was captured on May 27 during the massive German assault in the Battle of the Aisne.


The day will mark the culmination of months of work by Church Hill Big Local to install a lasting tribute to those who died in the 1914-18 conflict.

Everyone from across the town and beyond is welcome to join members of the Royal British Legion, the 37th Signals, civic dignitaries and other groups to attend the event which will commence at 10.45am.

“We wanted to do something to remember the end of the war and we got in contact with St Leonard’s Church as Church Hill is in the parish of Beoley,” said Ian Johnson from Church Hill Big Local.

Although the men of the parish continued to fight – and die – right up to the end of the war, Stephen was the only one who had a definite day of death, so he was chosen.

Bomford Hill is reached via Papermill Drive, Tanhouse Lane and is off Redstone Close.

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