The village of Saxlingham Nethergate has two war memorials which commemorate the men who were killed in the First World War. No one from the village lost their life in the Second World War.

The main memorial stands on a green in the centre of the village and resembles a market cross. It is unusual in the fact that not only does it list those who were killed but also those from the village who fought in the war and returned.

The second memorial is situated in the church. This tablet commemorates men connected with Saxlingham who were killed in the First World War. There are seven names on this memorial which do not appear on the village memorial.

As throughout the country the First World War had a great impact upon the village and its way of life.  In the early days of the war there were recruitment drives to encourage people to join the forces. Many of those who joined were young single men, but as the war progressed conscription was introduced. Older men were called up as well as the young. Many men did not go willingly. Many left behind wives and families, and farms and market gardens without enough workers.

It was reported in the Eastern Daily Press that by September 1915 out of a village population of seven hundred people, sixty four men from Saxlingham Nethergate had been recruited. Of these six were rejected. The village war memorial records that by the end of the war ninety seven men from the village had fought in the war, and of these, eighty one returned alive.

The men joined or were transferred to a variety of different regiments and several were in the navy. They served not just in France and Flanders but in Egypt, India and Macedonia. They did a variety of jobs and were not all front line soldiers. They were not only killed in action but some died as prisoners of war, or from disease, from drowning or sunstroke. Many of those who came back had been injured several times during the course of the war. Some received injuries which affected them for the remainder of their lives or caused them to die earlier than they might otherwise have done so.

The village war memorial honours not only those who died but also all those whose lives were altered forever by the conflict.

The original idea to research the lives of the men on the war memorial came from Janet Capon, a teacher at the local school. Together we started the research  but it took many years and sadly before we had written it up she died in 2008. In 2013 I revisited the data and with much more information available via the internet have added to it.

Research by the late Janet Capon and Jan Fox. Web site written and compiled by Jan Fox.

Jan Fox can be contacted on  jan@janmfox.co.uk  and 01508 499468

The photographs on the website can be made larger by clicking on them.

For information about the men connected with the village but not on the main memorial go to the Church Memorial page.

Copyright. Jan Fox.

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