The annual Remembrance Exhibition in St Michael & All Angels Church, Bedford Park is now open, telling the stories of local servicemen who died in 1916 at the Somme and other battles – and highlighting some of Bedford Park’s war artists whose sons fought in World War 1. It will be open free of charge every day from 9am until Armistice Day, Wednesday November 11th. All are welcome to visit, including local school parties and history groups.
The church’s Remembrance Sunday Choral Requiem Mass on November 8th will begin at 9.55am, followed by the procession to the Bedford Park Memorial Seat, outside the Parish Hall, for The Last Post, laying of wreaths and two minutes’ silence at 11am. St Michael & All Angels will be filled with poppies – knitted, silk, paper and ceramic and – all are welcome to attend the service and/or the memorial occasion outside.
St Michael & All Angels World War 1 Project
In 2014, the centenary of the start of World War 1, we began researching the lives of the 128 names on our war memorialsthrough our St Michael & All Angels World War 1 Project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Every November we highlight St Michael’s and Bedford Park’s links to WW1 and WW2 – telling those stories through documents, photographs and other images, keeping memories alive and vividly bringing home the impact of loss in wartime in a residential area such as Chiswick.
This year we are focussing on World War 1 and the events of 1916, remembering local men who lost their lives at the Somme and other battles, and telling the remarkable stories of several war artists of Bedford Park. See: Remembrance 1916 to 2016 exhibition.
These include James Clark, who rose to prominence in 1914 with a painting entitled The Great Sacrifice, depicting a young soldier lying dead on the battlefield beneath a vision of Christ on the Cross (right). Prints were snapped up by churches, schools, and mission halls and it was described as “the most popular painting of the war” with its religious imagery providing “consolation to the families of dead soldiers”.
James Clark’s three sons all fought in WW1, including the youngest, Cosmo, who later became a well-known artist like his father. Cosmo volunteered at the age of 17, saw active service with the Artists’ Rifles and was awarded the Military Cross. He drew sketches of what he saw (see painting above: The Dugout) and in 1916 he was injured at the Battle of the Somme.
Cosmo’s family kept his war letters and these were published in the year 2000 in a book called The Tin Trunk, Letters and Drawings 1914-1918, compiled by his daughter. It became the basis for a play, Cosmo’s War, written and produced by a BBC producer Bernard Adams.
On Remembrance Day 2022, Cosmo’s War was performed as a staged reading in St Michael & All Angels Church, attended by many of Cosmo’s family, some of whom were photographed with the cast. Bernard Adams died this summer at the age of 86 and is remembered in the exhibition.
Other Bedford Park artists who are featured include Cecil Aldin, who was well-known for his paintings of dogs and horses, including illustrating Black Beauty and other works. He reportedly kept 13 dogs, two monkeys and a fox cub while living at The Limes, 46 Flanders Road!
Too old for active service, he was Major in charge of the remount depot near Pangbourne and developed several Ladies’ Army Remount Units, staffed entirely by women. Cecil’s son Dudley was killed in action in May 1916 and is remembered on our war memorials and one of the panels in the exhibition.
Another local artist remembered in the Exhibition is George Derville Rowlandson, a well-known etcher, illustrator and painter and one of the first official First World War artists (painting, left: Capt Wright VC). He lived at 22 Priory Road (now Avenue) in Bedford Park and his son Private George Rowlandson was killed in action on October 1st 1918 at the Battle of Ypres.
These artists are featured prominently in the new Timeline of Chiswick Artists and Illustrators, compiled by the Chiswick Book Festival team with help from many other researchers, including several from the Bedford Park Society and The Chiswick Calendar. The Festival is run and hosted by St Michael & All Angels as part of its mission of arts and community outreach.
This year’s Remembrance Exhibition also commemorates David Beresford, a retired doctor who became the church’s archivist and led the St Michael & All Angels Church World War 1 Project. David died in 2022 at the age of 82. From 2014 till 2018, he created large, illustrated panels which were displayed in the church, highlighting the stories of those who had died in each of the years 1914-1918.
Twenty of these panels are displayed in this year’s Exhibition, including eight devoted to those killed on the Somme in 1916. One features Alexander Robinson, the son of a Churchwarden at St Michael & All Angels, who was also a server in the church. His name lives on in St Michael’s in a plaque on the Bishop’s chair given by his father.
This Sunday November 8th, Remembrance Sunday, many people will attend one of Chiswick’s church services and parades. At St Michael & All Angels at 9.55am there will be a Choral Requiem Mass in a church full of poppies – knitted, silk, paper and ceramic – before the clergy and congregation process to the Bedford Park Memorial for the Act of Remembrance at 11am, where a trumpeter will play the Last Post and children and clergy will lay poppy wreaths.
