Thame sailors who died at sea, remembered

NINE men from Thame who lost their lives at sea during various conflicts, have been honoured in a special wreath-laying ceremony in Portsmouth, led by the Mayor of Thame, Tom Wyse.

A contingent from the Thame Remembers group, travelled to Southsea Common yesterday, June 14, where they were joined by the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth and members of the local British Legion at the Portsmouth Naval Memorial, to remember the lost sailors. They were Fred Keene, Fred Hake, Francis Cartland (whose father landlord of The Six Bells pub in Thame), Frank Tickner, Jack Summersbee, Hugh McRae, Sydney Richardson, Edward Holbrook and James Carter. All their names are engraved on various panels of the Portsmouth Memorial.

L to R Lord Mayor of Portsmouth, Mayor of Thame Tom Wyse, Cllr Matelot Green, James Green, Lady Mayoress of Portsmouth & Lt. Commander James Fickling RN

During the service, the Exhortation was given by Nichola Dixon. The reading of names was carried out by Catherine Jones, Bran West, and Peter Gulland, and Tony Buggins read the Epitaph to the dead. Four wreaths were then laid by the Mayor of Thame, Cllr Tom Wyse, on behalf or Thame Remembers, the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth, Cllr Ken Ellcome, on behalf of the City of Portsmouth, the Chair of South Oxfordshire District Council, Cllr Jeannette Matelot Green, on behalf of the Council and Lieutenant Commander James Fickling, on behalf of the Royal Navy. A personal wreath was then laid for Ann Barrington, a Thame Resident, in memory of her grandfather who is also remembered on the memorial.

A minutes silence is held for the nine remembered sailors

Mike Dyer, Project Coordinator, Thame Remembers ) pictured in the pink shirt, said: “The Portsmouth visit was another landmark in the Thame Remembers project, enabling more than thirty people from Thame plus naval veterans and members of the Portsmouth community to join in commemorating nine men from Thame who lost their lives at sea. Assistance from the Portsmouth branch of the Royal British Legion and from the crew of HMS Dauntless enabled us to carry out our act of remembrance according to naval tradition, complete with standard bearers and with naval pipes in place of bugle calls. It was an honour and a privilege to be a part of this special event which was conducted in a most respectful manner and had an emotional impact on all those present.”

All aboard HMS Dauntless

Following the ceremony, the Thame group was treated to a tour of HMS Dauntless, a state-of-the-art naval destroyer, by her current Commanding Officer, Lt. Commander James Fickling, who hails from Moreton, and whose mother is Town Councillor, Helena Fickling.

Later in the afternoon, the group visited the Mary Rose Museum, dedicated to the amazing Tudor warship of that name, raised from the deep in 1982, from the Solent where she sank in the sixteenth Century when Henry VIII was on the throne; a fitting contrast to the modern day warship, HMS Dauntless!

NB The aims of the Thame Remembers project is to commemorate the centenary of World War One by researching all the names on Thame War Memorials, for all conflicts and to discover more about their lives; to identify the location of each of their graves or memorial and place a Thame Remembers cross on each resting place wherever in the world that may be.

To find out more about Thame Remembers, LINK HERE

MORE photographs taken during the visit can be viewed HERE ( ALL images copyright of Sonja Francis and may NOT be reproduced without permission – contact: editor@thame.net )