Category: UK

This memorial to Private Edward Charles Porter is located in St. Mary’s Church in Great Bealings and he was the one villager to lose his life in the Second World War. Edward was born on 18 June 1924 and he was the son of Ernest Albert and Florrie Annie Porter from the village. At the 1939 Register, he’s listed as living at ‘Homeby’ on Boot Street and was working as a market gardener labourer.

Edward served in the 1st Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment and his service number was 14371165. By October 1943, the 1st Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment was actively engaged in operations near Tamu, a strategically important area in Burma close to the Indian border. Their duties involved extensive patrolling in the Kabaw Valley and along the line of the River Chindwin. This period of patrolling and reconnaissance placed them directly in the path of the impending Japanese offensive.

The anticipated Japanese offensive, codenamed “U-Go” was launched in March 1944 with the ambitious aim of invading India and capturing the key Allied bases of Imphal and Kohima. As this major offensive began to unfold, the 1st Devons found themselves playing a critical role in the defensive battles. They were heavily involved in defending the series of hills that ran along the vital Tamu Road as this road was a crucial artery for communication and supply, and its control was paramount for both the advancing Japanese and the defending Allied forces.

The War Diary of the 1st Battalion, Devonshire Regiment, provides specific details about the action in which Private Porter lost his life. On 21 March 1944, the battalion launched an attack against a small, enemy-held hill. This assault was initiated from a feature known as “Devon Hill”. The designation of this starting point as “Devon Hill” suggests it may have been a position recently captured by, or significantly associated with, the Devonshire Regiment, a common practice for naming features in a rapidly evolving battlefield. The attack involved A and B Companies of the 1st Devons and during the assault, B Company, along with the Battalion Headquarters element, came under heavy machine gun fire from well-sited Japanese positions. Two men from the battalion were killed in this specific attack and one of these was Private Edward Charles Porter, dead aged just 19.

His body wasn’t recovered and he is commemorated on the Rangoon Memorial in Myanmar, a very long way from home. Edward, whose nickname was Jack, gave his life for his country, as the memorial states. His father, Ernest Albert Porter died at the age of 1983 at the age of 95, that’s a long time where he was likely grieving for his lost son, and his mother Florrie Annie Porter died in 1967.

Whilst meandering around St. Mary’s Church in Great Bealings, this grave caught my eye, commemorating the life of John Julian Ganzoni, 2nd Baron Belstead (1932-2005). John Julian Ganzoni was born on 30 September 1932, the only son of Sir (Francis) John Childs Ganzoni and Gwendolen Gertrude Turner. His father was a distinguished figure in his own right who was a barrister by profession and a long-serving Conservative Member of Parliament for Ipswich, who was elevated to the peerage as the 1st Baron Belstead in 1938. The first Lord Belstead had also served his country during the First World War as an officer in the Suffolk Regiment and his mother, Gwendolen, was the daughter of Arthur Turner, also of Ipswich.

John Julian grew up with an elder sister, The Honourable Jill Ganzoni, who would later become known for her philanthropic endeavours, notably her significant contributions to the Belstead Centre at Woodbridge School, a lasting tribute to the family name in Suffolk. An early, perhaps formative, brush with the world of high politics occurred in his childhood when he and his sister Jill were presented to the then Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, at their parents’ Ipswich home which must have been really rather exciting. Such an environment, where political discourse and public service were familiar concepts, likely instilled in the young Ganzoni a nascent understanding of duty, even if his own political ambitions were not to surface for some years.

When his father died in 1958, it meant that he joined the House of Lords, but it took him several years to make his maiden speech. Matters changed somewhat though over the next few decades as he was given appointments by numerous Prime Ministers. I think we need a table here….

After retiring from Government, in 1992 he took over as Chairman of the Parole Board for five years and was known throughout his career as a compassionate Conservative. He died in 2005 without children and when his sister, Honourable Jill Ganzoni, died in 2022 her ashes were scattered next to his which all seems really rather lovely.

As I don’t get out much, I’m always intrigued to see an old font in a church, just because of the considerable heritage that they so often have. This one is likely to date from the thirteenth century, a relatively simple octagonal bowl with recessed arches on the sides and made from Purbeck marble.

The circular shaft, with its eight supporting columns, is likely to have been added later. I accept that getting excited about a bit of old stone in a church might seem excessive, but it’s where children were being baptised 800 years ago and that continuity of history does seem remarkable. I like things that are enduring and this has survived through centuries of societal change, conflict and renewal. And that’s not to mention that this font was initially designed for a Catholic Church, but here we are generations later with the font being used for Protestant services. It’s also likely the font where John Carver was baptised.