Published in Windlesora 14 (1995)
© WLHG
All Saints Church Centre, Dedworth, is on the site of a previous building which was consecrated in 1863. The original church was constructed of red brick with some fine stained glass by William Morris. Building costs were met in total by the family of Mrs. Mary Sophie Tudor, in her memory. The church was then a chapel of ease to St Andrew’s Clewer. Parish Church Council minutes reveal that there were structural problems with this first edifice as early as the 1920s, although it was not demolished until forty years later. The present church was dedicated on 9 June 1973.
Outside the new church there stands a small parish war memorial, which remains on the site of the first church. Its history is rather obscure. Many memorials of this type (often known as ‘War Shrines’) were erected, some before the end of the Great War of 1914-1918 but mostly during the 1920s. They display a strong resemblance to the wayside Calvaries often found in the French countryside (another example can be seen outside the church of St Agnes, Spital). Most parish and civic war memorials carry long lists of names, especially for the Great War. This one is unusual in bearing only one name. The inscription on the base reads:
TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN LOVING REMEMBRANCE OF
BELFORD ALEXANDER WALLIS WILSON
AND ALL WHO LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY
1914-1918. MAY THEY REST IN PEACE.
Belford Alexander Wallis Wilson was born on 19 November 1874 at Lordington, a large house which still exists on the Sussex/Hampshire border. Later the family moved to Adsdean House (subsequently owned by Lord Louis Mountbatten) in the same area, and thence to Leamington Spa. They were apparently quite wealthy, antecedents having been distinguished in court, diplomatic and military circles. His great-grandfather is buried in Westminster Abbey, and a relative was Admiral of the Fleet. There are five entries in the Dictionary of National Biography.
Belford Wilson (sometimes referred to as Wallis-Wilson) was the eldest son in a family of ten children. After a public school education at Clifton College, he became a tea planter in Ceylon. On the outbreak of the Boer War he volunteered, serving in the ranks in South Africa. In 1914 he volunteered again for military service, and saw action in the Dardanelles. Following the evacuation from Gallipoli he was granted a commission in the Hampshire Regiment and was wounded at Beaumont Hamel, on the Somme, in 1916. After rejoining his regiment he was awarded the Military Cross when “he led two companies of troops to the front line under very heavy fire with great gallantry”. Later he was awarded a bar to this (in effect another MC) after “he occupied and held a position within twenty-five yards of the enemy trench, afterwards driving them back and repulsing all their attempts to reoccupy the trench“.
Second Lieutenant Wilson was killed during the third battle of Ypres (the Passchendaele offensive) on 26 September 1917 in his 43rd year. He was unmarried. His body was never found and thus he has no known grave. He is remembered in five other places – on the school memorial gateway at Clifton College in Bristol, on the town memorial at Leamington Spa, at Nuwara Eliya in Sri Lanka, at Tyne Cot Military Cemetery in Belgium, and on his father’s gravestone. His name is also shown in the Hampshire Roll of Honour for the Great War, held at Winchester Cathedral, and on his school’s Roll of Honour.
It is not clear to the author why Belford Wilson is commemorated in Dedworth, no connection with the Windsor area having been established. Unfortunately, parish records are incomplete, and study of contemporary copies of Windsor Express has revealed nothing. Although lateral descendants have been unable to shed any light on the matter, it is assumed that one of his sisters may have moved to the area on marriage and perhaps funded erection of this simple monument in remembrance of a brave man.
The gallantry of Second Lieutenant Belford Alexander Wallis Wilson, MC & Bar, is referred to three times in the official history of the Hampshire Regiment. Following his death, his Commanding Officer wrote:
“He was loved by all the officers and men of the battalion, as one of the oldest and bravest … everyone knows of the brave deeds he has done.”
Colin Hague
Windsor Local History Group 