2/Lieut C.L. Teape
Location: St Columb Minor Church, St Columb Minor, Cornwall, TR7 3EY
Details on cross:
2/Lieut C.L. Teape Devons
This cross is a replica of that which stood over the grave in France of
Charles Lewarne Teape,
Sec Lieut 9th Battalion Devonshire Regiment.
Killed in action in the Battle of the Somme,
4th September 1916.
Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): GRU tag and brass plaque.
Cross dimensions (millimetres please)
Shaft Height: 440mm
Cross beam width:320
Width of wood: 60
Thickness or depth:25
Other information
Mounting to wall: Flat bracket and screw.
Evidence of use in field (earth marking, cracking, staining, shrinkage): N/A
Surface insertion depth (into ground if apparent): N/A
Finish (varnish, paint, oiled, unfinished etc): Varnish
Condition (cracked, paint peeling, woodwork, damage etc): Good but a bit unloved.
Notes and observations: As the brass plaque explains, this is a replica cross with a GRU tag attached. It is grouped together with a memorial to the men of St Columb Minor who were killed in the Great War and Captain John Lewis Rogers of 1/4th DCLI who died of pneumonia in Egypt four days after Armistice Day. This corner of the church, with a rather nice C17 slate ledger, is now the children’s play area, which is nice. You may disagree.
De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour gives a brief history of Teape’s life. He had been in France for just three weeks when he was killed, a few months after his twentieth birthday. At the time of the 1911 census, just three years before the start of the war he was a fourteen year old schoolboy. He is buried in Delville Wood cemetery near Arras.
Survey and photographs courtesy of Andrew Macdonald
Date of Survey 13/04/17
