Robert Charles Partridge (and Charles de Guerry Dalglish)
Cornwell is a tiny privately owned hamlet situated in the North Cotswolds, not far from Chipping Norton. Dominating the hamlet is Cornwell Manor. St Peter’s Church is a tiny Norman church only approachable on foot through a lovely avenue of trees behind the Manor House. The cross can be found positioned in one of the windows in the chancel, on your right hand side as you walk through the church.
This cross is a real curiosity as it has another name on the reverse.
Location:
St Peter’s Church
Cornwell
Gloucestershire
OX7 6TT
Details on cross:
Top of shaft:
GRC
Left hand side of cross beam:
CAPT. PARTRIDGE
Right hand side of cross beam:
5TH DRAGOON GDS. 8-9-14
Screwed to the middle of the cross at the intersection is a plaque with the following inscription:
In Loving Memory
of Captain Partridge
5th Dragoon Guards
Killed in Action
September 8th 1914
Text type: GRU tags and metal engraved plaque.
Cross Dimensions:
Shaft Height: 1230mm
Cross Beam: 550mm
Width of wood: 70mm
Thickness: 40mm
Other information:
Mounting to wall: N/A – is mounted into a wooden plinth
Detailing: None
Evidence of use in field: None
Surface Insertion depth: N/A
Finish: heavily painted in very dark grey gloss paint.
Condition: very good. Metal plaque is a little tarnished.
Other information:
I had to lift the cross down from the window ledge in order to be able to measure the cross, and see the detail on the plaque. I placed the cross on the floor in the light shining through the open door, and as I looked around the cross, I noticed some lettering on the reverse, only just discernible through the very thick layer of gloss paint when tilted at an angle in the sunlight.
Carved into the wood, I made out the following details:
Top of shaft, just above cross beam:
In Jesus’ Mercy ➕
On cross beam:
CAPT DARGLESH
BLACK WATCH
On shaft just below cross beam:
RIP
This discovery raised a number of questions for me. Why was there another name on the reverse of the cross? Is this a recycled cross? Did DARGLESH turn up alive? Was this one cross used to mark the resting place of two officers? I found the connection between the two officers whilst conducting research into Capt Partridge – they both fell in battle on the same day, and are listed on the same GRU schedule.
Information on Charles de Guerry Dalglish
Capt. Charles de Guerry Dalglish Black Watch. (94) Charles was born in Goulburn NSW Australia in 1883 and was the third son of a district surveyor who had considerable wealth invested in the Broken Hill Proprietary Company mine. Charles’s father died in 1888 and so the family immigrated to Britain where they resided at Gledhow Gardens in South Kensington, London. Dalglish joined the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Perth Militia in 1900 before being commissioned into the 1st Battalion Black Watch, and serving in the Boer War. After the conflict, he was promoted to captain, married and had three children. He was based at Aldershot with the 1st (Guards) Brigade when the German army mobilised and invaded neutral Belgium in 1914. Charles was a member of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) who were deployed to France in August 1914. They formed part of the defensive screen along the Mons-Conde canal to hold back the German’s advance toward Paris. He was killed very early in the battle of The Marne near the German-held village of Soblonnieres on September 8, 1914 while leading his men in the assault. Buried Sablonniers New Communal Cem. Age 31.
Survey and photographs courtesy of Samantha Fryer
Date of survey: 31 Oct 16
Note the spelling correction for Capt Dalglish on the GRU schedule – which explains why I couldn’t make out the name. Was this cross with a spelling mistake recycled/reused to mark Capt Partridge’s grave, during a battle when crosses may have been in short supply? Did the officer’s fall side-by-side, so only one cross used?