Nuthurst war project seeks information on fallen men

Of the 37 men from the First World War identified as having some connection with the parish, the connection has been determined in all but four cases.

Three of the four appear to have associations with nearby locations: Sergeant Thomas Moody (Lower Beeding), Lance Corporal William Terry (Wiston) and Lance Corporal Sidney J Gibson (Slinfold and Horsham).

The final name reads on the lychgate only as C. Tucker.

Having a fairly common surname and only a single known initial, it has not been possible to identify this individual from military records.

The project team speculated that he may have been a Canadian soldier, but this could not be proven.

The Nuthurst Remembers project has over the past several months aimed to plant a tree in each of the hamlets of the parish to commemorate those who gave their lives in the world wars.

This involved producing a roll of honour naming the rank and unit of each of the fallen and, where known, the hamlet with which they were associated.

The project used as a starting point the lychgate at St Andrew’s Church in Nuthurst, which lists the names of World War One parishioners who served and gave their lives.

It then extended to include those with a connection to the parish who were not listed, as well as those who died in the Second World War.

The project is appealing for information, photos, medal citations and other military records to contribute to a document from the Nuthurst Local History Society. If you have any information, email [email protected]