Memorial Service at Rushden
The Dardanelles Victims
The Royal Welsh Fusiliers and The Herefords

A deeply impressive service in memory of Rushden’s recent soldier guests – the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and the 1st Herefords – who have fallen in the Dardanelles was held on Monday at 8 pm in St. Mary’s Church, Rushden, and there was a crowded congregation. A muffled peal was rung before the service, and, as the worshippers assembled, funereal music was rendered on the organ by Mr. J. E. Smith. The service opened with the hymn, “O God, our help in ages past.” The Psalms were xxiii and xvi. The Rev. W. Pelham (Curate) read the lesson. After the hymn, “Ten thousand times ten thousand,” the Rector (the Rev. Percy E. Robson, M.A.) offered prayers for the friends of the fallen heroes. The hymn, “Jesu, lover of my soul,” was sung to the plaintive Welsh tune, “Aberystwyth,” so popular in Rushden during the sojourn of the Welshmen in the town.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” was the appropriate text from which the Rector delivered a touching and consoling discourse. He said they had gathered together in memory of those who had fallen in action. We felt special tenderness and gratitude to those brave men so recently amongst us who had fallen in their first fight. It was here in Rushden that those men spent the last few months of their sojourn in the dear homeland. It was

In Rushden Homes

that they found their last earthly home. They were very happy here. “People are so kind to us,” they said. In a letter he (the Rector) had received from an officer, writing after the first battle, he said, “I have been censoring a large number of men’s letters. The name Rushden is always mentioned very kindly.” It was in St. Mary’s Church that a large number of the men worshipped Sunday by Sunday. It was here that they sang the hymn, “Jesu, lover of my soul” to their own lovely tune – sang it in a way we could never hope to match. We should never forget them when we saw that hymn. It was just natural that we should meet together to pay our last tribute of respect and honour to those who had fallen. We mourned for them more as friends who had learned to love them – for the young lives that had been cut down. That sad news had brought home to us the horrors of the war perhaps more than anything else had done. But we were not there simply to mourn – if there were no other motives we should be no Christian congregation. Sorrow did not remain without hope. We should remember that it was for their King and country that they died.