Private Cecil Fearnley (d. 1915)
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Private Cecil Fearnley (d. 1915)
August 2, 1983
Private Cecil Fearnley is commemorated by a memorial and stained glass window in the South Quire Aisle.
A brass plaque below records:
D.O.M.*
IN LOVING MEMORY OF
CECIL FEARNLEY
15th. LONDON REGIMENT CIVIL SERVICE RIFLES, KILLED IN ACTION AT FESTUBERT 12th. MAY 1915
Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.
D.O.M. is the abbreviation of the Latin Deo Optimo Maximo, To God, the Best and Greatest. It is the motto of the Benedictine Order. The Latin quotation at the bottom of the tablet is from the poet Horace and means "It is sweet and glorious to die for one's country."
Cecil Fearnley was the son of Joseph Bates Fearnley, layclerk of Rochester Cathedral for forty years, and whose memorial is just below that of his son. The stained glass memorial window situated above the memorial to Cecil Fearnley includes the badge of the Civil Service Rifles - The Prince of Wales Plumes. The main theme of the window is the young David playing on a harp with the words, "David took an harp and played with his hand." (1 Samuel 16 v.23).
Pte. Cecil Fearley is buried in Brown's Road Military Cemetery, Festubert, France. Plot 1, Row C, Grave 19. Festubert is a village about 6 km east of Bethune, and Brown's Road Military Cemetery is a little south-west of the village and just west of the road from Festubert to Givenchy.
The Civil Service Rifles
The 15th County of London Battalion (Prince of Wales's Own Civil Service Rifles) was a Territorial Army Regiment formed originally in 1859 from members of the Audit and Post Office Departments, Inland Revenue, British Museum, Courts of Justice, Bank of England and others.
In 1922 the Regiment was merged with the 16th County of London Battalion (Queen's Westminster Rifles) to form the 16th County of London Battalion (Queen's Westminster and Civil Service Rifles). The title was shortened in 1937 to The Queen's Westminsters and in 1960 when the Queen Victoria's Rifles joined them the new Regiment became The Queen's Royal Rifles.
Battle of Festubert
The Battle of Festubert in which Cecil Fearnley was killed was fought during May 1915. The object was to assist the French operations in Artois and at Arras, where Foch was attacking. The attack against the German positions on the Aubers ridge was extremely costly, for the Germans were perfectly prepared and the British artillery had failed to cut the defensive wire. The losses were very heavy, more than 12,000 men being killed, wounded or missing. On May 15th the battle was resumed and although by the end of May some gains had been made they were no compensation for the heavy sacrifices incurred.
From the notebooks ‘The Naval and Military Memorials of Rochester Cathedral’ (1979)
by Roy Trett, OBE, TD,
Rochester Cathedral Chapter Library
Seventy-two brilliant stained glass windows were installed by prominent glaziers Clayton & Bell during the 1870s and 1880s.
