Comments on: Spitalfields Remembers The Great War

By: Jonathan Collins

Jonathan Collins — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 14:19:40 +0000

Rifleman Edward Ernest Peters (R-21426) 9th Battalion King’s Royal Rifle Corps was attached to the 7th Battalion Rifle Brigade when he was killed in action in the attack on Gap Trench, Flers, France 15th September 1916 (source soldiers effects registers where their actual unit at the time of death is recorded).

By: Stephen Lee

Stephen Lee — Sun, 02 Jun 2019 11:18:31 +0000

A wonderful and very moving tribute.
Rifleman Henry Lee (No. 43 in this article) was my Great Uncle. I recently had the great honour of visiting both the Spitalfields Christ Church War Memorial and his grave at Oak Dump Cemetery just outside Ypres in Belgium. Henry died on the 4 August 1917 aged 23, during the battle of Passchendaele.
Unfortunately his biographical information is incorrect. Henry was born in Bermondsey the son of George William Lee and Ann Mary Jane Maides. One of five children, by the time of his father’s death in 1908 the family had moved ‘north of the river’ to 7 Duval Street. Henry’s sister Agnes Caroline know as Carrie was married to Walter Diss, the older brother of Gunner Joseph Daniel Diss, who died a few weeks after Henry on the 30th August and is also featured in this article.

By: Clive Greig

Clive Greig — Sun, 04 Mar 2018 18:08:35 +0000

I know it’s probably too late now but I have further information on Ernest Edward Dench who was my great uncle on my mother’s side.
He was an only son and had three sisters one of whom was sent to prison for harbouring a deserter.It is also believed he was married to a gypsie but I have no way of proving this now.
I have visited he last resting place in France. He is buried with both Allied and German soldiers.

By: Vicky

Vicky — Tue, 15 Nov 2016 09:16:14 +0000

Viv – the map used is a section of the 1916 Ordnance Survey Map of Spitalfields & Whitechapel which I found in the Bishopsgate Institute. Vicky Stewart

By: Viv Wilson

Viv Wilson — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 19:47:54 +0000

Thank you for another wonderful piece. I wonder if you could let me know the map that you have used to illustrate the residences of all these lost souls. It shows a PH that I am researching that I haven’t found in many other sources.

Kind Regards
Viv Wilson

By: Evelyn in the Twin Cities of Minnesota

Evelyn in the Twin Cities of Minnesota — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 17:28:44 +0000

Thank you Gentle Author, for your intense and very time-consuming research and photography for this heart-rending memorial. These deep details also give us a clear view of what human society becomes without women’s access to free family planning, without any significant government care or responsibility, and without access to any effective antibiotic medications. As beloved Harry Leslie Smith has often written in the past 6 months, “my past is your future.” Let us all exercise ourselves in preventing this from happening. From your ardent American friend, Evelyn

By: Jill

Jill — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 17:12:52 +0000

Well done Vicky Stewart, a very moving collection of stories. The act of remembrance seems especially poignant this year. Is it because after enjoying many years of peace and prosperity we seem to entering an era of uncertainty and dissolving alliances? Have we learned nothing?

By: Sonia Murray

Sonia Murray — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 16:49:21 +0000

Brilliantly researched! Juxtaposing the stories of these brave young men with pictures of the doors they walked out of made their tragedy come alive. Thank you for this article, which is deeply moving and so very sad. The aristocrats who started and perpetuated WWI and all the later wars lived out their lives – the poor on both sides of the conflict were sent to slaughter each other.

By: Terry Smyth

Terry Smyth — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 10:18:28 +0000

Thank you so much for sharing this exquisite social history.

By: Caroline Bottomley

Caroline Bottomley — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 08:46:47 +0000

What an excellent way to pay respects, thank you GA