As Remembrance Sunday approaches, we take a moment to remember the eleven friends and players of J F Marshall who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Great War of 1914–1918.
At Seacourt Sports Club, a remarkable memorial wall plaque stands as a lasting tribute to these eleven young men, personally commissioned by John Marshall following the Armistice.
We are grateful to Alf Fleming and Adrian Warden for sharing the history behind this important part of Seacourt’s heritage and reminding us of the significance of the memorial that remains on our court today.
J F Marshall’s Seacourt Memorial to the Eleven of His Friends and Players Who Gave Their Lives in the Great War 1914–1918
“THEY SHALL GROW NOT OLD AS WE THAT ARE LEFT GROW OLD”
At this time of the year, on Remembrance Sunday, we hear the familiar words, but how many of us Seacourt members have noticed and realised the significance of this remarkable wall plaque, a personal tribute to the eleven friends and players of John Marshall who gave their lives in the Great War 1914–1918.
When John Marshall opened his court in 1911, little did he realise that in three short years’ time England would be plunged into a World War and that eleven of his younger friends and players would answer the call of King and Country and would never return from the killing fields and trenches of the Western Front.
After the Armistice, in their honour, he commissioned this, his personal memorial to them, with the Greek inscription translated as follows:
“FRIENDS, WHOM FATE TOOK FROM THE FIELDS OF PLAY TO THE FIELDS OF BATTLE, NOW ARE PLAYING ON THE PLAINS OF PARADISE.”
In 2018, Adrian Warden researched the names of the eleven and managed to find their photographs, except for Dering Radcliffe, together with their ages and dates of death. Six of them were only in their twenties, and two were awarded the gallantry medal, the Military Cross.
Adrian has produced a memorial book with a short biography and record of service of each of the eleven as a wonderful tribute for all of us to view.
Perhaps next time, as you go on court, spare a moment to inspect this unique and rare tribute, aptly situated on the wall opposite the net, and look below the list of names at the cameo image of the two players spinning for service and, no doubt, Marshall himself as one of the three spectators.
“AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING WE WILL REMEMBER THEM”
Alf Fleming and Adrian Warden
