The dedication of the memorial, from an old postcard, probably 22 May 1921.
West Malling War Memorial
The names of West Malling men who gave their lives in the Great War 1914–1919 are here recorded. They died for right & freedom. May they rest in peace.
The men behind the names
The war memorial stands beside the High Street, at the edge of St Mary’s churchyard. A metal plaque in a pointed-arch recess carries the names of the men of West Malling who died in the First World War, and a second plaque below it names those who died in the Second.
This page sets out every name as it appears on the memorial. Underlined names have information; select one to read what is known. Further down are the West Malling people who died in the wars but whose names were never added to the memorial.
- names on the memorial
- 75
- with information
- 0
- remembered here, not on it
- 0
Also on the East Malling memorial
Frederick Jaques and George Woodger are named on both the West Malling and East Malling memorials. The East Malling and Larkfield memorials have their own page on this site, with every name and many of the men’s stories.
The names on the memorial
Set out in the order they appear on the plaques.
The Great War plaque
The names of West Malling men who gave their lives in the Great War 1914–1919 are here recorded. They died for right & freedom. May they rest in peace. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
The Second World War plaque
And of the following who gave their lives in the 1939–1945 war
Remembered here, not on the memorial
Like almost every memorial, West Malling’s is incomplete. These West Malling people died in the two world wars, or as a result of them, but their names were never added. Some had moved away, some died at home after the fighting, and some were civilians.
The Great War, 1914–1921
The Second World War
Six of the civilians, Irene Devaux and four of her children and their neighbour Ada Driver, died at Wickens Place, High Street, on 11 November 1940.
The memorial
In July 1919 the parish resolved to put up a memorial cross in the churchyard, with the names of the dead on a plaque. It was designed by the architect W. K. McDermott and built by J. A. Davison, with Kentish ragstone supplied by Ronald Chittenden, and it cost £525.
A large crowd gathered for the unveiling on 22 May 1921. The Revd Lawson dedicated the memorial and the Revd Prideaux read out the names. The Second World War plaque was added later, below the first.
The memorial was listed Grade II by Historic England in 2017. In 2018 it was conserved with the help of a grant from the War Memorials Trust, when the stonework was cleaned and the plaques re-enamelled.
Sources
The service details draw on a published roll of honour for West Malling, whose author we are still trying to trace so that their research can be properly credited. Photographs of the memorial by Kris Mercer, October 2026. Other sources are the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, War Memorials Online, the Kent Historic Environment Record and Historic England.
This page is a work in progress. If you know anything about any of the people named here, especially those with no information yet, please get in touch.