During the Second World War and its aftermath there were a number of marriages at St John the Baptist Church in Wickhamford when the groom was serving in the Armed Forces. There were thirteen such weddings from 1940 to 1946 but in only three cases were the men from the village. In the list below, the details of these marriages and the service information available on the men is given. These details have been gathered from the Wickhamford Marriage Register, Newspaper Archives and the 1939 Register compiled at the outbreak of the War.
9th November 1940 - Frank Charles Vickeridge of Cleeve Prior married Edith May Sutton of Wickhamford
In 1939, Frank Vickeridge was living with his parents, Frank and Kate, at 7 Evesham Road, Cleeve Prior and he was working as a garden produce lorry driver. At his marriage, he was in the Kings Shropshire Light Infantry. Both bride and groom were the children of market gardeners, Frank Vickeridge and George Joseph Sutton. Edith was a domestic cook in 1939, living with her parents at 11 Pitchers Hill. Frank died in 1963 and was buried in Cleeve Prior.
7 December 1940 - Stanley Robert Kinear Winfield of Broadway married Clarice Phipps of Wickhamford
Stanley Winfield was recorded in the Parish Register as a Corporal in the 7th Ox & Bucks Light Infantry. He was not listed in the 1939 Register, so was probably already in the Army by September that year. His father, Walter Sylvanus Winfield was a Gas Labourer in Broadway at the time of his son’s wedding. Private Stanley Winfield (no. 5381127) died on 8th September 1944 in Italy and was buried at Coriana Ridge War Cemetery. He had carried out an earlier period of service, in the Royal Artillery, joining in 1931.
7th Jun 1941 - Leslie Mervyn Kent of Bengeworth married Nesta Moisey of Wickhamford
Leslie Kent is only described in the Parish Register as in HM Forces. In the 1939 Register, in Badsey, there is an entry for L.M. Kent, of the R.A.F. (no 701150) who is probably the person concerned here. He was listed as the son of George Kent who was also recorded on the Marriage Certificate of Leslie and Nesta, although by then he was deceased. A newspaper report from February 1944 gave his rank as corporal and placed him in the Far East. The report said that he had sent his parents some lemons, which they auctioned at Smithfield Market, Evesham and raised £4 for the Red Cross. Leslie Kent survived the War, as he was mention in a Newspaper report in 1947 when he was involved in a traffic accident, in Wickhamford, whilst driving a bus. He died in 1972.
16 August 1941 - George Henry Robbins of Wickhamford married Gertrude Elizabeth Smith of Evesham
George Robbins lived on Pitchers Hill, Wickhamford, and was in the Royal Engineers, although in the Parish Register it is only recorded as him being in HM Forces. He was evacuated from France in 1940 and after his marriage served in N. Africa, Sicily and Italy. He survived the War, dying in 1993, in Pershore, but his ashes were buried in Wickhamford. The couple can be seen in the wedding photograph, with his parents, Annie Lily and George Edwin Robbins, to his right.
21st October 1941 - Reginald Berkeley Arthur Cook of Wincanton, Somerset married Constance Mary Wright of Wickhamford
Reginald Cook was only recorded in the Parish Register as in H.M.Forces, but there is an Army Record showing that he died on 2nd April 1944 whilst serving as a Private in the Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Albert’s) Royal Army Service Corps, (no. 5673323). Constance’s father was George Wright, a general motor mechanic but in the 1939 Register he was a market gardener of 12 Pitchers Hill. A newspaper report on 19 April 1944 stated that Mrs. C. Cook of 77 Pitchers Hill, Wickhamford, had been notified of his death on active service with the Middle East Forces. He was buried at the Fayid War Cemetery, by the Suez Canal in Egypt (grave no. 2.c.10). The inscription on his stone is -
GOD MUST HAVE A BEAUTIFUL GARDEN
HE PICKS THE BEST
“RESTING”.
21st February 1942 - William Arthur Cruise of Newport, Monmouthshire married Ethel Sutton of Wickhamford
William Cruise was working as a builder’s labourer in Newport, Mon., when the 1939 Register was compiled. In the Parish Register his occupation was given as H.M. Forces and his bride was the daughter of George Sutton, a Wickhamford market gardener. William was a Private (no. 6085905) in the Queen’s Royal Regiment and was first recorded there in 1937. He survived the War and a newspaper report from 1954 states that he was a lorry driver of 14 Sandys Avenue, Wickhamford, who was fined for failing to have a dog licence. He died in 1996. Ethel Sutton was the sister of Edith who had married in 1940 (above).
15th July 1944 - Leslie Roy Fletcher of Acocks Green, Birmingham married Violet Winifred Hopkins of Wickhamford
The Parish Register recorded that Leslie Fletcher was a Process Engraver (OAS) in the R.A.F., who was the son of Walter Aubrey Fletcher, a Dispatch Clerk in Birmingham. (‘OAS’ stood for Offensive Air Support). Earlier, in the 1939 Register, Leslie was also listed as a Process Engraver. He married one of the Land Army women who were staying at Wickhamford Manor during the War. Her father was Llewellyn Wycliffe Hopkins, who was retired by the time of his daughter’s wedding.
5th August 1944 - Horace Neville Haile of Badgworth, Gloucestershire, married Hilda Irene Brotherton of Wickhamford
The Parish Register only states that Horace Haile was in H.M. Forces. No entry for him can be found in the 1939 Register, so he was probably already in the Services by that time. He was serving in the R.A.F. (no. 638710) and the earliest record of his service was in 1938. He died in Cheltenham in 1992. The Parish Register wrongly gave his Badgworth address as in Gloucestershire, but is should have been Somerset.
14 March 1945 - Cecil John Robert Sturt of Wickhamford married Iris May Taylor of Wickhamford
Cecil Sturt was the son of Ernest and Clara Sturt who ran Leystones Garage in Wickhamford. He served in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (R.E.M.E.) and was recorded in the Parish Register as a Craftsman in the R.E.M.E. He was working as a motor mechanic at the time of the 1939 Register. His service record is unknown, but a newspaper report of his wedding recorded that he has just returned home after four and a half years abroad. Below is a photograph from the Evesham Standard of the bride and groom. He died in 1989. Iris May was the daughter of Frederick Taylor of 5 Council Houses, Pitchers Hill.
25 April 1945 - Harold James Webb of Wickhamford married Mona Collett of Badsey
Harold Webb was described as a Private, H.M. Forces in the Parish Register and he was a son of Ernest Webb, a market gardener of Whitfurrows Farm, Wickhamford. He saw service in Italy but no details have been located. He died in 1996.
6th October 1945 - John Henry Whiting of Bristol married Constance Mabel Taylor of Wickhamford
John Whiting, a son of John Whiting, a docker in Bristol, was a driver in the R.A.S.C., according to the Parish Register (Royal Army Service Corps). The wedding took place four weeks after the end of the War with Japan. He was a dock labourer in Bristol at the time of the 1939 Register, as was his father, also John Whiting. Constance’s father was Frederick Taylor and the family lived at 5 Council Houses, Pitchers Hill at the time of the 1939 Register. She was the sister of Iris May Taylor (above). No service record has been found for John Whiting but family sources place him in North Africa with the 8th Army at one time in his service. ‘Jack’ and ‘Connie’ Whiting lived for many years at 59 Pitchers Hill. John Henry Whiting died in Malvern in 2004. Their wedding picture is a partially coloured-in photograph.
1st December 1945 - Francis Raymond Watts of Broadway married Eileen May Taylor of Wickhamford
Francis Watts was a son of William Watts, a bricklayer of Broadway and the Parish Register places him in the Royal Navy in 1945. A report of his wedding in the Evesham Standard gave his rank as an Able Seaman. Eileen lived at ’39 Council House’, Wickhamford and her father Thomas Morton Taylor’s home address was 2 Bredon View, Broadway. In the 1939 Register, Francis Watts, although only 14, was working as a Private Gardener. He died in 2005. A photograph of the bride and groom was published in the Evesham Standard. The report stated that over 60 guests attended the reception at the Sandys Arms.
11 September 1946 - Godfrey Vernon Allchurch married Lilian Betty Webb of Wickhamford
Godfrey was a son of Fred Allchurch, a market gardener, who lived in Honeybourne. The 1939 Register has the family living in School Road, Honeybourne and Godfrey was a market gardener’s labourer and part-time postman. In the Parish Register he is said to be in the Royal Navy, but no records of his service have been located. He died in 1999 and was buried in Badsey.
Tom Locke – October 2026
Footnote: This article is a replacement of a shorter version – Wickhamford war-time weddings of servicemen from outside the village – written in 2020.