Hurst is possibly a little unusual in having two war memorials with a full set of inscribed names. One is on Church Green and the other within the parish church, in the Campion Chapel, the North Transept.
After the end of WWI a parish committee was set up to look into the possibility of erecting a suitable memorial to the fallen. A series of public meetings took place and a design by Major Godman of Horsham was selected. This Memorial is situated on the south west side of the crossroads next to the Parish Church, on land donated to the parish by Colonel Campion. The Imperial War Museum describes it as a ‘Tall thin cross, partially in relief only, on an octagonal plinth in two sections and two stepped base.’ The cross was erected in late 1921, shrouded in a linen cover while the names were inscribed, and unveiled on St. George’s Day, Sunday 23rd April 1922, by Colonel Campion. It now records the 78* names of those ‘who died for their country in the Great War 1914-1919’. To these names were added the 18 who lost their lives in the Second World War 1939-1945.
It is this Memorial that is the focus of the Remembrance Day service that takes place each year on the second Sunday in November.
*Originally 77 names were inscribed. Cornelius King, who died in 1923 as a result of his war service, was added later.
The Memorial in the church consists of two inscribed tablets, mounted either side of a wooden crucifix above an alabaster altar. The tablets bear the names of the 78 who fell in World War I. The Memorial was unveiled by Mrs Gertrude Campion, widow of Colonel Campion in 1927. The crucifix, brought back by a soldier from the battlefields of France and rescued by Mrs Campion from a curiosity shop in Brighton, predates the creation of the chapel. Two additional tablets bear the names of the 18 who fell in WWII.
Biographical notes on the fallen, researched and compiled by my wife Mary, and updated by her with additional information in June 2022, can be found in the following downloadable pdf files:-
First World War download
Second World War download