Last man remembered - project to honour Chatteris' First World War fallen is complete

It's taken almost six years to complete - but a project to commemorate those from Chatteris who died in the First World War has finally concluded.

A short memorial service on Thursday May 21 marked the end of the town's branch of the Royal British Legion's 'Every man remembered' campaign.

Norman Larke, branch chairman, said the ceremony to remember Private Edmund Cooper was nearly cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic and plans by the legion's two Standard Bearers to hold commemorations in their own back gardens instead.

However, it was decided the event should still go ahead and so Norman together with former deputy branch chairman Leon Jones and RAF veteran David Kelley, gathered - socially distancing - at the war memorial at 11am for the final service.

It means that all 161 of the men who were killed during or died as a result of the First World War have been remembered on the 100th anniversary of their death.

Norman explained Pte Cooper's memorial service was planned to include a special commemoration marking the end of the 'Every man remembered' project.

The campaign was launched in August 2014 following a hugely successful National Lottery funded project, which saw children at Kingsfield Primary School create a booklet containing a biography of every soldier, from Chatteris, who fought and died in the First World War.

With the publication of the booklet came the idea from members of the youth branch of the town's RBL to commemorate the death of each one on the day they died.

The first service was held in August 2014 just a month after the outbreak of the war and was in memory of Private Tom Seekings, who died aged 21 and culminated in last week's service for Pte Cooper.

He was seriously injured during the first day of the Battle of the Somme - July 1 1916. He was wounded in three places and lay in a shell hole for three days before he was rescued. In that time he had eaten part of his uniform due to the intense pain he was in.

Pte Cooper, who was part of the 11th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment, was one of at least 387 of the Cambridgeshire Pals wounded that day.

Norman explained: "Cambridgeshire Pals was the nickname for the Suffolk Regiment as the men who served all came from Cambridgeshire - the Suffolk Regiment was one of those that were a forerunner to the Royal Anglian Regiment."

Pte Cooper was born in 1891 in Woodhurst, Huntingdonshire , the fourth son of George and Martha. By 1911 he was living in West Street, Chatteris and was a farm labourer, as were his father and brothers.

He probably enlisted in May or June 1915. After being wounded at the Somme he was treated in France and transferred between at least six hospitals in England before finally returning home to Chatteris just a few months before he died on May 21 1920. He was being cared for by his sister at the time.

Pte Cooper was buried in the parochial cemetery in Chatteris.

The first memorial services were held at 4pm on the day of the anniversary of the fallen soldier so children from the local schools could attend if they wanted to.

But the time changed to 11am during the first winter and it stayed that way. However, the format of the service remained the same for all 161 men.

Appropriately they included the reading of the biography of each man researched by the Kingsfield pupils and included in their booklet. The reading of a poem, the placing of memorial crosses and the dipping of standards.

Social distancing meant numbers had to be kept small at Pte Cooper's ceremony but branch Standard Bearers Jan Baynes and Rob Lake carried out their duties at special ceremonies in their gardens, as the service was conducted at the town's war memorial.

Norman added: "It has taken us six years to complete. I have attended 90 per cent of the ceremonies - they usually take 10 to 15 minutes, which is not much time to give when you compare it to the sacrifices these men made.

"It is a shame we were forced to change our plans for the last one, we had invited VIPs to attend including the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire to mark the end of 'Every man remembered'. We now hope to do something in the near future when the current situation has been resolved."