Plaque: Eton Manor - WW2
War Memorial
Erection date: 16/6/1946
{Top plaque, on ribbons around Eton Manor's two-tone blue, chipped, pennant:}:}
Up the Manor
{Text below:}
These playing fields were designed as a tribute to the members of the Eton Manor Clubs who fought for England in the First World War. Today the 16th June 1946 they are dedicated to the memory of members who died for England in the Second World War. Here and at the Eton Manor Club in Hackney Wick those whose names are recorded below spent many happy hours. They would ask no better memorial than that these fields should give to future generations of Eton Manor the health, happiness and comradeship that they themselves enjoyed. Here too will live the Manor spirit which members carried with them across the world.
{Below this are 3 plaques, left to right:}
1939 - 1946 {followed by 30 names, the first part of a list in alphabetical sequence.}
{See our other page for the middle, WW1 plaque.}
1939 - 1946 {followed by 29 names, the second part of a list in alphabetical sequence.}
The text on the top plaque refers to two locations: "here and at the Eton Manor Club in Hackney Wick". But that plaque and the others with the lists of names are, 2019, in Hackney Wick at the site of the Eton Manor Club. So when the top plaque was erected in 1946 it, and the others, were at the other location, described as "fields". We can't find evidence but we wonder if this was at the New Wilderness - see our page for the club.
Unusually the names given are not those on their birth certificates, but those used by those who knew them. Not James, Alfred and Thomas, but Jim, Alf and Tom. And even more touching: a Gammy, a Shacky, a Shorty and two Gingers. We can't remember seeing such a personal list before, and we've seen a few.
Site: Eton Manor old boys war memorial (3 memorials)
E20, Eastway, Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre
In our photo the Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars memorial is on the left. On the right, the lower middle plaque commemorates WW1, the other 3, WW2. War Memorials Online has useful photos.
War Memorials Online says: "The memorial was relocated as part of the Olympic Games development of the site and is now outside the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre" which is where we found it. But where was it before? We'd like to see photos of these various plaques in their original locations.
The BBC inform that Eton Manor Old Boys would meet at the war memorials annually on Remembrance Sunday to pay tribute to former members of the club who died during both world wars. During the Olympics the memorials were put into storage so the Remembrance Sunday gatherings took place at the Eton Manor Rugby Club, near Redbridge tube station. And after the games the memorials were restored so, presumably, the gatherings are taking place here again.
Games Monitor has photos of this memorial in 2006. The 'V' panel was almost exactly as now. The '4-plaque section' was almost the same as now but without the lower central plaque. Also it looks as if the supporting wall(s) were longer, possibly serving the more normal function of a wall as well. What the Games Monitor photos don't show is how the two panels related to each other.
See our page Eton Mission and Eton Manor Clubs for the history of the clubs.
The film 'What Have You Done Today Mervyn Day?' ( London Trilogy, Films of St Etienne 2003-2007) shows this site and the memorials (not very clearly) before the Olympics arrived.
