Cheam: WWI & WWII War Memorial! (12.9.2023)

The memorial was unveiled on 16 March 1921 by Admiral Sir Arthur Henry Limpus KCMG, CB and dedicated by the Archdeacon of Kingston, Robert Charles Joynt.The carving and erection were carried out by a local mason Mr Snook of nearby Worcester Park. Among the dead commemorated on the memorial was Flight-Commander F A Brock (son of Brock of Brocks fireworks manufacturers) who invented the smoke screen. Following the Second World War, three names of those who lost their lives in that war were also added.

Monument: Water-Trough and Cross – William Francis Gamul Farmer (1812- 1860) – BellGate Entrance – (East) Nonsuch Park [Cheam] (11.8.2022)  

Willian Francis Gamul Farmer married one ‘Matilda Farmer (nee ‘Wilkinson’) [1815-1889] and produced eleven children with here – seven boys and four girls. The names of his children were William Robert Gamul Farmer, Thomas Allix Farmer, Matilda Frances Farmer, George Lancelot McLean Farmer, Margaret Anna Farmer, Emily Mary Farmer, Charles Edward Farmer, Revd. James Edmund Gamul Farmer, Henry Lowth Farmer, Catherine Augusta Farmer and Francis Colebrooke Farmer. He inherited from his grandfather when aged 26 years old (in 1838) and again from his father – William Meeke Farmer (1778-1840) – when he was 28 years old in 1840! This is why he lived the care-free life associated with the landed gentry. Willian Francis Gamul Farmer was appointed Deputy Lieutenant for Surrey before reaching the Office of High Sheriff of the County of Surrey – when he received his appointment in 1849 (when he was around 37 years old). Indeed, so important a person was he – that an oil painting was commissioned to record this important event – which seems to show him around 37 years old (although I cannot find any verification for the date or the name of the artist, etc).