14 June 2016

Please note: this news article is in our archive. Articles were correct at time of publication, but should not be relied on for accuracy after the passage of time.

At the going down of the setting of the sun and in the morning, we shall remember them

On Thursday 30 June East Grinstead Town Council will mark the centenary of the Battle of Boars Head (The Day Sussex Died)  by lighting a candle to burn for the 5 hours of the battle.

The Town Mayor (Cllr Bob Mainstone) will light a candle at 3.05am (the exact moment the regiment went “over the top” and leave it lit through to 8.00 am  when we shall then lay a wreath in remembrance.   The candle will be extinguished at 8.05am  The Council are organising this with the local branch of the Royal British Legion and they along with the Town Mayor will lay a wreath.  The East Grinstead branch of the Royal British Legion are posting an honour guard from 7 am for the last hour of the candle burning, The Town Mayor and Clerk along with representatives of the  RBL will also be in attendance from 7am onwards. We feel this will be a fitting and solemn tribute to the men from Sussex who lost their lives on that day 100 years ago.

We will temporarily hold the High St traffic for a 1 minute silence at 8.00 and trust that commuters appreciate and join with us in the solemnity of the moment.

Town Mayor Cllr Bob Mainstone said “This is our version of an everlasting flame, burning for each minute of the battle 100 years ago. It is hard to envisage how devastating that battle was for this county, 12 sets of brothers were killed, local families would have been directly affected or known those who were much more than today as population and transience was much less back then.  A solemn day for us as we remember the sacrifice”

The Council is placing a candle at the High St War Memorial at 3.05 am and it will be joined by an honour guard at 7.00.  At 8.00 wreaths will be laid and at 8.05 the candle extinguished but they will remain there all day along with a sign to explain the significance.

The Battle of Boards Head, Richebourg, France was a diversionary tactic prior to the Battle of the Somme which started on 1 July 1916. On the first day of the Somme nearly 20,000 were killed.

The Sussex Regiment like many others were “pals” regiments where men from the same villages and towns were placed, therefore heavy losses would be felt keenly in a small geography.

The Sussex Regiment was disbanded in 1966 and today forms part of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment (Queen’s and Royal Hampshires).