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It carries the names of nine villagers lost in the in the First World War and four in the Second War War. A list of all the names on the Memorial, and information about eqach person is here:: http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Suffolk/LittleBealings.html
When the First World War started in 1914 many young men enlisted together, joining the same Regiment. This was the case with two Bealings boys who enlisted on the same day – Thomas Clarke from Little Bealings and Wilfred Mutimer from Great Bealings, who both joined the Suffolk Regiment. They were of a similar age - they had known each other since childhood, went to school together and were good friends. Their families knew each other well - Tom was from a family of 12 and lived in Heath Cottage, Little Bealings, while Wilfred lived in Barrack Cottages, Great Bealings and had 4 siblings.
On 28 April 1917, Wilfred Mutimer (see image right) was killed in action at the Battle of Arleux in northern France. As the fighting continued, Tom died in action the very next day. Two young men who had grown up and joined up together, had lost their lives within a day of each other. One can only imagine the effect on their families and the wider community within the villages when news of this came through.
Many families were left to mourn their losses during the conflict and for these two families in particular, the war was to deal a particularly cruel blow. Early on during the war, in June 1915, the Clarke family had already received news that another son, George, had died in the conflict. For the Mutimer family also, further tragic news came in May 1918 when Wilfred’s younger brother, Arthur, died in a military hospital in northern France, just two days after his 19th birthday.
After the First World War villages did their best to ensure that the memory of lost friends and family would be honoured, erecting the Memorials to the fallen around which we still gather each year on Remembrance Sunday. Like many War Memorials around the country, the Little Bealings Memorial was funded by local subscription. The Clarke family name appears four times on the list of subscribers to the War Memorial - all family members related to George and Thomas Clarke, who are named on the Memorial. Their parents, Alfred and Sophia, contributed 10 shillings - equivalent to about £30 today, a considerable sum for a poor family with 12 children. Albert, Annie Sophia and Elsie Clarke were siblings who contributed; sister Elsie was only 14 at the time, so her one shilling would have been a significant contribution on her part.
The Memorial was dedicated by the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich in 1920.
In Great Bealings, Laura Mutimer, sister of the two Mutimer brothers lost in the conflict, was given the honour of unveiling the War Memorial in 1919. A few years later, Laura married Frederick (known as ‘Tubby’) Clarke, another of the Clarke brothers who had served in and survived World War 1 - perhaps it was a shared grief which brought them together.
The Parochial Church Council looks to have taken responsibility for the Little Bealings War Memorial thereafter and the Church accounts for 1934 include £6 and 10 shillings spent on re-lettering. In October 1989 Little Bealings Parish Council agreed to an approach by the then Rector of All Saints that it take over responsibility for maintenance – in accordance with its power ”to incur reasonable expenditure to maintain, repair and protect and adapt war memorials” under s1 of the War Memorials (Local Authorities' Powers) Act 1923. The accounts record a payment of £115 for ‘Repair of War Memorial’ to F Masters on 29 October 1990.
By 2020 the Memorial was again in need of attention, the lettering being faded and indistinct, to the point where the names inscribed on the stone were in danger of being lost. Parts of the Memorial were covered in lichen and patches of moss, perhaps due to its site in the shadow of a yew tree. With the help of Little Bealings resident, Francis Mutimer, and the PCC, the Parish Council obtained a grant of £680 from the War Memorials Trust Grants Scheme for conservation work, and also part funded the work.
Partly due to Covid restrictions the cleaning, repair and conservation took two years to complete, but in time for the Remembrance Service in November 2022, the Memorial been gently scrubbed clean using only water, repointed and the names of the 13 villagers lost during two World Wars repainted.
Francis Mutimer
Carol Ramsden, Clerk to Little Bealings Parish Council
Reverend Gary Jones, Priest in Charge, All Saints Church, Little Bealings