Clevedon First World War memorial

The memorial was unveiled in a ceremony and religious service which drew large crowds on 28 August 1921. Considerable military ceremony accompanied the dedication, as was common for war memorials after the First World War. The army band of the 3rd Mounted Rifles travelled from Auckland to play, and the B Squadron of the same unit formed the firing party. Clevedon men who had fought in the war and returned paraded, and an army Chaplain, the Reverend Thompson, delivered an address. The monument itself was then unveiled by Maria Munro, the mother of 21-year-old farrier Robert William Munro who was killed at Gallipoli in 1915. Munro’s name is the first inscribed on the memorial. Wreaths were placed by family members, and the Anglican vicar of the Papakura circuit, the Reverend William Charles Wood, made a speech.

Clevedon’s Anzac Day commemorations, which have included a parade since the 1930s, centre on the monument, where speeches are made and wreaths laid to honour the fallen. The monument was maintained by the Clevedon Industrial and Horticultural Society through the 1920s and 30s, mostly by its women members. The base of the memorial was first concreted in 1928.

Following the Second World War, a memorial stone honouring Clevedon men killed in the conflict was added at the base of the monument on Anzac Day 1952. A public meeting had been called in September 1950 by the Manukau County Council to discuss proposals for a memorial to the eight Clevedon men who had died in the Second World War. A stone placed near the existing memorial was felt to be most appropriate, and the Council additionally decided to dedicate the space behind the monument as a memorial park for the use of Clevedon residents. The Second World War memorial, a simple stone inscribed with the names of those killed in the war, was dedicated on Anzac Day by the Reverend R. J. Fenton. This lists eight local men who gave their lives in the Second World War: Lieutenant J. B. Dow, Flight Sergeant S. Fernyhough, Private H. Hema, Sergeant R.J. Hirst, Warrant Office L.A. Hoppe, Private P. Reuben, Private L.F. Scott, and Lance Corporal D.R. Shaw. Photographs of these men are on display at the Clevedon Historical Society’s museum in the McNicol Homestead, McNicol Road.

The Clevedon schools rolls of honour are held in the Clevedon community hall and the McNicol homestead.

Sources: ‘Clevedon Memorial’, NZ Herald, 30/8/1921, p. 6; C.C. Munro, Clevedon Centennial, 1852-1952, Clevedon, 1952, addenda, [pp. 8-9]; F. Murray, 'Yesteryears', Clevedon Roundup, no. 245, 19 March 2001, pp. 3-5.