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‘The Potters’ Art Guild’ was
set up in the village of Compton, near Guildford in Surrey by Mary Seton Watts,
wife of the eminent Victorian artist George Frederic Watts. She pursued her own artistry within the
realms of pottery, the local red clay being suitable for the production of
ornaments, garden pots and the decorations and building of the local Cemetery
Chapel with its unique gravestones. The pottery was run on a Guild system the
workers having a financial interest in it.
The Watts Gallery is open to
the public, showing the work of G.F.Watts and Mary Seton Watts, the Cemetery
Chapel is situated a few miles away at Budberrow Hill.
The names of the men who died
in WW1 and WW2 are listed on the ceramic plaque situated on the left hand side
inside the War Memorial.
At the end of WW1 the Peace Committee
set a date of the end of March 1920 to be the closing date for submission of
the names of the Fallen and their inclusion on the War Memorial. Unfortunately,
just after the deadline, two more men died as a result of wounds, so they could
not be added. In 1952 the Parish Council
went back to the Compton Pottery and ordered a second plaque to show the fallen
of WW2, but, still without the names of the two missing from WW1. The Compton Pottery ceased to trade in 1951 so
any further production was impossible.
The name of Alfred Rogers,
another man missed from the original plaque was added in 2006.
On contacting the Watts
Gallery in 2008 for information on the plaque, it was found that they had no
records of such work and were pleased to have all details for their archives.
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| 1919 Potters Guild names of the fallen |
Potters Guild ladies decorating the Cemetary Chapel |
1919 Names of Ruyton XI Towns men fallen in World War I |
| plus Alfred Rogers inserted in 2006 |
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