Remembrance Sunday        Indian Obelisk        WW11 New Milton Bombings   

Remembrance Sunday - 8th November 2020

New Milton War Memorial

10:45 a.m. onwards

It is likely that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the format of Remembrance Sunday will be very different from previous years.  As soon as information is received from The Royal British Legion local branch and New Milton Town Council, it will be published here.

The 2019 New Milton Remembrance Day was held on Sunday 10th November with commemorations at both the New Milton War Memorial and the Indian Memorial Obelisk at Barton on Sea.

Courtesy of local resident Michael Angus, here are a few photographs from the Main Commemorations in 2019.

.... and of the Parade to the Memorial Centre (also by courtesy of Michael Angus)

And some photographs of the Service of Remembrance at the Memorial Centre after the commemoration at The War Memorial.

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The Indian Memorial Obelisk Commemoration

Sunday 8th November 2020

Marine Drive.  Barton on Sea.

Regrettably the commemorative event in July 2020 has been cancelled due to the Coronavirus situation, but a similar commemoration may be held at 3:00 p.m. on Remembrance Sunday 8th November at The Memorial. Further information will be published in due course.

The Indian Memorial Obelisk at Barton on Sea was erected on 10 July 1917, to record for posterity, the memory of the Indian Army Convalescent Depot that was located in Barton, in two hotels and an encampment of wooden huts.

Indian Army soldiers came here to recuperate from illness and wounds they had suffered whilst fighting in North West Europe. The Indian Army used this facility from October 1914 through to the spring of 1916.

Photographs below are from the 2019 Commemoration

By extension, this memorial also commemorates the major contribution the Indian Soldiers made towards the final victory in World War One.
Their contribution, especially in the early months of the First World War, has been largely overlooked.

One hundred years ago the world was a very different place. The Indian Army was composed of men from countries which are now modern-day India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh. And of course, the Gurkhas from Nepal.

Historical records tell us that the inhabitants of New Milton and Barton made the Indian soldiers very welcome during their stay here.

A Heritage Information Board was installed at Barton on Sea on July 2018, displaying historical images and information.

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WWII Bombings of New Milton

Thursday 23rd August 2020

Memorial Clock.  Station Road (Opposite Bradbeers). New Milton

Due to the current Coronavirus situation, this event was postponed until 2021. 

On 23 August every year we normally remember the New Milton residents and visitors who lost their lives when enemy bombs fell on our town during World War II. In particular the bombing on 23 August 1940 claimed the most lives and is therefore the date we acknowledge as a focus of our remembrance of those innocent lives lost.

There were three bombings on the town, 23 August 1940, 8 August 1942 and 22 January 1943, a total of 26 civilians and 4 soldiers were killed.

Further information available from the Milton Heritage Society website.

http://miltonheritagesociety.co.uk/chapters/milton-in-the-wars/new-milton-on-the-23rd-of-august-1940

http://miltonheritagesociety.co.uk/chapters/milton-in-the-wars/blitz-on-new-milton-january-1943

In 2011 New Milton Town Council erected a memorial clock at the southern end of Station Road opposite Bradbeers department store. This memorial commemorates all the civilian casualties suffered by Milton Parish in World War Two. In addition, the names of the casualties are recorded on a scroll displayed in the Town Hall and in St Mary Magdalene church.

Picture above was taken when the Clock was originally consecrated.

The act of remembrance at the Memorial Clock normally takes the form of an assembly at the Memorial Clock at 11am for a 1-minute silence, a prayer, and an acknowledgement of the names of those killed.

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