On This Day in Wembury
11 December 1914 — Wembury Branded an “Ill-Starred Parish”
The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette published returns of how many men from each Devon parish were serving in the armed forces at the outbreak of the First World War. The Lord Lieutenant had called for the figures to form a county roll of honour.
Wembury, with a population recorded as 901, was said to have only 16 men enlisted. This placed it below the four per cent threshold set for “acceptable” recruitment, and the parish was publicly listed among the so-called “ill-starred parishes”, a form of shaming meant to spur greater enlistment.
In reality the figure was misleading. Many men from small coastal parishes were already at sea or registered in Plymouth rather than at home, so their service was not reflected in the returns. By the end of the war, five Wembury men are named on the parish war memorial in St Werburgh’s Church:
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Charles L. Blackmore
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Herbert L. Blackmore
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Edgar Giles
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Archibald Walke
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George Woodley
While the numbers look small, they reflect heavy losses for a village of Wembury’s size, and the stigma of being branded “ill-starred” sits uneasily against the reality of local sacrifice.
Sources: Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 11 December 1914; Imperial War Museums, War Memorials Register (St Werburgh’s Church, Wembury, Memorial ID 79796).
