Hadleigh & District Branch Royal British Legion

The Hadleigh & District Branch of the Royal British Legion was established on 28 September 1921. It was one of the very first branches to be establish in the country and it has been active ever since. This page will tell the story of the Branch.

Hadleigh, like all the other towns across the country directly felt the impact of the Great War. It is thought that around 800 local men served in uniform. There are 112 names of men who died during the war listed on the town’s WW1 war memorial, although we now known that more than 112 local men died.

Of the returning soldiers, many were disabled, either mentally or physically and had to rebuild their lives. The economy had plummeted and by 1921 there were 2 million people unemployed. Then there were those who depended on those who had gone to war – the wives and children, widows, and orphans, as well as the parents who had lost sons in the war, on whom they were often financially dependent.

There was a desperate need for help and support and this initially came from a small number of veterans groups that had sprung up. At the time there were four main veterans groups including:

The National Association of Discharged Sailors and Soldiers

The British National Federation of Discharged and Demobilized Sailors and Soldiers
The Comrades of The Great War
The Officers' Association

In October 1918 men from Hadleigh met in the Church room of the Guildhall for the purpose of forming a post of the Comrades of the Great War. The meeting was chaired by Mr P.H.Wilson, Esq. Chairman of Hadleigh Urban District Council and Captain W.T. Eighteen was elected as the first Captain of the Post.

Page 1 of the Hadleigh War Memorial minute book. (FB81/A6/1)

As local thoughts turned to how to remember those fought during the war, a public meeting was held in the Town Hall on Monday, 24th March 1919 and was presided over by P.H.Wilson, Esq. Chairman of Hadleigh Urban District Council. Several proposals put forward at the meeting it was decided to explore all options. A popular suggestion was to raise a lasting memorial to the fallen and another was to establish a public institute that would provide a section to be set apart for the Comrades of the Great War. At a meeting in August 1919 Mr C.F. Grimwade gave a clear and telling speech where in addition to calling for the erection of a memorial and contributions towards our own Cottage Hospital and Ipswich Hospital, he also called for a contribution towards a local club.

“That a contribution should be made towards the Club of the Comrades of the Great War in recognition of the bravery and sacrifice made by the survivors, and our gratitude and joy at their return”

— Mr C.F. Grimwade, Hadleigh War Memorial Committee

The Hadleigh War Memorial committee raised funds through public subscription. By December 1919 they were in a position to transfer £67 - 7 - 9 over to the Treasurer of the Comrades Club. This amount is documented in the early accounts ledgers and formed the main contribution towards the purchase of the land and the first club house.

The first club house was a large hut that was transported to Hadleigh by road and rail and erected on the current site on George Street. While these days a hut might sound a bit fragile, this structure survived well into the 1960s.

On the national stage, there was some concerns over the newly formed veterans groups and so with the help of Field Marshall Earl Haig and Mr Tom F Lister of The Federation of Discharged and Demobilized Sailors and Soldiers these four diverse bodies were amalgamated into the newly formed British Legion.

The initial contribution that made purchasing the first club house possible.

On 15th May 1921 the British Legion was formed with Mr Tom Lister as its first Chairman and Field Marshall Earl Haig its first President and later that year on 28 September 1921, the Hadleigh Post of the Comrades of the Great War transferred their membership across to the new British Legion.

Tell Our Story

As we approach the centenary year the Royal British Legion is aiming to tell its story in a number of ways, one of which is to create a digital archive. The Hadleigh Branch will support this nation effort by creating and sharing its own story. So we are calling upon the Hadleigh community to take a trip down memory lane and to dust off the old shoe box photo collections to find any old photos or artefacts that might help us to tell our story.

If you have any information about any of the photos in the, then please get in touch with the project team at hadleighww1@gmail.com

Click on the pictures below to view the Royal British Legion’s gallery

We hope that this page has been able to tell the story of the Hadleigh & District Branch of the Royal British Legion. If you know of any information which might help to add to the story then please get in touch.