Trumpington British Legion Roll of Honour (World War I) and Book of Remembrance (World War II), Trumpington Parish Church

Roll of Honour of Trumpington men who served in the Great War, 1914-1919, and Book of Remembrance to the memory of the men of Trumpington who gave their lives in the 1939-1945 War.

Display case with the Trumpington Roll of Honour, Trumpington Church. Photo: Andrew Roberts, 24 October 2018.
Display case with the Trumpington Roll of Honour, Trumpington Church. Photo: Andrew Roberts, 24 October 2018.
Display case with the Trumpington Roll of Honour, Trumpington Church. Photo: Andrew Roberts, 24 October 2018.
Display case with the Trumpington Roll of Honour, Trumpington Church. Photo: Andrew Roberts, 24 October 2018.

In a glass fronted display case attached to the west wall, near the organ loft, of Trumpington Parish Church, there is a book containing the Roll of Honour of Trumpington men who served in the Great War, 1914 – 1919, and the Book of Remembrance to the memory of the men of Trumpington who gave their lives in the 1939 – 1945 War.

The Roll of Honour was written out by Albert Cousins, of Cambridge, and was finished in September 1933. The book was given to the British Legion in Trumpington in 1933 by the Reverend A.C. Moule on his resignation from the Parish. The World War II section was added by the Trumpington British Legion in January 1948.

Albert Cousins was an illuminator on the staff of the Fitzwilliam Museum. He was born in Havant, Hampshire *, in 1879. He took up the florist’s trade until he joined the army in 1916. During the war he served in the Rifle Brigade and was a stretcher bearer. He had moved to Cambridge in 1900, when he was 21 years old, and married Ethel Jane Sutton, of Barrington, in 1907. On his return to Cambridge after the war, he took up various jobs including that of art teacher and calligraphy teacher. Mr Sydney Cockerell, Director of Fitzwilliam Museum, offered him a post as an illuminator, at the museum. In a catalogue of his work it included rolls of honour for Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and for Chatteris. Albert Cousins died in Cambridge in 1964.

Sources:

Raymond Lister. The Illuminator: a Tribute to Albert Cousins. Cambridge: Golden Head Press, 1966.

Raymond Lister. Illuminated Manuscripts by Albert Cousins. An Exhibition to Commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the artist. Cambridge: Fitzwilliam Museum, 1979.

* These two sources refer to Albert Cousins’s place of birth as Havant, but it was Sandford, Berkshire (1911 Census).

Trumpington Roll of Honour, introductory page in the book given by the Vicar to the Trumpington British Legion, 1933, displayed in a case in Trumpington Church. Photo: Andrew Roberts, 24 October 2018.
Trumpington Roll of Honour, introductory page in the book given by the Vicar to the Trumpington British Legion, 1933, displayed in a case in Trumpington Church. Photo: Andrew Roberts, 24 October 2018.
Trumpington Roll of Honour book, page with entries for Chamberlain-Colbourne. Photo: Andrew Roberts, 24 October 2018.
Trumpington Roll of Honour book, page with entries for Chamberlain-Colbourne. Photo: Andrew Roberts, 24 October 2018.
Trumpington Book of Remembrance, page with "To the memory of the men of Trumpington who gave their lives in the 1939-1945 War. This section was added by the Trumpington British Legion, January 1948", displayed in a case in Trumpington Church. Photo: Andrew Roberts, 24 October 2018.
Trumpington Book of Remembrance, page with “To the memory of the men of Trumpington who gave their lives in the 1939-1945 War. This section was added by the Trumpington British Legion, January 1948”, displayed in a case in Trumpington Church. Photo: Andrew Roberts, 24 October 2018.
Trumpington Book of Remembrance, page with the names of the men of Trumpington who gave their lives in the 1939-1945 War, displayed in a case in Trumpington Church. Photo: Andrew Roberts, 24 October 2018.
Trumpington Book of Remembrance, page with the names of the men of Trumpington who gave their lives in the 1939-1945 War, displayed in a case in Trumpington Church. Photo: Andrew Roberts, 24 October 2018.