You wouldn’t give Staveley Road a second glance as you drive past along Great Chertsey Road towards the M3, although it looks a lot like Stella Street. (It is adjacent to Chiswick House.) I walked along it to look for two things and found three.
First there is this memorial.
The rocket was launched in Holland from a wooded area just north of the Hague. It took five minutes to reach Chiswick. Initially the government alleged that the explosion was a gas main to keep the existence of the V-2 secret and preserve Londoners’ morale.
Further down Staveley Road, at the junction with Great Chertsey Road is Chiswick Cemetery where VC holder, Lachiman Gurung, is buried. His white memorial stands out among the shiny black headstones that surround him. The inscriptions on the black ones are not always in the best taste: twee is being kind.
Bob Hufford tells his story: he was honoured for bravery in action in May of 1945. Raised in the small village of Dakhani, he was allowed to enlist in the Indian Army in 1940 despite being under the minimum height for peacetime entry (he stood only 4’11”). Attached to the 4th Battalion, 8th Gurkha Rifles in 1945, his unit faced around 200 Japanese at Taungdaw, Burma, on the night of May 12th. Subjected to grenade attack early the next morning, he threw back two of the devices before a third exploded, destroying his right hand and causing severe facial wounds. For at least four hours he held his post alone, loading and firing a bolt action rifle with his left hand. When he was finally relieved and evacuated, 87 dead Japanese were found, 31 of them directly beside his position. For his actions, Gurung was presented the Victoria Cross by Field Marshal Lord Wavell at Red House, Delhi, on December 19, 1945. After the war he remained on active duty, transferring to the post-Independence Indian Army in 1947, and retiring shortly thereafter. He returned to Nepal and farmed for many years, then settled in Hounslow, London, in 2008 after helping to lead a successful campaign to allow Gurkhas who had retired before 1997 to live in England. He died of pneumonia complicated by advanced age. (Biography by Bob Hufford.)
Wandering back through the cemetery a headstone stood out. It marks Anthea Craigmyle’s grave. She lived in Chiswick Mall and I have three of her pictures. The world being small, she was taught by Julian Trevelyan – among others – and Trevelyan’s widow, Mary Fedden, was her friend and neighbour.
I wonder who did the fine relief? The quotation belongs to Julian of Norwich (1342 – 1416) a mystic and theologian and a woman as well. Here’s something about her.