Commemorative Plate Lieutenant John Eden Kruiseke

Commemorative plate at the façade of the church at Kruiseke, hamlet of Wervik, in memory of Lieutenant John Eden who fell at Kruiseke on 17 October 1914.

Tekst on the plate : "This church, built with the help of a generous donation from Marjorie Lady Brooke, is dedicated to the memory of her brother Jack - Lieut. John Eden of the 12th Lancers - who was killed in action at Kruiseik on 17 October 1914.

John Jack Eden was originally buried in the Klytstraat together with 29 Germans and 4 British in the German cemetery Wervicq-Ten Brielen America Cabaret I No. 44. In 1919, Marjorie Eden, Lady Brooke, visits her brother's grave for the first time. When she returned in 1925, the British graves were transferred to the Larch Wood Railway Cutting Cemetery in Zillebeke. When she heard of this, she wanted to place a large cross at the church of Kruiseke as a memorial to her brother, but there was no church yet. Marjorie promised a financial donation for the construction of a chapel and in 1927 she handed over a considerable sum of money for that time.
The memorial stone was unveiled in 1998 in the presence of John Eden, namesake and nephew of Lieutenant John Eden and Clarisa Churchill, widow of Sir Anthony Eden, brother of Lieutenant John Eden and niece of Sir Winston Churchill.

In the church there is still a memorial plaque for British and German soldiers who fell in Kruiseke and for Belgian veterans

August Fahrion gefreiter, + Kruiseke 13 juni 1916
Sam Wilson Sergeant Majoor, + Kruiseke 26/10/1914
Julien Forrest oud-strijder- Vuurkruiser, + Kruiseke 29/10/1980
Johann Bosheime, Oberleutnant, + Komen 18/11/1914
Walter Baird Brits soldaat, + Kruiseke 1/11/1914
Henri Decroix oud-strijder-Vuurkruiser + Kruiseke 2/381952
John Warren Ierse luitenant, + Kruiseke 25/10/1914
Charles-Louis Verhaeghe oud-strijder, + Kruiseke 6/11/1945

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Source

• Text: Luc Van Waeyenberge & Jhonny Bastiaensen
• Photos: Luc van Waeyenberge (1, 2), Jhonny Bastiaensen (3, 4, 5)
• Toerisme Wervik
• "John Jack Eden en de Heilig Hartkerk van Kruiseke" Raoul Masschelein