Biography

Inside nearly all the places of worship in Launceston and surrounding districts, there have been placed honour boards, plaques, windows and other such things to commemorate those members of each congregation who fought and who in the several wars in which our countrymen have taken part.

In most cases there are long lists of names of men and women who joined the services and served overseas in the country's defence. Those who died overseas have been marked with a cross in most cases. Several have been dealt with elsewhere in the book and are those that appear as individual memorials.

However, there is one war memorial that is worthy of separate mention for its artistic importance. It is a beautiful interpretation of Leonardo da Vinci's 'The Last Supper' in sectile mosaic placed as a reredos in St. John's Church in 1921.

It is fitted to a curved template that fits snugly to the curved wall of the sanctuary. A plaque was also erected in the church listing the names of the twenty-four men who died. The inscription reads:
TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN GRATEFUL MEMORY OF THE MEN FROM THIS PARISH WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR 1914 - 1918.
THE REREDOS IN THIS CHURCH HAS BEEN ERECTED BY THE PARISHIONERS.
BALDERSON C. BALDSTRUP G.H. BECK A.K. COLLINS V. COOKE R. CRAWFORD N. O'DOUGHARTY F.C. EVANS R.F. ECCLES A.E. GOOD F. GATENBY L. HANCOCK P.H. HARRISON R. FRITH A.G. FRITH R. KIDDLE R. DE LITTLE M.G. POWELL G. ROBSON T.K.M. TAYLOR B.L.
PRITCHARD A. TEVELEIN E.L. TOLSON G. WESTBROOK V.G.

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