Location: On the Lower
slopes of Corndon Down, off the road to Sherwell.
O/S Grid Ref:
SX/68326/73896
Longitude/Latitude (Degrees+/-): -3.85996/50.54995
Map location:
Click here
to view map.
Purpose: Erected
in memory of Lieutenant Evelyn Cave-Penney, who was killed by a sniper in Palestine
in the First World War.
Size: 4
feet 3 inches (1.30 metres) tall. 1 foot 10 inches (0.56 metres) across
the arms.
Information: This
is a relatively modern cross mounted on a large, waist high, boulder
known by the name of ‘The Belstone Bible'. The north face of the
socket stone is inscribed:
-
TO THE GLORY OF GOD
-
AND TO THE DEAR MEMORY OF
EVELYN ANTHONY CAVE PENNEY
LIEUT. Q.V.O. CORPS OF GUIDES
FELL IN PALESTINE WHILST
GALLANTLY COMMANDING HIS MEN
JUNE 8TH 1918 AGED 19
LOOK UP AND LIFT UP YOUR HEADS
-
- Evelyn Anthony Cave-Penny
was the second eldest of the four children born to father, Frank Cave-Penney, and mother,
Amelia Hine. Evelyn was born in Exeter on 13th November 1898 and was
educated at Oxford and Middlesex. In November 1916, he was commissioned
into the elite regiment of Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides, within the
Indian Army. He spent his first year in the Army posted to the Pakistan
border in the north-west of India. He was then, in November 1917, posted
to Mesopotamia where his regiment merged with the 11th Indian Cavalry Brigade,
where he was later promoted to Lieutenant. In June 1918, he found himself
serving in the reserve trenches to the north-east of Jerusalem. On June
8th, he and his men were ordered forward into the front line in the battle
against the Turkish Forces. It was during these manoeuvres that he was
shot dead by a sniper. As well as being commemorated by the cross shown on
this page, he is also commemorated in the Ramleh Military Cemetery in
Israel. Evelyn's younger brother, Roy, also lost his life in war, during
World War II.