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Wayside Cross

The Wayside Cross was erected by the people of Pinetown to commemorate the men who lost their lives in the Great War of 1914-1919: a sandstone cross with a marble inlay, originally 11 names. In 1925 the Pinetown Park Committee was formed to beautify the area around the cross with stones from the Umbilo River and trees and flowers, adjacent to the Old Main Road -- hence the name "Wayside Cross". In 1950 the Pinetown War Memorial Council added a plaque for 21 local men who died in the Second World War (1939-1945), consecrated 16 July 1950 by Canon W.H.T. Gahan, Vicar of St John's Church, Pinetown; wreaths were laid by Toc H, the Red Cross, the Women's Institute, S.A.W.A.S, and Moth, Army, Navy and Air Force representatives, with a wreath dropped by a military aircraft. During the Bush War (1970s-1990s) the Pinetown Moth Shellhole ("Better 'Ole", chartered 1927) assisted local conscripts; nine Pinetown men killed in the operational area were added under a further plaque, "1980-1988 Bush War" -- six of them Pinetown Boys High pupils, one an ex-pupil of Durban High School, one of Kearsney College. The cross was later moved from its original wayside site to its present location in the Civic Gardens in front of Pinetown Library, on a new plinth funded by the Pinetown Round Table. A separate granite plaque recording the names of 1 Medical Battalion (Reserve Force) was added on 26 November 2009 by Major Mathew Everitt with Col Perumal, then OC 1 Medical Battalion. The Better 'Ole Shellhole holds an annual memorial service on the Sunday nearest 11 November, attended by the local authority, police, Red Cross and family members.

Location: Pinetown Library grounds, Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal

Address: 67 Josiah Gumede (Old Main) Road, Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

-29.8148, 30.8605 · OpenStreetMap

Photographs

The Wayside Cross, with its 1914-1919 and 1939-1945 Roll of Honour plaques.
Source: Pinetown Roll of Honour, Pinetown Museum (Hazel England).

"Memorial to be sited in town gardens" -- Highway Mail, on the cross's move to the Civic Gardens in front of Pinetown Library. Michael Wheeler points to his grandfather Percy Wheeler's name.
Source: Pinetown Museum press clippings.

"War fallen are neglected" -- Highway Mail, 23 September 2005. Peter Shattock (Better 'Ole Shellhole) on the Bush War plaque's poor condition.
Source: Pinetown Museum press clippings.

"Soldiers remembered" / "Plaque to be repaired" -- Highway Mail, 30 September 2005. Peter Shattock with the repaired Bush War plaque.
Source: Pinetown Museum press clippings.

The Wayside Cross in the Pinetown Library grounds, 6 November 2011, showing the whole memorial: the sandstone Celtic cross, the Great War 1914-1919 Roll of Honour, the World War 1939-1945 panel below it, and the "Died on Active Service" Bush War plaque at the foot.
Photo: John Dovey <dovey.john@gmail.com>, 6 November 2011, taken at the Wayside Cross parade.

The Wayside Cross from the front, 6 November 2011, with a military vehicle drawn up behind it for the parade.
Photo: John Dovey <dovey.john@gmail.com>, 6 November 2011, taken at the Wayside Cross parade.

Name panels

1 Medical Battalion

1 Medical Battalion, 26 November 2009

WWI Roll of Honour 1914-1919

The Great War 1914-1919 Roll of Honour panel, 6 November 2011. Eleven names: C.A. Ponting, C. St James, C.E. Tatum, H.E. Bickley, P. Wheeler, C. Lake, W. Lake, C. Jardine, H. Lister, C. Lawrie, Meller Beviss. Inscribed "Their Name Liveth For Evermore."

WWII Roll of Honour 1939-1945

The World War 1939-1945 panel, 6 November 2011, with the Great War panel above it. Twenty-one names: D.H. Barrett, F.C. Clarke, L.P. Dawson, G.H. Foss, M.M. Frara, R. Gibson, J.A. Gilchrist, P. Gill, A.McN. Harvey, W.E. Harrison, St G. Hawksworth, J.R. Hickman, E. Hoy, C.L. Impey, E.G. Maunsell, E.A. Samuel, H.B. Stevenson, W.M. Sutton, A.J. van den Heever, J.N. Wheeler, M.J. Wood. Inscribed "At the going down of the sun, we will remember them."

1980-1988 Bush War

The "Died on Active Service" Bush War plaque, 6 November 2011. Nine names with dates: C.B. Catto 25.10.1980, J.R.S. Drake 15.1.1982, R. Cameron 9.2.1983, T. van den Dool 22.1.1984, K. Inglis 18.2.1984, K. Henriksen 30.8.1987, R.M. Light 31.10.1987, H.N. du Rose 1987, J.P. du Preez 1988. The lower names are weathered and hard to read; this is the plaque the Highway Mail reported as neglected in September 2005 and repaired later that month.

Names on 1 Medical Battalion Names on WWI Roll of Honour 1914-1919 Names on WWII Roll of Honour 1939-1945 Names on 1980-1988 Bush War