Four generations of the Burtenshaw family will be gathering at St Nicholas Church, Sulham to commemorate the life of Voluntary Aid Detachment Nurse, Winifred Helen Burtenshaw, who died on 21st October 1919, aged 36, as a result of an accident whilst on duty.
At the time of her death, Winifred was working at No. 1 War Hospital, Oxford Road, Reading (formerly the Reading Union Workhouse), having previously worked at the Basildon Park War Hospital. She was a resident of Sulham and had grown up there, her family having moved to Yew Cottage on Sulham Lane in 1893. She was buried on 23rd October 1919 with full military honours in St Nicholas' churchyard.
Family members will join St Nicholas Church's annual Remembrance Service, which begins at 10.45am. All relatives and anyone other interested in paying their respects to Winifred, or indeed any others on Sulham's war memorial, or in general remembrance, will be very welcome
10th November 2019
10:45 am
Location
St Nicholas Church, Nunhide Lane, Sulham, Berkshire, RG8 8EE
What3Words: ///skinny.bother.trapGPS coordinates: 51.463343,-1.072891
Tiny St Nicholas Church, Sulham, was packed for the 2019 Remembrance Service where special tribute was paid to Winifred Helen Burtenshaw. The congregation heard the Revd Heather Parbury describe Winifred’s life before the outbreak of war and her subsequent service and tragic death as a VAD. During the service, Revd Parbury led those gathered to pay their respects in a procession into the churchyard where, gathered around the grave, prayers were said and poppies and crosses planted. Joining four generations of the Burtenshaw family, were local residents from Sulham and the surrounding villages including one lady whose grandmother had attended Winifred’s funeral in 1919 and another who now lived in Yew Cottage where Winifred had grown up.
Photographs by Mark Littledale and reproduced with his kind permission.
