Memorials & Monuments
on the Isle of Wight
- Ventnor -
- St Catherine's Church Eric Leopold Charles Watkins Memorial -

IN LOVING MEMORY OF
ERIC LEOPOLD CHARLES WATKINS, M.A.
EMMANUEL COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
LIEUTENANT, ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY
WHO DIED ON ACTIVE SERVICE
AT JUBBLEPORE, C.P. INDIA
MARCH 2 1917 AGED 24 YEARS

ISLE OF WIGHT MERCURY

Friday, March 22, 1918 Page 1

A vestry meeting was held at the Parish Church on Wednesday, when it was decided to apply for a faculty for the erection of a memorial to the late Lieut. W. Tozer, formerly Town Clerk, who died on active service. The memorial will take the form of an engraved copper tablet and the cost has already been defrayed by donations among the Yarborough Lodge of Freemasons on the initiative of Wor. Bro. E.G.H. Wetherick. The late Bro. Tozer was Senior Warden of the Lodge at the time of his death. Permission to place a memorial in the church for Lieut. Eric Watkins, South Bank, who also died on active service, will be included in the faculty to be applied for.

ISLE OF WIGHT MERCURY

Friday, April 18, 1919 Page 1

The memorial tablet to the late Lieut. E.L.C. Watkins will be dedicated in the Parish Church on Saturday, the 26th, at 3 p.m.

ISLE OF WIGHT MERCURY

Friday, May 2, 1919 Page 1

The tablet which has been placed in the Parish Church to the memory of Lieut. E.L.C. Watkins, M.A., R.F.A., (son of Mr. and Mrs. F.L. Watkins, St. Maur), was unveiled on Saturday afternoon by the Rev. A.P. Clayton. The tablet is affixed to the wall of the south aisle and is in harmony of design with the memorials to Lieut. W. Tozer and the son of Dr. and Mrs. Robertson.

Page 4

Memorial to the Late Lieut. Watkins.

On Saturday afternoon last a tablet, erected by the family, was unveiled in the Parish Church in memory of Lieut. E.L.C. Watkins, who died in the service of his country in India some two years ago. The choir led the singing of Psalm 56, and the hymns "Fight the good fight" and "Lead kindly light." The Vicar conducted the service. The Rev. A.P. Clayton, who formerly acted as local Chaplain to the Royal Field Artillery, unveiled the tablet, and in doing so said he appreciated the opportunity of bearing testimony to the worth of him whom they met to remember. He could speak with sincerity of the greatness of the loss caused by his death. To know him was to value his friendship and to admire his character, to value his thoroughness in anything he undertook. An ever true and sincere friend, he had left a memory that they would ever cherish.
The tablet, which is of bronze, is the work of Mr. Osborne, engraver, of Ryde, and has been executed with great taste and skill. It bears the following inscription: -
"In ever loving memory of Eric Leopold Charles Watkins, M.A., Emmanuel College, Cambridge, Lieutenant Royal Field Artillery, who died on active service at Jubblepore, C.P., India, March 2nd, 1917, aged 24 years."
The many friends of Lieut. Watkins in Ventnor and neighbourhood will rejoice to know that his memory will be kept in lasting remembrance by this handsome tablet now standing on the walls of St. Catherine's Church. At the call of duty he promptly surrendered what would, undoubtedly, have been a brilliant professional career, and went with his regiment to India, where he succumbed to disease. He was a universal favourite. All who knew him loved and honoured him. Now, after the lapse of two years, we can only once more deplore his early death which adds another tragedy to the long list caused by the great war.