the final advance on 28th September 1918, near Havrincourt Wood on the Western Front. The ribbons are shown on his 1918 shield with his name and regimental badge.

Following these deaths much of the Partridge estate was sold in May 1919. The other Partridge wall tablets are for relatives and connections of the family.

A tablet east of the door commemorates Arthur John Wheeler killed in the Dardanelles in 1915 (the Gallipoli Campaign). 'The Dead Man's Penny', the bronze covered memorial plaquette, issued to the next–of–kin, was donated by his family and mounting was arranged by Bill and Jean Millington. The six local men killed in the two World Wars are named on the War Memorial with, nearby, the tablet for Percy Richard Davies, 1944. Elizabeth Morgan's tablet includes the Hopton coat–of–arms. The sculptor R. Parry of Kilpeck has signed the Thomas and Elizabeth Davies' memorial. The Revd. Charles Thomas Brothers' tablet commemorates the last rector of the single parish of Bacton, who died in 1953 aged 90 years.

Further Benefactions and Donations

The organ was donated by Mrs. Partridge in 1894, in memory of her father William Henry Hamp, died 1883, one of the founders of the Dore Union workhouse. The memorial of Blanche Parry was moved one bay east to accommodate this organ.

The Four Bells

• bell number three, with the inscription MORGAN on it, cast by Abraham Rudhall of Gloucester in 1710, the same year Rudhalls cast six bells for Dore Abbey; this famous firm cast hundreds of bells between 1684–1835.
• bell number two, cast in 1858 by the Whitechapel Foundry, who described it as 400lb weight, is probably the bell recast and donated by Mrs. Partridge in 1907.
• bell number one and bell number four were donated by Mrs. Eliza Hamp in 1907.

Bacton's version of 'Oranges and Lemons':

Be as good as you can – Say the bells of Bacton.

The bell ropes were mysteriously replaced one night during the incumbency of Revd. D.P. Richards, who was thought to be the donor.

The new oak bell frame in the restored tower was donated by Mrs. Partridge in 1907.

The reredos, erected in memory of Daisy Elizabeth Hamp Partridge, died in 1906 aged 21 years and of her brother Reginald Gardener Partridge, was donated by their parents.

The vestry door, donated in memory of William Arthur Reginald Ivor Manley (1912–1973), a regular worshipper and grandson of Mrs. Partridge.

Chalice and Paten

The parish also owns a beautiful silver–gilt chalice and paten, dated c.1490 to 1500, used by the priest for Mass and a photograph of these is displayed. These are a rare pre–Reformation survival; a second set in the county belongs to Leominster Priory. Medieval parishioners received the consecrated bread at Mass and usually only at Easter. The priest would elevate the chalice for the people to see and then he alone would sip the consecrated wine. As a result chalices were small. Bacton's has JOHN and CAPUTT (or CAPULL) inscribed on the engraved hexagonal foot below a knop with leopards', or lions', heads. The paten has the engraved face of Christ in the

©Ruth E. Richardson 2014