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As men of Buckinghamshire, the Meeking Brothers are commemorated on the Coombe Hill Boer War Memorial, Wendover which overlooks Chequers.

Coombe Hill is owned by the National Trust and their website has this to say about the memorial:

“The Coombe Hill war memorial to the 158 Buckinghamshire men who fell in second Boer war (1899-1902) is located on the summit of Coombe Hill. It was erected in 1904 and is constructed from grey Aberdeen Granite. Designed by Whitehead and Sons of Kennington Oval, London the memorial stands at 64 feet high. It is in the form of an obelisk with a four tiered pedestal and square base with moulded cornice. At each corner of the base are projections with a short pillar supporting a ball. Surmounting the tapering obelisk is a gilded flaming urn. The main inscription is on the north face and above this are two crossed bronze flags and the county arms.”

A plaque on the Monument adds this to its history – “The Monument erected in 1904 was almost totally destroyed by lightning on the 29th January 1938 and was rebuilt the same year by the Bucks County Council”.





I have to confess that during my past visits to Coombe Hill I tended to stick to the lower slopes in pursuit of the Chalkhill Blue butterfly and allied species, such as the yellow meadow ant essential to the survival of the butterfly. It is a delight to find a connection between two personal interests and this inspired me to look for more – one I have found is quite amazing and again includes ants as well as butterflies – post in preparation.



The photos have all been copied from the National Trust website. On the only photos I could find of the panels the names were largely indecipherable – I must return with camera preferably in July for the butterflies as well.