Document Request: 1918 Memorial Service for Arthur Ada
Document Description: 1918 Memorial Service for Arthur Ada, in Maidenhead Baptist Church
Transcription URL: https://ada.surnametree.com/library/vdocs/D_71#71
Document Transcription:Memorial Service for Arthur Ada, April 1918
MEMORIAL SERVICE at the BAPTIST CHURCH
TOUCHING EULOGIUM BY THE PASTOR
In memory of the late Mr. Ada, who was organist at the Baptist Church,
Marlow-road, a memorial service was held on Sunday morning, when the
rough and wet weather was against a large attendance.
The service was conducted by the Pastor (the Rev. T. Wreford Way), who
in his opening prayer reflected the thought uppermost in the minds of
all present, beseeching Divine help to bear the "load of sorrow," and
that the present seasons of sadness might be sanctified to the nation's
welfare. The hymns included the late organist's favourites. Among them
were Bishop Walsham How's memorial hymn, "For all the saints who from
their labours rest," having that strikingly appropriate line for the sad
occasion - "Soon, soon to faithful warriors cometh rest," In the second
prayer, Mr Way appealed that our arms, and those of the Allies, might be
upheld by God; that the cruel, ambitious Power which started strife and
had been the instrument of so many precious lives being taken might be
cast down, and it opportunities for war be taken away, and that the time
of great peace in the world might soon come. Hymn 456, written by a
Leeds solicitor named Rawson, was well-chosen to commemorate the late
hero-
Captain and Saviour of the host
Of Christian chivalry
We bless Thee for our comrade true,
Now summoned up to Thee.
In his special memorial address, the Rev. T. WREFORD WAY adopted as test
the words from Proverbs, "The memory of the just is blessed". He said
that one of their members had passed away after having been spared to
fill a useful position in life and to render many years of service in
that church. Many of those who were falling in this sad and devastating
war were the young men leaving behind fathers and mothers and betrothed
ones, and the grief of these was great, perhaps greatest for the
last-named. The loss to the nation could not be measured, for who could
say what good these might might have wrought had they lived? But war was
costly and this war was the costliest of them all. It was right that war
should be costly, in order to bring home to the nations the evil nature,
how alien it was in itself from the plans and wishes of God. But the
preacher could see no way how this nation could refuse the challenge of
Germany, or refuse to be true to its treaty obligations, and he prayed
that the German Power that was responsible for this devastating war
would be conquered and briought lw, rendered unable to stir up and
strike again. The glory of the recent naval engagement on the Belgian
Coast had for a large number lost its lustre because their loved ones
fell in battle, but there was in that engagement the touch of Nelson and
the historic dash of the Royal Navy. One of them, whose musical gifts
they of that Church valued highly, lost his life there. The Church had
lost its faithful organist: his mother had lost a good son, and his
betrothed had lost a devoted lover with whom there was all the promise
of a pattern husband and a happy future. They had all hoped at that
Church to see him back again, when the war was over, filling once more
the place he had filled so well for some eleven or twelve years; but
that hope was not to be realised - it was one of the many hopes doomed
to disappointment by this war. When he was at home on leave he enjoyed
the opportunity of filling his old position, and needless to say they
enjoyed having him there. They would now sorely miss him. He never
paraded his gifts, but was most modest and retiring; while at the organ
he sang as well as played, but he was now joining in a sweeter, nobler
song, singing his power to save.
To Mr. Ada, war was nothing but a horror, but his purpose was first of
all to fight for his Country and King. His parents were members of the
Congregation Church, in which in his youthful days he was brought up;
but on conviction he joined the Baptist Church at Cambridge, and,
returning to Maidenhead continued that membership here. It was painful
to think they would see him there no more. He took delight in the
service he rendered and could always be relied on to do his duty. He no
doubt valued any appreciation of his services, but never sought any
special recognition of these; but when the call came to join the naval
forces there came the opportunity to the Church to prove in a tangible
form their esteem and gratitude by the gift of a small momento of his
happy days at the organ and his splendid services so freely rendered.
They blessed God also for him as they remembered his straightforward and
honest life in business and before the world. This accounted for the
widespread interest manifested here since the news of his death came.
That he was killed in a naval engagement so heroically carried through
was a reason for that interest; but not the only one, nor with most of
them the chief reason. The chief reason was the character he had as a
Christian man, sincere, strong, pure-minded with no love for mere
worldly ends. Like so many who had fallen, he fell doing his duty. He
was on a Destroyer rescuing sailors from a companion Destroyer which had
been hit by the German batteries, and whilst so occupied was struck by a
shell and killed. His ship was saved, and he - with many others - was
brought to shore. Many of them were buried at Dover with militsry
honours, but the congregation at Maidenhead were glad his mother asked
to have her son's body sent home, where honour might be shown even to
the dust of one who was so highly esteemed; where others, looking at his
gravestone and recalling his useful life, might feel the call to make
theirs useful too. Thousands of our young men had fought great trials
not alone in the uncongenial atmosphere and surroundings in which they
had been placed by the war - so often the moral tone was low, the jokes
coarse, the language painful to the Christian heart. Mr Ada suffered
from these things very keenly, while his own life and speech bore
witness against it. Now this was all past; he would now hear no speech
that savoured of sin,but only the speech which told of the honour and
glory of the Lamb, the Redeemer, and sweeter music that he made the
organ render now greeted his newly-awaken senses. Though we were
surrounded with signs of Spring, the noises of battle still sounded, and
death was busy, and it seemed unfitting; they felt they would rather keep
their sons even out of heaven for a while than that they should be prematurely
taken away. But death was part of the price that had to be paid, so that this
and other nations might be saved from a worse state than death. Would that
the carnage might be speedily ended! The preacher then reminded the
congregation of the possible blessings that might flow from the bitterest cup.
The present was indeed a bitter cup for those more closely touched, but if after
the extreme bitterness they tasted the blessings they might be made through
grace more like their Lord and Master Jesus Christ, more able to fill their lives
with larger ministries. To them might be cited the lines of Tennyson, in his
"In Memoriam":-
Forgive my grief for one removed
Thy creature whom I find so fair
I trust he lives in Thee, and there
I find him worthier to be loved.
And in the same poet's words they might say to his betrothed:-
Something it is which thou has lost
Some pleasure from thine early years.
Break, thou deep vase of chilling tears
That grief hath shaken into frost!
And Tennyson's words may be hers:-
My Arthur, whom I shall not see
Till all my widow'd race be run
Dear as the mother to his son
More than my brothers are to me
I hold it true, whate'er befalls,
I feel it, when I sorrow most
Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.
Sweet and soothing as these words were, the balm which had the greatest
power of healing was that from the store of the Great Physician. "He
healeth the broken heart abd bindeth up thy wounds." There was comfort,
too to be found in service - in helping others; by sharing their sorrow
we shared the cruse of comfort held out by the hands of Christ. We must
fill up the thinned tanks, and fulfil the daily duties that called on
us, working for others and meeting life's responsibilities; it was the
Saviour who called, saying "Work whilst it is called day, for the night
cometh when no man can work." So should we prepare ourselves for the
Master's welcoming words, "Well done, thou faithful servant; enter thou
into the joy of thy Lord."
The Funeral
took place on Monday afternoon, and was a public tribute to the quiet
esteem in which the deceased was held by all classes. Most of the
tradesmen's shops had black boards, and blinds were generally drawn.
Opposite the Baptist Church, the V.A.D. Red Cross flag was drooping at
half mast. A squad of the Maidenhead Volunteers, under Lieut. Voules,
formed the guard of honour. The coffin, which was covered with the Union
Jack and many lovely wreaths, was carried on the shoulders of
half-a-dozen local bluejackets under chief petty officer A. Emberley,
viz., petty officer, 1st class, Riches; leading seaman Carter (wounded
from East Africa); leading stoker Maybury; and an air mechanic Royal
Naval Air Arm, and an A.B. Both the latter were on leave and
volunteered to act as bearers. The undertakers were Messrs Partlo Bros.,
friends of the deceased.
On the rostrum were the Pastor (Rev. T. Wreford Way) and Rev. T.F.Lewis,
of the Congregational Church; and among the crowded congregation were
the Mayor (Mr C.W.Cox, J.P., C.C.), who also attended at the graveside,
and Ald. Truscott, J.P., and Councillor O.T. Chamberlain, J.P. The chief
mourners were: Mrs Ada (mother), Mr John E. Ada (brother), Mr F.W.Leach
and Mrs Leach (brother-in-law and sister), Mr Richardson (uncle), Miss
Ada (sister), Mr S. East (uncle), Mrs Sutton (cousin), Mr W. V.
Bloomfield and Mr A.G Bloomfield.
The PASTOR read the usual funeral lesson (1 Cor. xv.), and gave a
touching address. He said many of the brave men who had fallen in the
late battle had been claimed by their relations to be buried near their
homes, and for some, special honours were arranged, as for those buried
at Dover: but it was the desire of the late Mr. Ada's friends that the
funeral should be quietly conducted, and those who knew him knew that
such would also have been his own desire. War was utterly alien to him
as to many besides, but uncomplainingly he filled the place appointed
for him. Choosing the Navy, he for some time served in the Mediterranean
and since in the Dover Patrol, in which his valuable life was lost. All
would have felt a pride in that dangerous engagement off the Belgian
coast, but for that Church its glory was dimmed by their loss. Still
they knew such sacrifices must be made, and the nation never needed more
than it did that day to steel the heart to the stern call of this hour
of great trial. They were burying a sailor, but not a sailor only, but a
loved brother, a faithful follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that he
was such intensified the loss, but assuaged their grief. They knew that
when he fell into the arms of death he also fell into the arms of Jesus.
Living as he had done among some who cared not for the things of God, he
did not strike his flag, but sought to live consistently with his
profession. They could thank God for his example that so "he being dead
yet speaketh". To him that afternoon they were saying "Farewell,
brother; you have been called to the life immortal far too soon. We want
you here, and some of us will say life will be a blank without you; yet
your Lord is also theirs, and that is well. Farewell! We know you do
fare well, for the word of the Lord cannot be broken. Farewell, till the
day break and the shadows flee away! For the day must break for all
whose hope is fixed on God; and over this now sorrow-stricken world we
yet may discern the rainbow of hope."
The concluding prayer was eloquently framed by the Rev. T.F.Lewis,
pastor of the church attended by the family. One passage in this
touching prayer was: "We bless Thee for his courage and the willingness
of his sacrifice, and for the service he has done that great national
cause which we believe Thou Thyself hast given us to uphold - the cause
of righteousness and truth and justice." The same minister pronounced
the benediction in a solemn manner.
To the strains of the "Dead March," played by Miss Singer (Wesleyan
Church) the coffin was bourne out to the funeral car by the naval men,
and the solemn procession proceeded to the cemetary amid every sign of
sincere mourning and respect from dense crowds of townspeople.
Wreaths and other floral tokens of sympathy were sent by the following:-
From his own Jess; mother, brothers and sisters; Mr and Mrs Bloomfield,
Rosa and Alfred; Lance-Corpl. Edmund Bloomfield; The Staff at 11, Queen
Street; The Marlow Road Baptist Choir and Church; Mrs Eadres, 36, Town
Wall Street, Dover; T.W.Naller and R. Coates, HMS Phoebe; from Messmates
of HMS Phoebe; from Frank Trevoe; Members of 1st Berks Volunteer
Regt,"C" Co., Maidenhead; Maidenhead Fire Brigade; Mr and Mrs H. Andrews
and Mrs Goodman; Mr and Mrs. J. W. Goldsmith and Winnie; Mr and Mrs
Reeves; Mr and Mrs Harold H Neve; Mr and Mrs Hunt; Mr and Mrs John
Tomlinson, and Frank.
To the Editor.
Sir, - May we take the opportunity afforded by your courtesy and in your
pages of expressing our sincere thanks for the messages of sympathy
received and the flowers that were sent.
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