There is a large wooden Memorial Cross in the churchyard of St Leonard’s Church which was erected by Reverend Patterson and his wife on Sunday 29th October 1916 to the memory of their son, Alan, along with all those servicemen from the congregation and parish of St Leonard’s who had also by that stage of the war lost their lives.
Alan was educated at Charterhouse and entered the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich in 1905 where he continued the athletic interests he started at Charterhouse. He won the Army quarter mile and half mile titles several times and represented Great Britain in the 1908 London and 1912 Stockholm Olympics.
He gained the rank of Captain and saw service in South Africa and India He returned to England in 1914 to train Gunners for the War, before going with the 71st Brigade Royal Field Artillery to Flanders. His Colonel twice recommended him for the D.S.O. before he was fatally wounded on the 14th March 1916 by a piece of shrapnel from a German shell. He is buried at Fosse 7 Military Cemetery, (Quality Street) Mazingarbe, Pas-de-Calais, France. Grave Ref: II. G. 2. He left behind a widow, (Nan) at their home, 30 Clarence Road, Walmer (now part of Archery Square).