The first church of St. John was razed by fire in March 1955 with the loss of many memorial windows, some dedicated to soldiers of the First World War. The new church, designed by Louis R Williams, which opened in 1957, brought forth a newcollection of memorial windows, one of the first of which was dedicated to Charles Belton who died while a prisoner of war in Thailand. The window was one of a series designed by David Taylor Kellock (1913-1988) for the new building.
Charles Frederick Belton was the son of Arthur Charles and Lucy Belton, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire. He joined the 5 Field Regiment Royal Artillery as a gunner and was captured by the Japanese in the fall of Singapore. Apart from the dreadful conditions under which the men lived and worked, cholera claimed many lives during May and June 1943. Gunner Belton died on 30 June 1943, one of 5,084 Commonwealth casualties and 1,896 Dutch who were buried or commemorated in Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, Thailand.
References & Acknowledgements
Commonwealth War Graves Commission website; R.J. Macdougall, History of St. John's, Camberwell, (1963), p.217.
