N.Z. AND THE ABBEY

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 September 1931, Page 11

N.Z. AND THE ABBEY

SIR ALEXANDER GODLEY.

LONDON, July 29.

The New Zealander bent on seeing in Westminster Abbey some of the origins of his race, in a stroll round that age-old church will be considerably surprised on examining the Henry VII. Chapel to find on the armorial bearings over one of the stalls that a New Zealand infantry soldier, as he was seen in the Great War, acts as a “supporter” in the arms of one of the Knights of the Order of the Bath. This, in a Tudor chapel, will astound him. The history of it is this. The chapel has a splendid series of carked oak stalls along each side of the nave and above them hang the banners of the Knights of the Order of the Bath, of whom this was the place of installation when the Order was reconstituted in 1725. The seats bear the armorial bearings of their occupants in brass and above each are a sword and a banner.

Sir Alexander Godley, who became Knight Commander of the Bath in 1916, and who was created Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order in 1928, is one of those entitled to a stall in the chapel. He had to choose “supporters” for his arms, and has placed on one side an English infantry soldier and on the other a New Zealand infantryman, thus pictorially recording his career. Needless to recall to New Zealand Sir Alexanders career, suffice it to say that as G.O.C. of the New Zealand Forces he is widely known in the Dominion. Sir Alexander, writing from Gibraltar, where he is now Gommander-in-Chief, to Sir Thomas Wilford, explains that he was desirous of thus commemorating New Zealand work in the Great War. By a curious coincidence, Sir Alexander’s banner hangs next to that of the late Lord Kilbracken who was head of the Godley family, and son of that John Robert Godley whose statue in Christchurch commemorates one of New Zealand’s leading personalities in the days of its foundation. The High Commissioner in his reply says that he is proud to think that Sir Alexander chose a New Zealand infantryman. “Many great men,” he wrote, “do not acknowledge the ladder up which they climb. You have done so, and New Zealanders will appreciate such a record for all time of your appreciation.”

The motto across the top of the armorial bearings is: “Sans Deiu Rien.” Between the two men in khaki appears a shield, on which can be descried the motto of the Order, “Tria Juncta in Uno,” while below, as befits an Order dating from the days of chivalry, is the name in French, “Alexandre Jean Godley. MCMXXVIII.”