WWI soldier to have name added to war memorial

Pte John Charles Boniface's name will be inscribed on Chichester’s Litten Gardens memorial

A name of a teenage soldier who died during World War One is to be inscribed on a memorial in Chichester.

Pte John Charles Boniface, of the 9th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment, was 17 when he died in France on 28 September 1915.

While he is honoured at the Loos Memorial, in France, and on the Felpham Memorial, he was missed from the one in Chichester’s Litten Gardens.

After the omission was pointed out by a relative,  Chichester City Council submitted a planning application to the district council asking permission to add his name.

A design statement submitted with the application said: “The proposed work is considered necessary in order to commemorate the sacrifice of another serviceman with a Chichester connection who gave his life in the Great War.

“The proposed work will be undertaken by a specialist contractor by means of traditional methods and will have no affect on the structural integrity of the memorial nor will it alter the appearance of the memorial or its surroundings.”