These memorials, located in family plots at Te Hēnui Cemetery (Block C Row 4), honour three young men from the Okey family who made "the supreme sacrifice" during the First World War.
Henry James Hobbs Okey (1857-1918) and his wife Louisa Okey (nee Morey) (1863-1937) had five sons, three of whom - Lionel, Sydney and Raymond - served overseas.
In Loving Memory / of / Sergt Sydney Melville Okey / Main Body Taranaki Company / Who was killed in action / at Chunuk Bair, Gallipoli / 8 August 1915, Aged 24 years.
Private Lionel Gibbons Okey / 8th Reinforcement Taranaki Company killed in / action Battle of the Somme France 15th Sept 1916 / Aged 28 years / Beloved sons of Henry J H & Lousia Okey / Greater love hath no man than this, that a man / lay down his life for his friends.
Henry Okey was Member of Parliament for Taranaki from 1907 to 1918 and has a street, Okey Lane, named after him in Bell Block. His brother Alfred was killed in action at the Somme in June 1916 and his name appears on the New Plymouth Boys' High School memorial gates along with Sydney's. Sydney and Lionel Okey also appear on the Frankley Road war memorial.
Royden Lydiard Okey, son of Henry's brother Frederick William Okey (1862-1950) and cousin of Sydney and Lionel, was killed in action in France on 30 September 1918. He is buried at Villers Hill British Cemetery in France and commemorated on a separate memorial.
Lieut Royden Lydiard / Okey M.C. / Main Body N.Z.E. F. / Dearly loved son of / F.W. and E. A. Okey / Killed in Action, in France / Aged 25 years / His Duty Nobly Done.
Royden also appears on the New Plymouth Boys' High School memorial gates.
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