World War One Centenary Projects up-dated 28 June 2014

Tameside MBC:

New booklet outlining Tameside Council's Programme to commemorate the WWI Centenary Click here to download

New Manchester Regiment Museum project to name all the Men Behind the Medals: click for more information

Kathryn Booth:

Kate Booth is the author of two books about the war dead of Stalybridge and Millbrook and has campaigned for the missing names to be added to the War Memorial. She is continuing to work on this project but is also compiling a full list of all the men from the towns of Tameside who served, whether they survived or not. This list will eventually be deposited at the Local Studies and Archives centre in Ashton where it can be consulted by all. Kate is keen to hear from anybody who knows about an ancestor who served in the War. She is also recording details of the small war memorials often found in churches, factories, clubs etc and would like lists of names and photographs of them.

Forgotten Heroes Remembered - Ceremony to honour the men whose names are missing from the Stalybridge Memorial 21st July 2007. click here for photos and to read about the event.

Stalybridge War Memorial

I have set myself the task of investigating, the persons behind the names of the soldiers on the Stalybridge War Memorial, and also the names of missing soldiers identified within the book by Katheryne Booth 'The Missing Men Of Stalybridge.' I started by giving each soldier his own personal Memorial identification and then began to attempt to identify as much information as I could for each soldier.

On the Memorial there is indicated only Regiments, with Surnames and only initials for Christian names. My objective is to add more information about each soldier, with a little bit of the soldier's history enabling persons reading my findings to have a feel for the person behind what is, at the moment, just a name on a memorial. Even the relatives, who visit the memorial on Remembrance Day, may not know the story behind the name.

I was recently encouraged by a lady who asked me if I could trace her relation's whereabouts. All the information she had was his name and his regiment. I found the Commonwealth War Grave in France, which she did not know existed. After thanking me and with an assurance that she will now visit his grave, her final remarks were 'I wish my mother could be here, because up until now we all thought that he had been blown to pieces.'

I thank that Lady for giving me the inspiration to carry on. How many more similar stories are there to be told.

I have made good progress and identified as many of the War graves and Memorials as possible. The next task is to see how much of the information I can relate to the contents of the census's, with the eventual result being tabulated in book form.

Frank Harrop
12th August 2014

Gay J Oliver:

Has been involved in partnership with Portland Basin Museum and "Two Boards and a Passion" and the students of Ashton Sixth form College in a Heritage Lottery funded project to conserve their World War One memorial. I have researched the names of the men listed on the memorial and Portland Basin Museum has been working with 'Two Boards and a Passion' and the students of the College to produce a drama and exhibition based on this research. See page four of this booklet produced by Tameside MBC: Click here to download

"Pack Up Your Troubles" Thursday 3rd July

Not a dry eye in the house

Beautiful performance by the students. Please visit this page to read the full story and the histories of the men listed on the memorial and a couple of videos.

With many thanks to Colin McInnes and Irene Tansey for this transcription of articles in the Reporter in December 1918 listing the names of 363 returned prisoners of war: click to visit this page

Marjorie Ross:

Marjorie Ross has been researching the history of Ashton Infirmary for many years and is concentrating on the hospital's response to World War 1. At that period access to a hospital bed when required was not automatic and the Infirmary set aside twenty beds for wounded soldiers. At first they only received convalescent men and were concerned their resources were not being properly used.

Please visit Marjorie's blog about Ashton Infirmary during the War Years: Ashton Infirmary WW1 Blog

Complete list of Officers and Men of the Ashton Pals Battalion 1914 who enlisted in August 1914

Enlisters of Reservists September 1914

Saturday August 8th 1914 (4 days after war declared) SCENES AT THE BARRACKS 1600 Men Come to Ashton to report themselves.The March and the Departure from Charlestown Station.

This little Fellow's on a Roll

He was awarded the Croix de Guerre in final WW1 Battle of the Somme. The names of 42 local men who served their country in WW1, together with one addition from WW2, are included on this commemorative roll. One of them is Bandsman William Brown, who is pictured here in his Trafalgar Square School Uniform. William's son and local history enthusiast, Adrian Brown, has been trying to locate this Roll of Honour, which disappeared following the closure of the Army Citadel on Old Street in Ashton on 4th December 2005. Click to download his full story Also the detective work to find this Salvation Army War Memorial.

Adrian Brown August 2014

Hyde War Memorial Trust:

Are researching the over 700 men listed on this memorial and their results will appear on a specially created website.

Albion URC Ashton-under-Lyne:

Albion URC Ashton-under-Lyne will be concentrating its Heritage Day 13th September on the Pilkington War Memorial. Many of the names have been researched and information will be on display. Those commemorated were from Albion and the three Sunday schools, Charlestown, Hurst Nook and Hazelhurst and there may well be descendants of these people still in Ashton who might find a past relative.

Mary Owen and Dorothy Topping:

CONFLICT CONSCRIPTION CONSCIENCE

Mary Owen's article the Conscientious Objector in World War One click to download

Dorothy Topping's article Tameside and the Conscientious Objector in World War One

World War One began in 1914 but it was not until January 1916 did The Conscription Act come into being. Single men between the ages of 18 to 41 would be called up to fight for their country; by May of the same year this also applied to married men. However, The Military Service Act of 1916 recognised that there would be exemptions from this call up possibly on the grounds of work being carried out of national importance, medical or domestic grounds. In this Act the Government allowed for the possibility on the grounds of Conscience but on the grounds of religious or moral grounds only. click here to download the full article

Valerie Bowker:

Val Bowker is a local historian who has studied the life of Catherine Emslie Anderson, a pioneering woman doctor who worked at Ashton Infirmary and later went on to work with the Scottish Women's Hospitals during the First World War. Val is giving a series of talks on the women's hospitals.

Rita Vaughan:

For the whole of the month of November 2014 I will be holding a display at George Lawton Hall, Mossley, on the theme of "Mossley's WW1 Medals"

The display will include photographs and information about (some of) the men of Mossley who were awarded the 1914/1915 Star, the British War Medal, the Victory Medal, the Military Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Distinguished Service Medal, and of course our holder of the Victoria Cross. In addition there will be information about Clarinda Rowbotham who was the Sister of the Auxilary Military Hospital in Mossley.

Clarinda Rowbotham was the Sister in Charge of the Auxilary Military Hospital. Mossley, during WW1.At this Military Hospital over 500 wounded and convalescing soldiers were cared for, the soldiers being from both Britain and Belgium For her work and dedication Clarinda was awarded medals from both the Red Cross and from St John Clarinda is to be included in an exhibition on the theme of "Mossley's WW1 Medals" which will be held in November at George Lawton Hall, Mossley I would love to be able to include in that exhibition a photograph of Clarinda, alongside a photograph of her medals.If anyone has a photograph of Clarinda, or was related to her, or knew her please could they contact Rita Vaughan at mossley@btinternet.com Clarinda was born in 1885 and died in 1962, age 77 years. She was buried at St George's Church, in Mossley.

A memorial Book, "Mossley Remembers The Great War"

John Ashworth
Shirley Howard
Alison Wild
supported by Councillor Eleanor Shembley Critchley and the Royal British Legion.

Further Information

Content

Mossley at the Start of the War including enlistment persuasion;the march along Manchester Road from the Drill Hall as described in the Mossley and Saddleworth Reporter, and a diary of happenings in the town from various newspapers.

Mossley During the War including family stories donated by the descendants of service men and particular wartime activities in the town.

Mossley at the end of the War including stories of the celebrations from local newspapers, and the re emergence of social activities. Also including bereavement and commemoration- How the townspeople planned to remember their fallen family members, friends and colleagues.Including a full list of Mossley's dead (provided by Rita Vaughan). Photographs of the war graves in Mossley Cemetery

BOOK LAUNCH: We are launching our book "Mossley Remembers the Great War" at Mossley Library on Friday 12th September at 12 noon. I have attached a copy of the cover and the cost is by donation to the Royal British Legion or Help For Heroes set at minimum price of £2.00

Denton Local History:

Denton Local History Society's annual exhibition will be on the theme of the home front and members have also been researching names from the memorial. The Society is hoping to contribute to twinning events with Denton's twin towns in France and Germany. A Poster for this event will follow soon.

Poster for this year's exhibition hosted by Denton Local History Society to be held the weekend of 11th/12th October Denton a Town at War click here to download your copy.

Christ Church, Ashton-under-Lyne

Pat Greenwood is currently researching the names on the Christ Church Memorial and is about half way through. Some she may never find due to common names. The results will appear for the Church Exhibition during Heritage Open Days in September

Other Projects in Tameside

Waterloo Memorial:

Hazel Arda and her friend have been adding info about their family members to the Lives of the First World War website and thought it would be interesting to find out more about the names on the same memorial with our ancestors. They intend to try and match the names on the memorial with the names already listed on the website from the medal rolls cards and then try to find more info from census/church records/local papers. All the info they find will appear on the Lives of the First World War which is available to the public and they would be more than happy to keep you updated on what they find. It would be really helpful to list the project on your website and they would love to hear from anyone who has any additional information to add. email: knittyhaze@gmail.com

Up-date: Thought I'd just update you on our Waterloo Memorial project so far. We've identified most of the names on the Lives of First World War, struggling with a couple but hopefully we will eventually match them. We have also started to upload information from CWGC and Ancestry websites. We have also located most of the graves of men who are buried at Hurst Cemetery and uploaded photos of the headstones. We got a little carried away as we found a number of other WW1 headstones so we've uploaded photos of them as well! Hazel 28 June 2014

Florence Oliver: florenceoliver@yahoo.com added 28 June 2014

Here is a list of my projects.

1) 68 Soldiers for the Denton Local History Society Exhibition in October.
2) 35 Soldiers from the WW1 Memorial for Christ Church Denton.
3) St Mary's Newton WW1 Memorial, plus photos and soldiers that are in the graveyard.
4) Exhibition for St Marys Newton last April.
5) Exhibition for Bradley Green Junior School from the 10th -13th June. (two weeks ago)

The work I have done for St Mary's will be Exhibited again either July or August.
Also I have been doing some work for the Gorton group on behalf of Frank Rhodes.
Peter Whitehead has covered the soldiers on the WW1 Memorial in Victoria Park Denton.

Talk about Dunham Massey World War One Hospital:

On Friday 12 September Barbara Foster, a National Trust tour guide, will be speaking about Dunham Massey's World War 1 hospital at the Central Art Gallery, Ashton Library at 7 pm.