Sunday, October 21, 2012

The memorial - carved details

At the moment I am trying to get quotes for the recreation of the missing part of the memorial. This is proving to be tricky as there isn't very much information about it and unfortunately, the 1920 photograph isn't clear enough to make out all the carved pieces.
 
Here are some close-ups from the photoggraph, beginning at the bottom. The base has 5 carvings. Close-ups from left to right.
 
 
 
First (left) an acorn (this area of the photo is the clearest and as you move up and to the right it becomes less focused.)

 
The second carving from the base... anyone know what this is?
 
The third (centre) carving from the base, furled leaves?
 
Fourth from the left on the base is a thistle.
 
far right on the base... anyone?
 
 
The top of the reredos, this section looks very intricately carved, if anyone can help me out with the proper names for these sorts of carvings I would appreciate it.
 
 
close-up of the carving in the centre, not very clear, I am hoping it may be a badge or standard symbol for something, does anyone recognise it?


 
 
The top row of carvings, this piece has 6 carved bits, and although some of them are the same as the bottom ones, there are some more that I am not sure about.
 
close-ups from left to right
 
left carving, acorns for strength and rebirth, possibly victory
 

second from the left, a rose for England
 
third from the left, any ideas? probably a symbol for Ireland - could it be a Celtic Knot or snakes?
 
 
 fourth from the left, a thistle for Scotland

 
fifth from the left, another rose/flower? EDIT it's been pointed out to me that this is a daffodil for Wales. 

 
last carving on the top right, any suggestions?
 





 
 






St James Memorial and the KLR - updated

The table below lists the men from the St James Memorial who served in The King's Liverpool Regiment. Links in blue will open a website with more information about that battalion, entries highlighted in yellow indicate a Liverpool Pals Battalion.


Men of The King's Liverpool Regiment

Name
 
Regimental number
Bttn
Date of Death
Arthur Patrick Beattie
KLR
30532
4th
23/04/1917
William Bolton
KLR
2390
6th
15/08/1916
Norman Bracher
KLR
358365
15/07/1917
Henry Percy Clarke
KLR
1220
1/6th
08/03/1915
John James Corkish
KLR
203097
5th
20/09/1917
Robert D Corran
KLR
2289, 246630
 
14/09/1918  *
Allan Dawson

KLR

22976

20th

03/09/1916  *
Hugh Stanhope Elliott
KLR
1181, 240091
1/6th
20/09/1917
Lamont Grave
KLR
8969
16/06/1915
Thomas W Halpin
KLR
9243
4th
27/04/1915
Frederick Hamilton
KLR
879, 200051
1/5th
01/02/1919
Matthew Thomas Hamilton
KLR
14502
4th
03/01/1916
George James Harker

KLR

17613

19th

28/03/1918
Percy H Harwood
KLR
2250, 240606
1/6th
19/09/1916
Isaac Lucas Hilton
KLR
242828
1/6th
27/06/1917
Thomas Middleton Hulme
KLR
20134,
5th
26/5/1919  *
James Irvine
KLR
359540
09/04/1918
Robert Isherwood
KLR
2232
1/7th
16/05/1915
Richard Harkness Jaques

KLR

22427

20th

30/07/1916
Marcus McLean
KLR
4868, 356377
09/04/1918
Alfred Mortenson
KLR
4715,
 
15/04/1918 *
William Noll
KLR
4511
13th
28/03/1918
Robert Campbell Revera
KLR
202309
12th
24/03/1918
Henry Schonewald
KLR
1888
1/6th
05/05/1915
Roderic Dexter Sharpe

KLR

16147

17th

01-02/07/1916
Harold Horatio Smith
KLR
241292
2/6th
05/11/1918
Joseph Morris (possible)
KLR
47738
13th
28/03/1918
* died whilst serving with a different regiment

click here to open a website listing the battalions of the KLR

Saturday, October 20, 2012

THE NEXT STEP...


During the Great War many families from the congregation of St James, Toxteth, lost loved ones. In 1920 they erected a memorial to those men who had made the ultimate sacrifice. A wooden reredos was decided upon, with a name panel and inscription dedicated to the memory of 62 men.

The memorial was paid for by donations from the congregation and was placed prominently in the church. It was still there in 1972 when the church was closed and in 1976 when the building was placed in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. Unfortunately the church was to remain empty for almost 4 decades and during this time it became a target for vandals and thieves.  In 1992 one of the things to be taken was the wooden reredos and name panel.

For a long time the memorial was forgotten, there was no record of it in the national inventory of war memorials and no photographs of it in any collections. Then a photograph surfaced in a family album and The St James Memorial Project was born.  The aims of the project were to ensure that the names on the memorial weren’t forgotten and to create some sort of replacement for the missing reredos.

The stories behind the 62 names have been researched and the information put on this blog, other actions taken to help ensure these names aren’t forgotten include

·        30 names from the memorial were added to the Hall of Remembrance at the Town Hall on 6th Sept 2012

·        Work is also ongoing to establish whether one of the men should have a Commonwealth War Graves Commission commemoration

·        Several families of the men have been contacted and given the information about the memorial and their relatives.

 
In the summer of 2012 a twist was added to this story, a piece of the memorial surfaced 100 miles away in a small village in Leicestershire. Nobody knows how it got there but thanks to the St James War Memorial Project information being available on the internet, it was identified and the Barrow-upon-Soar HeritageGroup who were looking after it were delighted to return it to Liverpool.



 

 
          The aims of the project are now focused on having the memorial restored and involving the families of the men commemorated on it. It is still a mystery as to how the memorial travelled from Liverpool to Leicestershire and it must have changed hands so many times along the way that we will probably never know. The exciting thought is that the rest of it could be out there somewhere – maybe somebody doesn’t realise what they have tucked away in their loft or garden shed!

          We would of course love to find more of the original memorial but if that doesn’t happen we will be raising funds to have the memorial recreated as a replica of the original, incorporating the original piece. It will then be returned to the church it came from, which is very fitting as the church itself has returned to use and is undergoing extensive restoration to bring it back to its former glory. When the work on the Grade II* listed church is complete there will be a rededication ceremony for the memorial and we would love to invite the families of those men to attend.

          If anyone thinks that they may be related to these brave men they can visit the blog to look for more information and to contact the project. We would love to have family stories and photographs to add to the local history resource. We will also be holding an 'open day' at St James' Church once the roof is finished and there will be information about the memorial and the men available at that event. The more we can talk about their lives and share their stories the better we have fulfilled the wish expressed on the memorial: Let those that come after see to it that their names be not forgotten.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

1/6th Battalion The King's (Liverpool) Regiment

I was given the following information by a member of the Liverpool and South West Lancs Family History Society Forum:

"As so many of your men were 6th or 1/6th King's, is it worth a mention that their HQ was in [EDIT Upper Parliament Street  UPPER WARWICK ST], probably not quite in the parish but close enough to attract recruits? Princes Park Barracks was demolished between the wars and rebuilt, was renamed Crawford House after Sir Douglas C who was post war chairman of the West Lancs T&AFA. After the TA left it was pulled down again and is now quite different."

I've had a quick search and this website has more information about these barracks and the 1/6th King's.

 
 

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

All help gratefully received.

Welcome to those people visiting here from the Liverpool and South West Lancs Family History Forum.  To make finding the puzzles easier I've put a note on the NAMES page next to the ones that are incomplete.

And many thanks to those of you who have left messages, I'm always ready to learn something new and fresh eyes often see links and information that I've missed.


Amanda