Andy Wade
Keighley and District Local History Society
Monday, September 13, 2010 23:06 |
Sutton in Craven's War Memorial Committee - who were they?
With reference to the Samuel (Harry) Lund thread on this forum, I'm trying to find out more about the Great War Memorial:
http://www.ukniwm.org.uk/server/show/conMemorial.29815/
I know it was unveiled in 1921 but there would probably have been a committee of local people who decided on the design and the list of local men's names to be commemorated on it. My question is, who were these people and is there a chance that meeting minutes have survived until today? Often they were Parish Church members who took on the task but they could also be parish councils. I note that the Parish Church has its own memorial so I'm hoping the parish council were responsible and that meeting minutes will have survived.
Any help would be most gratefully received.
Andy. |
Andrew Monkhouse
Hanoi, Vietnam
Tuesday, September 14, 2010 01:06 |
Good question Andy, I’ve often wondered who funded and organised the construction of WW1 memorials in villages & towns throughout the nation.
I would think it would be almost certain that Lieut Colonel C.M. Bateman would have been on the planning committee, not least because he was the one who unveiled the Sutton park memorial on 19th March 1921, but also because he served as a high ranking Officer with the 1/6th battalion Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment) during WW1. Several casualties on the Sutton memorial were from Col Bateman’s 1/6th battalion.
I also suspect that Cap’t A.B. Clarkson & Cap’t N.B. Chaffers who were Directors of T & M Bairstow’s Mill, Sutton along with Col Bateman may have been very influential in the design and listing of the names for the memorial.
So I reckon there’s a good chance that a lot of the decision making on the memorial came from WW1 veterans who were employed as Directors of T & M Bairstow’s Mill. They may also have been in a position to assist with funding for the memorial. Problem is, Bairstow’s closed around 1970 and who knows what happened to any relevant documentation that may have existed.
Also maybe St Thomas’s church and the Baptist chapel in Sutton were able to help out. Perhaps if the Vicar reads this he may know whether there are any meeting minutes that survived when the Parish Church 'Roll of Honour' was formulated. |
Andy Wade
Keighley and District Local History Society
Tuesday, September 14, 2010 09:00 |
Hmmm... I'm wondering if the West Yorkshire Archives would have anything? I think they're based at Leeds. They have a website but it doesn't have an archive search facility:
http://www.archives.wyjs.org.uk/
It might also be worth checking with Skipton Library to see if they have anything in storage. I presume Skipton still has a library... |
Clerk
Tuesday, September 14, 2010 09:42 |
A War Memorial was suggested in June 1919. The committee was formed by Councillors, Ministers and others. Later a Cenotaph was built of local stone with three bronze plaques in the names of the fallen. The first service at the Cenotaph was held in 1921 after it had been unveiled by Col. Bateman of Lyndhurst.
In the book The Old Community by Alec Wood it is written that a discrepancy in the number of names in the Church (49) and on the Cenotaph (40) is due to the fact that the Church roll includes men from Glusburn.
A separate plaque was fixed on the memorial after the 1939-1945 war. For funds towards this a house to house appeal took place between Easter and Whitsuntide, the balance was given anonimously. The Second World War Memorial tablet was unveiled on the 30th April 1950. A quotation of £103.10.0 (£103.50) was accepted from a local firm of monumental masons for the Second World War plaque.
Unfortunately this is the only information I have to hand. Parish Council past minutes are kept at the North Yorkshire County Record Office. These date from 1894. Also recorded in the archive list is the Committee minutes for the War Memorial Committee 1919-1921.
I hope this will be of some help.
|
Clerk
Tuesday, September 14, 2010 10:20 |
Further information listed at the North Yorkshire Record Office:
Leaflet appealing for money for the war memorial 2nd May 1949
Letters and accounts relating to the war memorial 1949 -1950
Public Events:
Unveiling of the war memorial 19th March 1921
Unveiling of the war memorial 30 April 1950 |
Con Redmayne
Sutton
Tuesday, September 14, 2010 21:28 |
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/advanced-search.aspx?tab=1
Allows you to search online for archive materials across the country. I know there are sutton recorsd in Keighley and Skipton, but also Northallerton.
Also there are records for Bairstows, hopefully they'll be useful. |
Andrew Monkhouse
Hanoi, Vietnam
Thursday, September 16, 2010 06:52 |
Yes Clerk, ‘The Old Community’ by Alec Wood mentions that the discrepancy in the number of names in the Church (49) and on the Cenotaph (40) is due to the fact that the Church roll includes men from Glusburn.
Whilst it is true that some of the names in the Sutton church were from Glusburn/Crosshills and are therefore on the Kildwick memorial, it does not explain some other anomalies. Pte Sylvester Petty for example was born & bred in Sutton and killed during WW1. His name appears on the Baptist Chapel Bronze Memorial Tablet, however his name is mysteriously missing from the Sutton war memorial.
Another example is 2nd Lieutenant Harry Edwards who lived at Manor Hill, Sutton and was very well known and popular around the village. He was killed in 1917 and his name does not appear on any memorial.
There are a couple of names on the St Thomas’s WW1 Roll of Honour that I can’t find anything on whatsoever, Albert Akrigg and Elsie McColgan. They do not appear on any of the local war memorials. This is another research project that I eventually intend to get to the bottom of, but for the time being it’s sitting on the back-burner.
So why some names were omitted from the Sutton memorial I don’t know. Another fairly common occurrence is the doubling up of names on 2 memorials. Cap’t Horsfall and Frederick Simpson both appear on the Sutton & Kildwick memorials. Tom Hackston appears on the Sutton & Eastburn memorials, although his name is misspelt Haxston on the Eastburn memorial. Richard Whitehall can be seen on both the Sutton & Cowling memorials……..and the best one of all is Harry Grimston who’s name appears on 3 memorials, those of Kildwick, Eastburn and Cononley! Harry Grimston is a unique name on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission so it’s the same bloke and not 2 or 3 individuals with the same name.
There always seems to be more questions than answers |
