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WORLD WAR ONE MEMORIALThe story so far started with a small group of us trying to track down the Second World War Memorial which had been part of the Grammar School's lecturn. This was eventually traced to the stores of Portland Basin Museum at the old Hegginbottom School site. Just as this project finished the First World War Memorial was discovered in another part of the stores. Both had been relegated to gather dust, when the Grammar School became Ashton Sixth Form College. Click Here for the WW2 story.
Rachel Cornes (Social History Curator for the Museum) dreamed up a lovely idea to base their 2014 Commemorative around the First World War Memorial and the lives of those mentioned. A lottery bid was developed whereby the memorial would be conserved. I was given the task of researching the back stories of the men listed. My research was handed over in January and passed onto the drama group 'Two Boards and a Passion', to create a drama to be enacted by the current Sixth Form Drama Unit. This to take place on 3rd July as a promenade performance along the museum's 1920s street, which has been adapted to Wartime.
The renovated memorial has been installed alongside an exhibition which will run from 27 June 2014 - February 2015. A shortened version of the play has also been filmed to show at the museum.
Review of the Preview Performance: The scripting of my research by "Two Boards and Pasion" was superb and the students put on a very professional performance. Should have brought a hankie!! There wasn't a dry eye in the house especially at the end when the students sang "Pack Up Your Troubles", especially their soloist who was superb. Excellent all round!! There is a film of the performance which will be posted here as soon as I can find it on YouTube. Thank you to Rachel Cornes who conceived the idea and all involved - no-one was disappointed.
Research is still required for (Teacher) Samuel A Miller, (Students) W Hallsworth, Harry Lees, Eric Smith and Harold Walker. Anyone fancy a challenge?
CLICK ON ANY NAMES BELOW FOR MUCH MORE INFORMATION ABOUT EACH INDIVIDUAL
Summary
Lance Corporal Edward Arnold was the only son of Tom and Annie Arnold, of 14 Granville Terrace, Ashton-u Lyne. He went to Albion School and then won a scholarship to Ashton Secondary School. He went on to work for the Manchester and Liverpool District Banking company. He played for Ashton Nomads football team and the Parish church and Ashton Secondary School Cricket Clubs. Edward was killed in action of the first day for the Battle of the Ancre on the 13th November 1916, he was 22 years old. He is also mentioned on the Ashton-under-Lyne Municipal War Memorial.
Summary
Private James Barnes was the son of Thomas and Martha Barnes, of 31A, Ridge Hill Lane, Stalybridge. He had two brothers Ernest and Percy and a sister. Before the war he was studying to become a teacher at Manchester Training College and he was living at 8, Gerrard Street, Stalybridge. He was killed in the Dardanelles on the 11th August 1915 after he had volunteered to charge a Turkish position. He is also commemorated at Stalybridge War Memorial. He left a wife, Lily who he married in the Register Office in 1914, possibly just before he sailed reference RM/122/158.
Summary
Lieutenant George Barrett was the Son of Mr and Mrs Herbert Barrett of Moss Bank, Richmond Street, Ashton-under-Lyne. He had three brothers Harold, Allan and Kenneth. Before enlistment in March 1915 He had been working at the County Bank in Stamford Street and was a member of Ashton Cricket Club. He was killed in action in France on the 9th October 1917 aged 23 years Old.
Summary
Gunner Rupert Black was the son of John and Elizabeth Black of 21, Taunton Road, Ashton-under-Lyne. He was also the Nephew of Major A. Hilton and had a sister Mary. He went to school at both Mottram Grammar and Ashton Secondary and prior to the War was engaged at the Smithfield Market, Manchester branch of the Manchester and Liverpool District Bank, and as a member of Ashton and Albion Cricket Club. He was killed in action, probably on the Third Battle for Ypres, on the 22nd of August 1917 aged only 19 years.
Summary
Private Thomas Boyes was the only Son of Thomas and Ada Boyes who owned cabinet makers and upholsters at 21 Market Street, Ashton-under-Lyne. He had an older sister called Emily. He was educated at Albion and Ashton Secondary School before taking employment at Fallowfield branch of the Manchester and Liverpool District Bank Company. He first joined the Duke of Lancaster’s Yeomanry before transferring the Westmorland and Cumberland Yeomanry. He was killed in action on the 30th July 1918, aged 21 years.
Summary
Sergeant Noel Braithwaite was the Son of Mary and John Braithwaite of Queen’s Square, Ashton-under-Lyne. He had an older brother Reginald and two younger sisters Edith and Reenie. He worked as an Elementary School teacher before founding a coal merchants business in Park Parade, which he left to become a non-commissioned officer serving with Manchester Regiment. He was killed in action in the Dardanelles on the 7th June 1915. He is also listed in the Ashton-under-Lyne War Memorial.
Summary
Private George Coop was the son of Lily Coup of 38, Granville Street, Ashton-under-Lyne. He had two sisters Nellie and Mildred. His Father was Charles Woolley Coop, a butcher by trade. George was engaged in the 1916 Battle for the Somme where he was killed on the 8th of October 1916 at just 20 years of age.
Summary
Private William Croghan was the son of Joseph and Mary Croghan. Joseph was a Police Superintendent and the family lived at 29 Brunswick Street, Dukinfield. William had two elder brothers Joseph and Thomas, a sister Mary Lilian and a younger brother Alphonsus Marie. Prior to the war William was working for the Manchester and Liverpool District Bank. On engagement he was with the Bankers Battalion which formed part of the 41st Division in 1914-1918. William died in the Princess Christian Red Cross Military Hospital, Surrey on the 1st of October 1916 after engagement in the Battle for the Somme. His Brothers may also have been injured in the same Battle. He is also commemorated on the St Mary’s RC, Dukinfield memorial.
Summary
Lieutenant Cyrus Eller was the son of John Henry and Harriet Elizabeth Eller of 58, Old Road, Dukinfield. John was an Assurance Agent and Harriett, a Schoolmistress from Bristol. Cyrus had a brother John Shirley and a sister Lilian. Cyrus attended the Moravian School, Dukinfield, also Ashton Secondary School and then went to Manchester University gaining a Bsc in Science. At University he was an officer in the training corps and co-founder of the Dukinfield Volunteer Corps. He served at Egypt Gallipoli, where he won commendations from the Brigadier and the Colonel for picking up live grenades that had fallen from the catapult. Cyrus died of wounds received at Havrincourt on 30th May 1917. He had been out on a night patrol with a bombing party and got ambushed by a German patrol, he told his men to scatter independently while he drew fire. He was found badly wounded and died on his way to a German hospital. Prior to his death in Germany, Cyrus had only recently married Amy Gladys Wilson at Ashton Baptist Church on Welbeck Street in 1916 AP8/1/39. He is also commemorated at Manchester University Memorial in the quadrangle of John Owen’s Building on Oxford Road, and listed on the Dukinfield War Memorial at Chapel Hill.
His brother Shirley also served, and died of ill health on 2nd January 1919, he had been working on the Government’s Seaplane design unit at Cowes as he wasn’t fit for front line service, having been turned down 14 times through bad eyesight.
Summary
Driver Leslie Hughes was the son of Son of William and Sara Hughes, of "Minden," Mossley Rd., Ashton-under-Lyne. His father William was the Registrar of Births and Deaths. Leslie served with The Heavy Battery as part of the Royal Garrison Artillery, who were specialists in the deployment of large calibre high explosive shells in and mainly involved in the destruction of targets behind enemy lines. It was in this role on engagement in Salonika (now Thessalonika), in Greece) that he lost his life on the 15th of September 1916, aged only 19 years. He is also listed on the Ashton-under-Lyne memorial.
Summary
Requiring further research to establish that this inscription belongs to a Harry Illingworth, the nephew of one John Barraclough Illingworth a widower living at 11 Crawford Terrace, Ashton-under-Lyne in 1911. He is a foreman mechanic at a cut nail manufacturers. The family originally came from Leeds to Ashton, but John B Illingworth was born in Halifax around 1850. Harry Illingworth is an apprentice fitter at the same firm. A separate account states that, Sergeant Illingworth was the son of Mr and Mrs J.B. Illingworth, of Woodleigh, Oldham Road, Ashton, and that he was employed in the mechanical department of Messrs. Summers and Sons Forge, Stalybridge, under his father, the foreman. It also states that he was educated at the Ashton Parish Church School, and the Ashton Secondary School. And that in addition to this Sergeant Illingworth was killed in the Dardanelles on the 5th June 1915 aged 23 years old.
Summary
Lance Corporal Leonard Knott was the son of William and Elizabeth Knott of 250, Audenshaw Rd., Audenshaw. Both his parents were certified schoolteachers and he had two bothers Frederick and Harold and two sisters Muriel and Winifred. He was educated at Ashton Secondary School and was preparing for a career as a miner’s engineer. In September 1914 he joined the Royal Fusiliers. It was on operations in the Somme where he was performing his duties as a stretcher bearer that he was struck by a shell and killed instantaneously on the 28th of November 1917 aged 22 years old.
Summary
the Army Cyclist Corps was classified as Mounted Troops of the 19th Western Division: Divisional Mounted Troops. All I have been able to ascertain is that the Cyclist Corps were mostly used as messengersalong the front.
Apparently his death was instantaneous – he was killed by a shell which exploded right next to him. He took up his commission in September 1914 and sailed for France in July 1915.
He was educated at Audenshaw School, and Ashton Secondary School where his father had been headmaster for a number of years. He then gained a Hobson Scholarship to Manchester University where he graduated with an Msc.
Summary
Lieutenant Edward Moore was the son of John Kerruish Moore and Margaret Ann Moore, of 79, Newmarket Rd., Ashton-under-Lyne. His father was a Certified Schoolmaster working for the Borough Council and he had three brothers Ernest, William and Henry. Whilst engaged on service on the Western Front, Edward was killed on the 25th of April 1918, aged 23 years old. He is also listed on the Ashton-under-Lyne War Memorial.
Summary
Sergeant Frank Newby was the son of William Herbert and Hannah Newby of Lane end House Mossley. His father a former Cotton Operative was then working as Coal Merchant. They had four children in total. Frank was an Accounts Clerk working for the Borough Council, His brother Herbert a Railway Clerk for the London and Midland Railway Company and there were two younger sisters Elsie and Marion. Whilst serving with the Royal Engineers in the Somme Frank died on the 22nd of March 1918, aged 27 years old.
No further information
Summary
Rifleman Edward Picket was the son of Edward Thomas a Caretaker of Chapel and Schools of Chapel House, Fleet Street. He lived there with his Stepmother and five other siblings, a brother Harry and three sisters Mabel, Annie and Doris, and a stepbrother Leslie. Edward worked for Swallow and Taylors, joiners from Cockbrook and was a member of both the Football and Cricket clubs for the United Methodists Church at Ashton. He was killed in by gunfire after a brilliant advance during the Battle of the Somme on the 15th of September 1916.
Summary
Private Lancelot Proctor was the son of Robert and Jessie Proctor of 8, Market Street, Ashton-under-Lyne. His father worked for the Oldham and Ashton Tramway Company at Denton. And, his Mother ran a Drapers Shop. He had a younger Sister and an adoptive Sister. Lancelot was the manager of Messrs Buckley, Bakers of Ashton-under-Lyne. He died during the Battle of the Somme on the 7th July 1916 ages 28, when an aerial dart entered the shelter where in he was sitting and a piece of metal entered his brain. He left a wife Nancy Ann Hawkins who he married in 1911 at Ashton-under-Lyne Stamford Street Methodist Church (APD2/3/42) under his full name George Baron Theodore Lancelot Proctor. And a child, Marry Jessie there daughter who had been born the following year (AST/175/46)
Summary
Private Benjamin Shatwell was the son of George and Mary Shatwell, of Garside Street and Birch Street, Ashton-under-Lyne. His Father was a Traveller in Mineral Water. He had a younger brother Ernest, and three sisters Annie, Florence and Miriam, who were all Elementary School Teachers. Benjamin was a Steam Engine Fitter prior to serving with the Manchester Regiment in the Gallipoli Campaign in Turkey where he died on the 13th of August 1915.
Summary
Second Lieutenant Albert Stringer was the son of Edward and Ann Stringer, of 6, Trafalgar Square, Ashton-under-Lyne. His father was a School Headmaster, and Albert and all of his three siblings, Bertha, Janet and John were also employed as Schoolteachers. Albert gained a BSc from Victoria University and was the Deputy Headmaster of the Municipal Secondary School, Ashton-under-Lyne. Albert had joined the Ashton Territorials at the outbreak of the war and was serving in Gallipoli. On the 7th June 1915 he was killed in action in the Dardanelles, after a brilliant bayonet charge, and the capture of a Turkish trench directly in front of the Allies firing line. He was 37 years of age.
Summary
Second Lieutenant John Wade was the son of Dr Herbert and Ada Wade, of 40 Park Range, Victoria Park, Manchester. He had one sister Ada. His father was Education secretary for the Borough Council and was serving as a Lieutenant Colonel in the same Battalion. John had been awarded his B.Sc, with honours, was studying for his M.Sc, when the war broke out he was gazetted to the Ashton Territorials on September 2nd, 1914. John was placed on the official casualties list after being reported missing since June 18th, when he took part with the Ashton Territorials in a night attack on a strong Turkish positioning the Dardenelles. His father Herbert was at the time lying wounded in hospital at Alexandria from injuries sustained in the same campaign.