Kirkby-in-Ashfield St Wilfrid

War Memorial

First World War
Memorial		 Roll of Honour

First World War

War Memorial Board

The World War I Memorial takes the form of a board fixed to the west wall of the church, on the north side of the tower. It reads:

TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND
IN MEMORY OF THE MEN OF
THIS PARISH WHO FELL IN
THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918

below which the 48 names are listed by military rank:

Second Lieutenant W G MASSEY
Company Sergeant-Major W MILLWARD
Sergeant-Major E ELSE
Sergeant W R SKEATH
Corporal J A HALL
Corporal W J HERBERTS
Corporal A HUNT
Corporal T PHILLIPS
Corporal H W WARD
Corporal R WILDGOOSE
Lance-Corporal J W SMITH
Lance-Corporal P T WESTON
Pioneer T BEARDSMORE
Signaller D F COPELAND
Gunner T CHESTER
Gunner J PEPPER
Gunner B THORPE
Private J H R E ALLSBROOK
Private J R BAINBRIDGE
Private H BEASTALL
Private W BOWSRILL
Private J BOYERS
Private C CLARK
Private H CLAYPHAN
Private J CROXALL
Private G W DUROSE
Private G ELLIOTT
Private J G FREEMAN
Private H E GODFREY
Private L GREEN MM
Private T HALLAM
Private W V HART
Private J HOLT
Private H HOPKINSON
Private S E MORLEY
Private L NIXON
Private T TILLEY
Private D TIMMS
Private T TURNER
Private J W WARDLE
Private W H WRIGHT
Private J T SPITTLEHOUSE
Private J W SWEETING
Rifleman C J BELLFIELD
Rifleman J OSCROFT
Rifleman W A OSCROFT
Stoker, First Class W H ATKIN
Able Seaman H CRITCHLOW

The final two names are those of Royal Navy personnel for whom some further details have been established:

William Herbert Atkin, 55 Clumber Street, East Kirkby, served in the cruiser HMS Black Prince. He died on 31 May 1916, aged 24, during the Battle of Jutland, when his ship went down with all hands.

Harry Chritchlow, 17 Park Street, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, died on 20 January 1918, aged 18, when HMS Louvain was torpedoed in the Mediterranean.

Roll of Honour

In addition to the principal memorial, there is a Roll of Honour board hanging on the west wall of the church, to the south of the tower. This lists the names of 146 men who enlisted at the start of the Great War. The names are carried within an ornate border and below the shields of the allies. Beneath the central shields of Great Britain and France, the following is inscribed:

FROM 4 AUGUST 1914 TO

It would appear that the intention had been to inscribe the date of the end of the war, but that was never done, possibly because hostilities ended with an Armistice and servicemen remained on active duty until the Peace Treaty.

Beneath the ornate border is the legend:

BRETHREN PRAY FOR US

War Memorial Window

One of the windows forms another War Memorial to those killed in the First World War.

War Memorial
Book case		 Showing the
inscription in
the book

Second World War

The War Memorial for the Second World War takes the form of a memorial book in a glass-topped display case. The front cover of the book carries the inscription:

IN THIS
BOOK
are inscribed the names
of those of this parish
ST WILFRID’S
Kirkby-in-Ashfield
who gave their lives in
the cause of GOD
and Freedom during
the World War 1939-45.

The memorial book was prepared by calligraphist George Shacklock in 1950 and each page carries a single hand-lettered name in the centre, with a cross at the top and a beautiful water-colour of a flower at the bottom. There are 27 names in the book (two of which are of women) and each name has a different flower. The flyleaf carries the words

LEST WE FORGET

with its own flower – the poppy.

The names are in alphabetical order and carry no rank – just their individual flower:

Albert Pearce Ball   Celandine
Kenneth Herbert Ball   Columbine
David Lionel Blick   Violet
Walter Braddow   Campion
Harry Bratton   Pink
Maurice George Briggs   Ragged Robin
Leonard Brown   Corn Cockle
Ralph Burrows   Flax
Haigh Chatterton   Furze
Ronald Dutchman   Clover
John William Featherston   Vetch
Leonard Footitt   Willow Herb
Dora Green   Rose
Ivan Verdun Grice   Globe Flower
Jack Johnson   Harebell
Christopher Jones   Primrose
Sidney Parker   Cowslip
Nicholas Richard Peel   Scarlet Pimpernel
Samuel Edward Perkins   Thrift
Cyril Rossiter   Bluebell
Wilfred Shillito   Rock Rose
Albert Shooter   Rest Harrow
Audrey Smith   Honeysuckle
Bernard Hamilton Stephenson   Kidney Vetch
Kenneth Charles Thurston   Marshmallow
James Kenneth Turner   Hawkweed
Frederick Martin Upton   Rampion

A new organ was also given to the church as a memorial to those who fell in the Second World War.

Boer War

On the south wall of the chancel is a brass plaque to Albert Louis Salmond who was killed in 1902 during the Boer War.