Wednesday, 14 October 2015

We Want a Proper Commemoration for Barnsley's Battle of the Somme Men

Three men from St Edward's Parish who lost their lives on 1 July 1916
We at the Barnsley War Memorials Project want to remember everyone from Barnsley who served in any capacity during the First World War.  Soldiers, sailors, airmen, nurses, munitions workers, agricultural workers, women left to manage their homes alone, mothers, fathers, wives and children. Our Roll of Honour will include anyone who was born in Barnsley, or who lived in Barnsley (modern MBC boundary) when they enlisted, or who is remembered on any of Barnsley's 600+ war memorials.  

But there are a few really important events within the greater scope of the war which, in our opinion, require especial commemoration.  The beginning of the Battle of the Somme in July 1916 is one of these.
 
Deaths of Barnsley Men by month Click to enlarge (thanks to Pete Schofield)

This simple graph tells you why.

Do you see that tall blue spike? It marks the month of July 1916 when 500 Barnsley men lost their lives.  Nearly 300 of them were killed on the very first day of the Battle of the Somme!  

That level of loss was never reached again (thank goodness!) but imagine how that must have affected families across Barnsley.  This was not just a one off event, the effects would have continued for the lifetimes of everyone concerned.  Wives lost their husbands, children lost their fathers, mothers lost their sons.  
Many men who were wounded during the battle, which continued until November 1916, taking the total Barnsley killed and missing to over 800, suffered for years afterwards, often dying before their time with their war contribution unrecognised, except occasionally by a mention on a local memorial. The deadline for  Commonwealth War Graves Commission recognition is 31 August 1921 and men who died after that, even if it was from their wounds, have no CWGC stone over their graves.

We are working with groups from across Barnsley to record, research and commemorate Barnsley's participation in the First World War.


We are participating in the Imperial War Museum's Lives of the First World war project to remember everyone who was touched by the war and their War Memorial Archive to record all of our 600+ memorials and the names upon them for posterity.  

We should by now all be familiar with the stories of the Barnsley Pals, but the 4000+ fallen Barnsley men we have now recorded on our master spreadsheet joined 139 different regiments, with 1522 of them spread across many different battalions of the York and Lancaster Regiment, not just the 13th and 14th which formed the 1st and 2nd Barnsley Pals.  Men from Penistone generally joined the 12th York and Lancaster, the Sheffield Pals, many miners joined the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry or served in the Royal Engineers.  

Barnsley men who fell in July 1916 also served in the Australian Infantry, the Canadian Infantry, the South African Infantry and numerous different English, Scottish and Irish Regiments. 



We must not forget the contribution and sacrifice made by every one of them. 



Barnsley Council are not planning any large municipal event in July 2016.  Many of our Councillors will be attending an event in France on weekend commencing Friday 1st of July, but for the rest of us, how will we mark these dreadful days? 


If your town, village, community group or church is planning an event to mark July 1916 please let us know and we will spread the word across Barnsley.  Contact us at BWMP2015@gmail.com

If your group is researching WW1 and would like to know what information we hold for men from your area please get in touch, we would be happy to share everything we have collected so far and can easily sort our data by village, parish or a particular memorial.

Monday, 5 October 2015

Not Forgotten - Men not Named on Barnsley War Memorials - A

This is a page for Barnsley connected men and women who fell in the First World War who are not remembered on any War Memorial in the Barnsley Borough discovered so far.  It is provided to assist relatives to find the places where their First World War serviceman is remembered.  

A  B  C D E  F G H   I J K L  M N O P  Q R S  T U V W Y

We currently (Nov 2021) have 3800 names on our Master List of servicemen and women who lost their lives in the war, who were born in Barnsley or who lived in Barnsley when they enlisted, or who are remembered on a memorial in the Barnsley area. Of these approximately 700 (these numbers are regularly updated as research continues) are not named on any memorial in this area, and the names of a number of others have only recently been commemorated in the Barnsley Borough, either on completely new memorials like the Somme Centenary Artwork, or as the result of research by local groups, such as the additional panels in Hoyland. 

We have discovered that some of the men apparently omitted from commemoration in Barnsley immediately after the war, ARE named on memorials outside the Barnsley MBC, and where we have sufficient evidence to prove this we have indicated the places and the reasons we think lie behind these other commemorations. 

The First World War Roll of Honour produced by the Barnsley War Memorials Project (BWMP) and published in November 2018 contained the names of 3,784 men and women, along with 1,990 photographs. An online version can be accessed by clicking the FWW Roll of Honour tab above.

It has been our intention to record all Barnsley war related deaths including the deaths of volunteers, nurses and war workers. 

Please let us know if you have a Barnsley connected relative who lost their life in the war whom you cannot find on any of our webpages (use the search box above), or in the BWMP folders in Barnsley Archives.

Contact details can be found on the About tab above.

The names of those from Barnsley who lost their lives in connection with the Great War 1914 - 1919 will be "Not Forgotten" by us or their families.


If there are words in blue it means there is a link to further information, for example on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website, and/or to the solder's 'Life Story' on the Imperial War Museum's Lives of the First World War website. This is sadly no longer interactive, however the IWM have made the archived version freely available so photographs and information uploaded during the Centenary can still be viewed.

As there are so many names the list has been split into sections - click on the letter of the surname that you want to search or use the search box at the top left of the screen.

A  B  C D E  F G H   I J K L  M N O P  Q R S  T U V W Y

A

Ellis Adshead Gunner 294466 Royal Garrison Artillery
Died 14 December 1918
Born Higham, nr Barnsley, lived Stockport (buried and remembered in Stockport)

Joseph Allen Private 235325 King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
Killed in Action 5 August 1918
Born Barnsley, his family moved to Hull.
He lived 17 Leo Terrace, Waterloo St, Hull (remembered on Needlers Ltd. (confectioners), Hull)


Maurice Allen Private 18479 Coldstream Guards
Killed in Action 9 October 1917
Born Hemsworth, lived Worsbro' Bridge (remembered at St Helen's Hemsworth) 

Thomas Henry Allen Squadron Sergeant Major 4339 15th Hussars
Killed in Action 2 February 1917
Born Hoyle Mill, Barnsley, lived Lincolnshire (remembered at St Medard's, Little Bytham)

Walter Allen Private 358775 Liverpool Regiment
Killed in Action 12 June 1917
Born Thurlstone, lived Manchester
 
William Henry Allen Boy 1st Class J/21873 Royal Navy HMS Bulwark
Killed in Action 26 November 1914
Lived in Grimethorpe, nr Barnsley

George Allott Private 9202 King's Own Scottish Borderers
Killed in Action 19 November 1914
From Heelis Street, Barnsley   

John Almond Private 14/994 York and Lancaster Regiment
Missing Presumed Dead 26 June 1917
Born in Burnley, Lancashire. Member of 14th Y&L so must have enlisted in Barnsley

Arthur Andrews Corporal 1727 King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
Killed in Action 29 July 1915
Born Barnsley, lived in Mexborough

Ralph Armfield Private 41593 Lincolnshire Regiment
Missing Presumed Dead 31 July 1917
Born Barnsley, lived 9 Pindar Oaks Cottages

George William Ashby Private 11314 King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
Killed in Action 29 August 1916
Born Stairfoot, Barnsley, lived Doncaster (remembered at St John's, Balby, Doncaster)

Roland Ashton Lance Corporal 241241 York and Lancaster Regiment
Killed in Action 9 October 1917
From Hope Street, Barnsley  

Albert Asquith Private 14/458 York and Lancaster Regiment
Killed in Action 13 October 1918
From Newton Street, Barnsley 

Maurice Gawthorpe Atkinson Corporal West Yorkshire Regiment
Killed in Action 14 July 1917
Born Barnsley, lived Conisborough

Peter Walter Atkinson 63066 South Lancashire Regt
Died of pneumonia 4 September 1918
From Wilfred Terrace, Princess Street, Barnsley (buried in Barnsley Cemetery) 

Charles Turner Attewell Private 42197 Manchester Regiment
Killed in Action 22 March 1918
Born Birdwell, Barnsley
Remembered at St Jude's, Hexthorpe (as G Attewell). His sole relative was an aunt who lived in Hexthorpe, with whom he had lived before the war. 
 

Ernest Attewell Private13/1485 14th Btn York and Lancs Regt
Killed in Action 27 June 1917
From Summer Lane, Barnsley

Albert Denham Avison Gunner 1969 Machine Gun Corps
Killed in Action 14 April 1918
Born Barnsley, lived in Liverpool

This list is not complete.
Ordered alphabetically 18 December 2015
Included 223 names on 1 March 2016
Separated into sections and began to update 21 August 2021