Wigan Album

My Uncle William is on here he is in middle row. reet at Bottom ....Died in Belgium was in pioneer corps aged 21

I think this is a great thing to put on here with such clarity as well, i would never have seen or known about it otherwise. I am sure a lot of families will see their relatives names thereon.
Well done Gerry.

Not a relative of mine - but it is good to see the name of Harold Kyte there. I have a soft spot for that lad, have been aware of him for years. 1LF 20 column Emphasis White City 1944. I have in my possession hand written praise of Harold Kyte for his resolve and keeping defences going under very heavy attack "Could'nt have done it without" of shelling and banzai attacks, April 44. The lad was actually killed later on in the attack against Mogaung.
A brave lad indeed, the writer not only lost a good man to have but also a good friend.
Now then Harold Kyte, there's your name on your stamping ground plaque, so I am briefly telling folks what you did in the Lancashire sector gate, you were'nt letting them pass at any price, like hell were they coming in. So I have telled em Harold.

Very interesting Fert, who wrote the letter was it his commander.

This plaque has been replaced with a carved black marble one, and some additional names added. Unfortunately, the original had been erected rather too soon after the War, and there were quite a few men's names omitted. The erection of a new plaque to remedy this was, however, an opportunity missed. Only a few new names were added yet, at the time of the replcement, Dr Eric McPherson's excellent book 'Roll of Honour' (which lists every Wigan Metro casualty known), was available and showed that dozens of names were missing. Thus Ince still does not have a complete Memorial to the dead of WW2. Perhaps the full list could be added to the WW1 Cenotaph in Lower Ince Cemetery - which was, really, where this Memorial should have been created in the first place.

Hello Rev David. the only reason I have a photo of this plaque is because my uncle William's name is spelled incorrectly on the new marble plaque. Is it going to be put right?

Nowt to do with me, I'm afraid. Short of completely re-doing the lot, I doubt if it could be corrected easily.
I tried to intervene at the time to get more names recorded. We added a few to our replacement WW2 Memorial in St Mary's - but it only covers St Mary's Parish - this one says it covers Ince, and does have names from both Higher and Lower Ince... just not as many as it might.

Does anyone know if Robert Leyland is related to the painters that used to be on Manchester Road please? They are distantly related to me.

You've uncovered an error in Dr McPherson's book. There are two Robert Leylands listed on the War Graves site, one from Preston, and one from Wigan. Eric lists the Wigan one, as the husband of Jane (Jennie), of Wigan, killed in Burmah, 1944. He gives that his name appears on the Wigan Memorial, and that at St Catharine's, Scholes - but not on this one.

I always thought someting was wrong with this plaque the names are in alphabetical order then some seem to be tagged on at the end but out of order i.e Mr Byron at the end

The war against Japan only ended in August 1945. This plaque was put up just seven months later. This was far too early, as the addition of seven names across the bottom of the three columns indicates. Families still hoped that men missing in action might have become prisoners, rather than killed. They would obviously not want to put forward names for commemoration until they were sure their men were not coming home. Also, most Memorials invited relatives to submit names for commemoration, and some families were too grief-stricken to do so too soon after the War. The plaque on the old St Mary's was dedicated in 1950, yet was still not as complete as it might have been.

Hi Jeff, Robert Leyland was my grandfathers brother he was not related to the Leyland decoraters. I do remember my granfather never missed laying his poppy every year at Ince Bar rememberance service,i think Robert lost his life on a parachute jump he was shot down,not sure where i think he did it voluntarily.

The Robert Leyland listed by Eric McPherson died with the Chindits in Burmah as a Lance Bombardier in the Royal Artillery on May 24th 1944. The other Robert Leyland listed on the War Graves site was a Sergeant air gunner in the RAF, and was killed over Liseux, France, on 25th July 1944. According to the CWGC: Son of Richard and Lillian Leyland, of Ribbleton, Preston, Lancashire. Scholar of the Harris Technical College, Preston.

Just wanted to thank FERT for the lovely tribute that you have paid to harold kyte,harold was my grandads brother(james/jim) who also served in the burma campaign.I was unaware of the letter of praise and would love to know the story of how you came about this letter. really hoping that sometime soon you or anyone with any information on harold will see this message. thanks in advance, darren kyte. email link attached.