Wigan Album
War Memorials
5 CommentsPhoto: Rev David Long
Item #: 24750
Unusually, this Memorial was not inscribed with those who fell in WW2, as happened with most WW1 Memorials.
The gentleman in front of the vicar (Bald with moustache) is Stephen Walsh M.P. He was born in Liverpool but orphaned at a young age and started work age 13 at a mine in Ashton -in-Makerfield. He served as a minister in Lloyd George and Ramsey Mc Donald's governments , and was made a Privy Councillor in 1924. He died in 1929 aged 69.
This is the caption I put on the pic when I first sent it, under "Places" "St Mary's Lower Ince":
The ceremony was performed on August 30th 1924. The unveiling was by the Secretary of State for War, who just happened, for most of that year (January to November), to be Stephen Walsh, the MP for Ince (1906 - 1929). I think he's the chap in the overcoat.
The dedication was by the Vicar, the Revd. Samuel Bryson. An unknown Non-conformist Minister stands beside him.
The occasion is described in St Mary's Parish Magazine for September 1924: "Ince public War Memorial... was unveiled... and dedicated... in the presence of a vast assembly from the Township. A pathetic sight was the large crowd of mourners, many of whom sobbed silently as the simple service proceeded and recalled loving memories of those with whom they had often worshipped in by-gone days. A spirit of the greatest reverence and solemnity pervaded the whole proceedings."
The Dedication included thanksgivings for those who "were spared to return alive".
Unfortunately, accounts of the unveiling do not include, as was often the case, a list of those whose names are inscribed on the Memorial. When weathering made it necessary to re-inscribe the names in recent years, some had become illegible and, in the absence of a contemporary list, they could not be included. Has anyone such a list among their souvenirs?
I hope that others may search out and find old pics of their local War Memorials, as we begin to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War.
There already exists a place in the Album (under "Assorted", "World War 1") for other pics related to the Great War. There is also "War Related Items", and "World War 2" in the Album.
Reverend. Does the Wigan Observer archives not have such a list? They were very methodical regarding such important matters.
Albert - I enquired at the time that the Memorial was being renovated about the spaces, and was told that no one knew of the existence of a list - but I didn't check.