Wigan Album

Laudable - but not quite accurate - no Death Pennies were issued post-WW2 and the Casualty Scroll was very different.

David, were you in Standish yesterday about 15:00 near McRobbs ?

This an article I wrote some years ago , I can't remember if I've posted it before , please forgive if I have.
Deadman's Penny.

By Tom Walsh .

As the 100th anniversary of the end WW1 approached I again began to think about Wigan's involvement in the war, and decided to revisit some work that I did at the start 4 years ago and it seems as relevant today as it did then so I decided to share it .

The Great War, the war to end all wars(ho if that it were true ), as it was always referred to until the carnage wreaked on humanity starting 21 years later, from then it became known as WW1. Please God we never see a 3 added to the prefix WW.

My mind wondered back to my school days at St Patricks School and being told about Thomas Woodcock V.C. a hero of the First World War, a former pupil of the school,and how after a Civic Reception at Wigan Town Hall where he was the guest of honour and another reception at our school, that very night he left Wigan to return to the front ,never to return , he had cheated death once but wasn't to be so fortunate a second time. He was killed in action on the 27th March1918, only months before the armistice ,his bravery was further underlined by the fact that as a recipient of The Victoria Cross,he was excused front line action,but he insisted on rejoining his comrades. Considering his experience, his instance on returning to rejoin battle was surly as brave as his epic exploits on the battlefield, by this commitment surly another medal for bravery was deserved.
Citation (abridged)
On the 13th September 1917 north of Broenbeek, Belgium, when an advanced post had held out for 96 hours and was finally forced to retire. Private Woodcock covered the retreat. Private Woodcock heard cries for help behind him - he returned and waded into the stream amid a shower of bombs and rescued another member of the party the latter he then carried across open ground in daylight towards our front line, regardless of machine-gun fire.

In preparing this article I had the great pleasure of meeting Mrs. Veronica Ashton, Granddaughter of this outstanding warrior. She was able to give me an insight of the pride his family still have almost a century after his sacrifice, she allowed me to view her albums and a picture that has pride of place in her home. She recalls clearly his medals being displayed in a glass case in her grandmother's home in Cambridge Street. Mrs. Ashton , has visited her Grandfather's grave along with her children, she tells me of the overwhelming feeling of pride mixed with sorrow, tears are only just held back. Veronica is a kind person, of steely determination ,it is clear that Thomas Woodcock's traits have been passed down the generations. As she is proud of him, I'm sure
he in turn would be equally proud of her.



There are memorials to this brave soldier in both St Patricks Church and School. His Victoria Cross can be seen at The Guards Museum, Wellington Barracks ,Birdcage Walk , London.I haven't yet seen the medal but on my next visit to the capital I shall certainly pay a visit
!

My only real memory regarding WW1 was of seeing large coin type ornament on the sideboard of a
neighbour, in McCormick Street, Mrs Kelly who had lost a son in 'The Great War,' as she always described it, and asking her about it, she explained that it was given to families of servicemen who died in that war and that it was called 'The Deadman's Penny'.
I remember saying in a childlike way "a penny isn't much for a life" I can still remember her reply " Ee love it's not but it's all I've got of him, and it's worth it's weight in gold to me".

At such a young age I couldn't fully comprehend what she meant or understand her great sorrow which never truly healed. Mrs Kelly died in The family home 34 McCormick Street in1951, still a broken woman. The suffering of WW1 wasn't only on the battlefields of Flanders and Passendale but in the hearths, hearts and homes of the Mothers and Fathers who would never see their sons again, not even left with a grave to tend. I think I half realised, even for one so young , that part of Mrs Kelly died on that fatal day in 1918.

As the centenary of the end of that war is
remembered my mind went back to Mrs Kelly and the so called 'Deadman's Penny' and I resolved to find out more about her son .The following article is what I was able to ascertain with help of the records from Wigan's , Museum of Wigan Life where the archive on the WW1 is truly amazing, thanks is due to all who worked on its compilation. Below the verbatim report.

WIGAN OBSERVER, 2nd November 1918.
NINETEEN AND FOUR YEARS SERVICE.

Mrs Kelly of. 34 McCormick Street Wigan has received news that her son Pte.John Kelly,Royal Irish Fusiliers Lewis Gun Corps, has been killed in action. Pte. Kelly who was nineteen years old and single enlisted in November 1914 and was last employed as a drawer at the Maypole Collieries . A comrade-in-arms , writing to the bereaved mother, tell her that her son was very well liked by all the boys in the platoon.

John Kelly was born on the 4th of June 1899 so he was only fifteen years six months when he
volunteered. (conscription was only introduced in 1916) Hence he must have exaggerated his age to enlist , I don't think many questions were asked if those days ! The tragedy is compounded by the nearness of the ceasefire, had that taken place a week or so earlier John Kelly would have returned to Wigan a war hero, and Mrs Kelly would have been spared thirty three years of heartache. If a week is along time in politics ,it must be an eternity in war !


I was only six years old when Mrs Kelly died ,and I have often wondered what happened to 'The Penny' ,
I hope it didn't go in a house clearance and sold in a secondhand shop for a few coppers ,a mans life surely deserves better than that ! Had I been older when Mrs Kelly died I would have suggested that it was placed in her coffin. Mother and son together forever. What ever its fate I'm sure Mrs Kelly would be proud to see her son remembered in the pages of The Wigan Observers a hundred years after his death.

A good read Tom, I too would think Mrs Kelly would have been proud to have seen her son remembered in the Wigan Observer and here on wiganworld too. The reality wasn't anything like as they'd been told such as like a walk in the park or it will be over by Christmas.

Thank you Cyril . This is a poem I wrote, I hope viewers won't mind my sharing it.

John Kelly.
By Tom Walsh.


John Kelly , who was he ? a man who gave his life for you and me , a man who left his home and friends to fight for freedom to fight the foe.

A life snuffed out before its time in the carnage of that horrendous war. Did he think of his Mother on that fateful day ? did he ponder days of yore?

Did his life before him flash ? did he have time to make his peace with God ? Did he think of a sweetheart, as life blood ebbed away, of children now denied ?

Did he wonder if his body would lie with the glorious dead in a fields wheat and corn, of poppies red and lilies white ? or was his shroud to be the earth and clay.

Did he shed a tear for times that might have been, of growing old with kith and kin? Could he have known in decades hence, a poet would ask ' John Kelly , who was he ?'

Uncle of mine k,I,a, 1917
10,8 ,1917 .at passchendale 7/8 battalion royal irish fusiliers came from scholes his last letter home Said people have no idea what it's like here it's slaughter, they never found his body he came from scholes must may be they were mates

Thank you, Tom and Cyril I know Veronica, she is a lovey lady, and to think war is raging again in Ukraine.Over hundred years on!!

Tom, was it Pte. 21731 John Shannon? Son of Joseph & Mary Jane Shannon of 28 Caunce Road, Scholes, died aged 24 - along with 12 others from the same Battalion, only 2 of whom have known graves. He's remembered on the Menin Gate. Sadly, no image or record of him in the Wigan Archives - which means he's not on the Wigan War Memorial. He is on the Roll of Honour and War Memorial in St Catharine's Church, however.

Yes rev that's my uncle john shannon hs name is also on wigan cenotaph twice he was in the connaught rangers
His name and number on connaught rangers and royal irish fusiliers also my grandad T white manchester regiment k,I,a, 6/11/1918 in st catherine,s memorial 5 days before war ended they were brother in laws

The death penny isn’t his David

Yes, Jake - that's the point I was making - it can't be, because none were issued for WW2. The scroll is also not authentic - it's more like the style of the WW1 issue than that for WW2. Whichever way it's done, however, keeping the memory alive is what matters.
You can but replica Death Pennies, engraved with the name of your choice (the original names were raised, presumably as each plaque was cast individually).

Rev I think Jake means the deathpenny belongs to another person,

Yes, Tom - I know - because it can only have been issued to a WW1 casualty's family (or be a modern replica).
Whose name is on the plaque, Jake?