Remembering Albert Greenhow: Elinor's Long Vigil 1918-1965

Yesterday I reached October 1929 in my long search of the Penistone, Stocksbridge and Hoyland Express (PSHE) for articles relating to war memorials and other forms of commemoration and remembrance. I have not been collecting the 'In Memoriam' notices unless they are for someone in particular because that would have added 100s of cuttings to my files. However ... this one popped up in the search results and I immediately knew the man to whom it referred. I also recognised the street name - Stonyford Road in Wombwell (my OH will know why). So my curiosity was engaged (and to be honest it was just too hot to concentrate on the routine task of searching month by month for articles - I needed something more interesting to keep me awake!)

This lady had inserted an 'In Memoriam' notice for her husband who had been killed in action 11 years previously.

PSHE, 5 October 1929, p. 16.

Quite a few years ago now I was asked to do a talk to the Darfield History Group. They meet in the Parish Hall near the church and I know a couple of the ladies there quite well as they helped with the Barnsley War Memorials Project (BWMP), their legacy is now the Barnsley & District War Memorials (B&WDM) website. The ladies are also members of the Friends of Darfield Churchyard and they had created a map of all the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) burials and war memorial gravestones in the Churchyard. It was was free to collect from a little box on the church's noticeboard. You can download a copy from our Darfield war memorial gravestones page on the B&DWM website. 

The talk went well and afterwards we were having a look around when my husband spotted a small table to one side of the hall. After asking permission he took a few photos.

Albert Greenhow war memorial table in Darfield Parish Hall (photo taken 21 May 2014)

As you can see it has a tiny label dedicating it to a man who died in the First World War. 

Albert Greenhow was Private M2/188133 in the Army Service Corps. He was killed in action on 2/3 October (the exact date varies depending on the source) 1918. At his death he was serving with Mechanical Transport and was attached to the Canadian Corps Siege Park. According to this post on the Great War Forum a Siege Park was a central depot where Army Service Corps lorries which drew the heavier guns were located. The lorries were assigned to different guns as and when required like a motor pool. Due to the nature of the work the men were in constant danger from to enemy shelling directed at the guns. Albert is buried in the Queant Communal Cemetery, British Extension.

Looking on the CWGC website I found that just in the week 1 October 1918 to 7 October 1918 there were 35 casualties buried in this cemetery. Most were Canadian Infantry or other Canadian servicemen (Field Artillery, Machine Gun Corps, Labour Corps, Medical Corps, Canadian Army Service Corps) but there were also seven Gordon Highlanders and scattering of other British men, including two from the Mechanical Transport, Army Service Corps (Albert Greenhow and Frank Cyril Bosworth).  Private Frank Bosworth was killed in action on 6 October 1918, just a few days after Albert. It does indeed look like a dangerous place to have worked. 

Photo by MH via Facebook

Shortly after I posted some information on the 'Barnsley's History - The Great War' Facebook page which is administered by myself and PS, I got a reply with a photograph from one of the other members. It seems that he is friends with the Greenhow family and had taken a photo of Albert's grave for them on a trip to the area in 1919. What a wonderful resource the Internet is!! I have included this photo to the right, with thanks to MH.

The post I had made, which is linked above, was of a newspaper cutting from 1958 (Mexborough & Swinton Times (MST), 7 June 1958, p. 16) reporting the donation of a number of items of light oak furniture to the church in Darfield by various parents and relatives in memory of their loved ones. At the end of the post, the last item, was this note:

'A small oak table was presented by Mrs. Greenhow in memory of her husband Mr. Albert Greenhow, who was killed in the war.'

As it was 1958 I was surprised the 'war' was not further specified - to a reader it could easily have been taken as the Second World War rather than the First. Mrs Greenhow had given the little table to the church 40 years after Albert's death. I was overjoyed to have finally discovered the origins of the table, but was surprised at the lateness of the act of commemoration.

I decided to look for more information on Albert and his wife, who had kept him in her memory for so long. 

Albert was born in Darfield in early 1889 to William Greenhow, a coal miner from Graystock in Cumberland, and his wife Sarah Ann (nee Parkinson) who was from Darton, near Barnsley (or Sandtoft in Lincolnshire, depending on which census return you consult). Oddly William and Sarah had married in Bolton in Lancashire. Shortly after their marriage, in the 1871 census return, William and Sarah were living in Tranmere, Birkenhead, Cheshire where William was a farm labourer. I can only assume that they had met whilst Sarah was working away from home, or maybe visiting relatives on the other side of the Pennines from Barnsley.  The 1911 census return tells us that William and Sarah had a total of eight children, one of whom had died before 1911. 

The birthplaces of their children provide evidence of more travelling. It may be that Sarah temporarily went home from Birkenhead to her parents in Darton for the birth of her first child, and then returned to Birkenhead because their second child was born there. Her parents, William and Ann Parkinson, were recorded living in Staincross, in the parish of Darton, in the 1861 to 1891 census returns, although by 1891 William Parkinson had become a widower.  William and Sarah Greenhow came to live in Barnsley area before the birth of their third child in 1876. This may also be when William Greenhow changed his occupation from agricultural labourer to coal Miner. They remained in Royston until at least 1883, then moved to Darfield before 1886.

William and Sarah Greenhow's Children

Mary A. Greenhow born 1872 in Darton, near Barnsley
Joseph Greenhow born 1874 in Birkenhead, Cheshire
Thomas Greenhow born 1876 in Royston, near Barnsley
Emma Greenhow born 15 March 1878 in Royston, died early 1881 aged 3 years.
Ethel Greenhow born in 25 August 1880 in Royston
Florence Greenhow born 14 February 1883 in Royston
Beatrice Greenhow born 1886 in Darfield, near Barnsley
Albert Greenhow born early 1889 in Darfield

All three of William Greenhow's sons followed him down the pit, with Thomas Greenhow listed as a Pony Driver aged 16 in the 1891 census return and Joseph Greenhow being a Coal Miner Hewer in the 1901 census aged 28 (he had been a Pottery Furnace Stoker in 1891). Although Albert was a Coal Miner Hewer in the 1911 census (2 April 1911), and at his marriage on 5 June 1911, by October 1913 he appeared to have become a motor char-a-banc driver. This is no doubt where he gained the experience that proved useful driving lorries in the First World War.  

There are several mentions of Albert's brief bus driving career in the local newspapers. (See PSHE, 3 October 1913, p. 3; Sheffield Evening Telegraph, 18 March 1914, p. 5.)

SDT, 23 March 1911, p. 8

But, before that, Albert had been working at Houghton Main Colliery, near Darfield. In March 1911 he was mentioned in a newspaper report (Shields Daily Gazette, 23 March 1911, p. 2) coming in front of magistrates charged with leaving corves (wagons for transporting coal) in a postition that would impede the flow of air in the colliery. On the same date, but in a more local newspaper (Sheffield Daily Telegraph (SDT), 23 March 1911, p. 8) Albert was reported as being summoned for breaking 'special rule 94' at Great Houghton Colliery, by allowing his miner's lamp to become damaged. The slight variation of colliery names might just reflect the reporter's interpretation of the court proceedings, but it seems very odd that Albert was reported in connection with two distinctly different misdemeanours depending on which newspaper you read. The only other Albert Greenhow living in Darfield in 1911 was the twelve year old son of Thomas Greenhow, the original Albert's older brother. He was too young to have been working in the pit.

Albert Greenhow married Elinor Winifred Williams in St Matthew's church in the parish of Darfield on 5 June 1911. His address at the time was 14 Hill Street, Darfield. Elinor's address was just given as Darfield. There are plenty of Williams in this family - not only was Elinor's surname Williams, but her father was William Williams (need I add that he was from Wales?). Albert and William Greenhow and William Williams were all recorded as miners on Albert and Elinor's marriage certificate, which is available on Find My Past. 

I have searched the General Register Office online index to births, but I can find no evidence of Albert and Elinor having any children.  

Although Albert's Army Service Records do not appear to have survived the blitz in the Second World War there are some clues in his other military records about the length of his service. His medal card does not show that he received any Service Stars - so he did not reach a Theatre of War until after the end of 1915. His record of Soldier's Effects notes that Elinor received a war gratuity of £10, this can be used to calculate his estimated date of enlistment, which appears to have been July 1916. This suggests that Albert was conscripted as that began to affect married men in May 1916. 

There is some information on Albert's death and a photograph of him on a Dearne Valley History page here.  The article includes extracts from the letter sent to Elinor informing her of Albert's death. The writer commented that through his duties censoring his men's letters he was aware of  'the bond of love and friendship that exists between you', which is lovely.  Information on Albert can also be found in Darfield Remembers: The First World War (Darfield History Society, 2016) by Michael Smith and Kay Valentine.

After his death Elinor was awarded a pension of 30 shillings a week from 21 April 1919.  (30s is £1.50 in decimal notation, and is worth about £70 in today's money - although various other means of calculation give a higher result). The Pension Record Cards are available via Fold3 on Ancestry (for an extra fee) or as part of a Western Front Association membership (which is my point of access). They confirm that Albert and Elinor had no children. Elinor's address was recorded on the Pension Cards as 65 Stoneyford Road (the 'e' in Stoneyford comes and goes throughout the records).

The following list of 'In Memoriam' notices appears in the Mexborough & Swinton Times (MST) on 11 October 1919, just after the first anniversary of Albert's death. 

MST, 11 October 1919, p. 11.

The first notice is from his parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Greenhow at 14 Hill Street, Darfield, which was Albert's address when he married in 1911.

The second notice is from his brother Joseph Greenhow, who had married Sarah Wood in 1910. Note that they also lived on Stoneyford Road.

The third notice is from a Mr. W. Williams, also on Stoneyford Road. This may be Elinor's father, who would have been 62 years old in 1919. 

The fourth notice is from Elinor herself. She writes:
'Sacred to the loving and cherished memory of my dear husband, Albert, who suffered the supreme sacrifice Oct. 3rd, 1918.
How I shall miss thy loving presence,
In the days, as years roll on;
Only those who have lost a loved one,
Know the bitterness of - Gone.  R.I.P.' 

The fifth and final notice is from Mr. and Mrs. E. Williams also of 65 Stoneyford Road. This may be Elinor's brother Edward and his wife Sarah who married in 1912.


It looks as if Elinor was living with her brother after the death of Albert. Or her brother had moved in with her?

If Elinor had remarried she would have received a lump sum and her pension would have ceased. Her home address was 65 Stoneyford Road on the Pension Cards, on the 1919 'In Memoriam' notice above, and on the 1929 'In Memoriam' notice I started this post with. 

In 1935 Elinor posts the following 'In Memoriam' notice (PSHE, 5 October 1935, p. 3):

GREENHOW - In loving and fragrant memory
of my dear Husband, Albert Greenhow,
killed in action, Oct. 2, 1918.
Ever remembered.
 - Barnsley Road, Darfield.

In 1939 a Register was taken at the start of the Second World War which shows Elinor living at 102 Barnsley Road, Darfield. She appears to have a lodger, Miss Evelyn Mary King, an Elementary School Head Mistress. 

We have seen that Elinor Greenhow donated a memorial table to Darfield Church in 1958. She also seems to have submitted an 'In Memoriam' notice to one or the other of the local newspapers on most years on a date near to the anniversary of Albert's death.

Elinor Greenhow died on 6 September 1965 at the age of 75 at Beckett Hospital in Barnsley, her home address on the Probate Calendar index (on Ancestry) was still 102 Barnsley Road, Darfield. She was cremated and her ashes scattered in the Ardsley Crematorium Chapel area. 

Albert Greenhow is remembered on a family gravestone in Darfield Churchyard. The plot is headed by the names of Elinor's parents, Mary and William Williams. Mary died in 1906 and William in 1933, so the grave was already in existence when Albert was killed. I wonder if his name and details were added shortly after his death or when the stone mason added William? I don't suppose we'll ever know. But certainly this gave Elinor somewhere to come to pay her respects and maybe lay flowers on Albert's birthday and the anniversary of his death. 

By supporting herself by taking in lodgers and with her Army penison, Elinor, who you will recall had no children to support, had no urgent need to remarry after Albert was killed. Based on some of the phrases she used in her 'In Memoriam' notices over the years she was devoted to Albert's memory for the rest of her life. I particularly like the final phrase in the notice she posted in 1928 (MST, 5 October 1928, p. 20):

GREENHOW - In ever loving memory of my
dear husband, Pt. Albert Greenhow who was
killed in action, October 3rd 1918.
God's greatest gift - Remembrance.
 - From his loving Wife.

Thank you for reading.

Searching for information on the impressive 'Darfield Village WMC' First World War Photo Collage Memorial

Currently my thesis plan contains outlines for a number of Case Studies of the townships around Barnsley comparing how they proposed, planned and funded their war memorials - and one of those studies might be about Darfield if I can find out more about their war memorials. I did want to at least mention ALL the war memorials I know about in each place, but finding out the background of some of them has been less than easy. When examining local history you can't help but realise that people were not only members of their town or village community but also of communities within them, extended families, schools, places of work and of worship, clubs and pubs, sports teams or political organisations. Each of those places may have planned their own memorial(s).

The main First World War memorial in the church at Darfield is not a problem, as I have seen some archival documents relating to the application for permission to erect the memorial in the church. Its unveiling and dedication, along with a good description of the materials used in its design appear in several old newspaper reports.

Darfield All Saints Church, War Memorial Tablet - unveiled 1921
Photo taken 10 March 2014 by Linda Hutton

Also in the church, and mentioned in the local newspapers, are some other FWW memorials, a processional cross dedicated to the Bible Class and memorial plaques for two individual men, Charles M. C. Sorby (the vicar's son, who also has a stained glass window in his memory) and Eric F. H. Taylor (the local landowner's son), plus a stained glass 'Thanksgiving' window subscribed to by 'Members of the Mothers' Union and other Parishioners' in order to commemorate the safe return of 'those from this parish' from the war. (Penistone, Stocksbridge and Hoyland Express (PSHE), 13 January 1923, p. 7.) We even found a war memorial table in the church hall with a little plaque commemorating a single man killed in the war. All of these memorials are recorded on the Barnsley & District War Memorials website with photos taken by myself, my husband or by members of the Darfield History Society. There is also a good section on these war memorials in the book, Darfield Remembers: The First World War (Darfield History Society, 2016) written by Michael Smith and Kay Valentine for the Darfield History Society.

The Darfield Cenotaph in the Miners' Welfare Square (a little park laid out in the 1920s with money from the Miners' Welfare Scheme) was unveiled on 5 July 1930. (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 7 July 1930, p. 3.) This was a few years later than the others had appeared and I hope to explain more about that in my thesis, as the ins and outs of that are all quite well documented in the local newspapers. But I do still hope to find local primary sources, maybe council records or even (if I am really lucky) the minutes of the local British Legion who eventually facilitated it. The history of this memorial is also summarised in the Darfield Remembers book. 

The following chronological selection of map snips are taken from the Old Maps website.

Darfield High Street, showing the place where the Cenotaph was eventually installed
From left to right: 1892, 1906, 1930, 1962

In the fourth and final snip, which is from 1962, the 'War Mem' has appeared in the centre of the park laid out some years previously (and is visible in the 1930 snip).  One of the newspapers reports had noted, 'It was not that there was no place in Darfield for a war memorial. [...] When the miners' welfare scheme was opened in 1923, it was suggested that the ornamental garden opposite the council offices would make an ideal site for a war memorial, and the central portion was reserved for that purpose'. (Sheffield Independent, 24 November 1928, p. 10.)

What I am having more trouble with is the various clubs in the village and their memorials and a niggling feeling that the Methodist Chapels in Darfield would probably have also had their own war memorials based on what we know about other places in Barnsley such as Cudworth (where I live) which had two Methodist Churches, both with memorials.

The most impressive of the other memorials is in Darfield Village Club. When we went to photograph it back in 2014 we found it was in a very narrow corridor and impossible to capture straight on. My husband took lots of oblique photos and photographs of each of the individual men close up. I did manage to edit one of the photos and get it fairly straight, using Adobe Photoshop, and posted that onto the Barnsley War Memorials Project website (now Barnsley & District War Memorials).  I created a gallery of the individual images (split into two sections) and put links to them on the post as well.  Just a few months later a local lady, JD, got in touch with me to say that a gentleman she knew had been able to tell her more about the Village Club memorial. It seems that the one in the club now is not the original - which is, instead, in the Maurice Dobson Museum & Heritage Centre in Darfield. It had become damaged so a new memorial was created and when the museum opened the old memorial was donated. JD was able to send me a small photo with permission from the museum.

Darfield Village W.M.C. & District Roll of Honour
Left: the original Roll of Honour. Right: the current Roll of Honour

As you can see, there is a resemblance. The title looks as if it has been carefully copied, although there is one flag rather than a collection between the lines. The images are laid out on foliage rather than poppies, and in a decorative pattern rather than lines. JDs photo (on the left) is quite small and I can't tell whether the photos are any clearer on the original than on the newer version. I wonder if the poppies are a clue that the replacement was made in the time of the British Legion in the building. Poppies were particularly connected with the Earl Haig Fund after 1921 and later with the British Legion. I also wonder if the men who lost their lives are grouped on the first version, the individual images are arranged differently. This was often a feature of Rolls of Honour created after the war, the dead would be shown in a separate section or highlighted in some way to differentiate them from the men who returned.

The building now known as the Darfield Village Club changed hands and names several times in the 20th century. It appears that there was a group meeting somewhere else using that name before the current building was erected.

My newspaper research has shown that there were at least two Working Men's Clubs in Darfield. In April 1903 the Darfield Working Men's Club had bought a property in Darfield known as the Post Office which consisted of a shop and a house along with 723 square yards of land. (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 28 April 1903, p.11.) Only a few days later, in what the newspaper called an 'amusing action', Darfield Village Working Men's Club were taken to court by the Great Central Railway Company because a barrel of beer had been delivered to them by mistake when it should have gone to the Darfield Club in Low Valley. By the time the mistake was discovered two days later the good people at the Village Club had 'supped' the beer and refused to pay for it saying that they thought it had been a gift from Smith's Tadcaster Brewery Co. connected to the Coronation. They had even written a letter of thanks to the Brewery and placed an order for more beer. The verdict went against the Club who were directed to pay for the beer.  (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 9 May 1903, p. 12.) 

As the Coronation of Edward VII was on 9 August 1902 this incident must have referred to a previous property owned by the Darfield Village Club.

In 1911 it was reported that building had commenced on the site of the old Darfield Post Office on behalf of the Darfield Village Working Men's Club. (Barnsley Chronicle, 15 April 1911, p. 8.) They must still have been meeting somewhere else as in July 1911 they were reported as holding elections for their committee at their club. (Barnsley Chronicle, 15 July 1911, p. 8.) The current building couldn't have been built in just three months, could it? I haven't found a report on the opening of the new club. 

Darfield Village Club from Google Maps with the Maurice Dobson
Museum in the left background

There is a date stone at the very top of the front facade - 1911.

The following chronological selection of map snips are taken from the Old Maps website.

Showing the site of the Darfield Village Club
From left to right: 1892, 1906, 1930, 1962

In the first map section from 1892 a Post Office is indicated with P.O. although its location is not very precise. In the next snip, from 1906, the P.O. has gone but although there don't appear to be any changes in the buildings in the centre of the snip, a row of terraced houses has appeared centre towards the top. In the third snip, from 1930, a Club has appeared in the previously empty ground in the centre of the area shown adjacent to the terraced houses. In the final snip, from 1962, this building is labelled 'British Legion Club' and the area to the south of it has been cleared of buildings. That is the area which is now a car park. 

MST, 7 January 1927, p. 4.

Only 16 years after the building of the new club was reported something drastic must have happened because in 1927 the building and all of the fixtures, fittings, furnishings and trade utensils of the Darfield Village Club were put up for sale. (Mexborough & Swinton Times (MST), 7 January 1927, p. 4.) 

Maybe the club had been over-ambitious with their new building and after the war and going into the depression of the 1920s they just couldn't keep it going as it was.

Everything was put up for sale, even (oddly to my eyes) the 'upholstered and 3-ply seating throughout the club', possibly the seating which was 'built-in' to the club, and which appeared listed separately to the tables and chairs and stools in the bar, along with a large bookcase containing 416 books, a baby grand piano and two full sized mahogany billiard tables. All the items needed to run a club or pub are included, beer pumps, pint and half pint glasses and mugs, pewter measures and spirit kegs.

There is no mention of any pictures or framed items that might have been the Roll of Honour, so we can only assume that was taken out for safe-keeping. 

The sale was to be on 20 January 1927 'on the premises', that is, actually in the club.  

 

 

 

PSHE, 15 January 1927, p. 4.

The building itself was put up for auction and the sale was to be on 19 January 1927 in the pub nearby, the Cross Keys Hotel. I wonder why the building was to be sold before the fixtures and fittings? Did the purchaser of the club get first option on the furniture? There is an indication of this at the foot of the advert, 'the purchaser will be required to take over certain fixtures at a fixed valuation'. I suppose if someone was buying it as a going concern they would want the beer pumps and glasses and so on.

I can see that the same or similar advertisements appeared  in the Sheffield and Barnsley newspapers. The one on the right here is from the Penistone, Stocksbridge and Hoyland Express (PSHE) on 15 January 1927, p. 4.

There is a vast amount of detail given here, on the ground floor there was an Entrance Hall, Games Room, Snug, large Billiards Hall, Bar and Lavatories, and on the first floor: Club Room, Secretary's Office, Bath Room with hot and cold water, and Lavatories. 

There was also living accomodation adjoining, but built of stone - so could that have been some of the older buildings which were later cleared away?

I have not found any reports of the result of the sales, yet ... but ...

On 8 August 1928 the building was officially opened as the Darfield British Legion Club by Lord Lascelles, husband of Princess Mary. (PSHE, 11 August 1928, p. 5.) According to a report in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph the Darfield Branch had been formed twelve months previously and already had 300 members. (13 July 1928, p. 3.)  

The article I referred to earlier, from the Sheffield Independent, 24 November 1928, which mentions the little park, and which was printed just a few months after the British Legion took over their new premises, commented that now the Legion had a fine, well equipped club, 'that the question of a war memorial ought ... to come next'. It is odd how the reporter omits to mention that there was already a memorial, with the local men's names listed upon it, in the church. As we have seen, the Darfield Cenotaph was unveiled in July 1930, so it didn't take very much longer to finally bring that particular project to its conclusion.

So I have several questions:
Where were the Darfield Working Men's Club (as opposed to the Low Valley Darfield Club) who bought the Post Office site meeting before the grand 1911 building was completed?
What about the club on Snape Hill that is mentioned a few times? Any connections?
Why was the Village Club and all its fittings and fixtures sold in 1927?
Where had the Darfield British Legion been meeting for the twelve months prior to the opening of their new club?
Who was in the British Legion committee and did they have any connection to the Village Club?
AND mainly ...
When was that original Roll of Honour created and hung in the Darfield Village Club?

That will be for another day.

Thanks for reading.

Welcome Home to Returned Soldiers at Blucher Street United Methodist Church 1920

The building that was Blucher Street United Methodist Church (UMC) during and immediately after the First World War has undergone a number of changes of use. According to the index to its records at The National Archives it was originally a Protestant church. During and immediately after the First World War the UMC used the building and I was familiar with it as the Hope Church when I first started researching war memorials in 2012-2016.

Research in newspapers and in Minute Books from the chapel in Barnsley Archives has revealed evidence of the existence of several First World War memorials in the building during the period of my study. A memorial window 'for the Young Men' of the church was unveiled in October 1919, permission was requested for a permanent memorial in the Young Men's classroom (which probably replaced two 'scrolls of honour' donated in 1915 to record the names of the men who enlisted) in December 1920 and a pair of memorial communion chairs, in memory of Frank Marcus and Foster Lindley, were dedicated on the same day as the window. However due to the changes of use of the building there appears to be no trace of any of the above.

Today I found a photograph in the Barnsley Telephone, a newspaper that I was not familiar with, which showed an interior scene at the church during a 'Welcome Home' event for returned soldiers of the church. 

Barnsley Telephone 26 March 1920 p.1
and also 2 April 1920 p.1

The accompanying article explains that the school-room at the UMC had been beautified by men with flags and floral decorations, whilst the women made 'provisions' for a meal. Tables with room to seat 150 people were set out and at 6pm about 50 returning soldiers and the rest of the company took their seats. The Rev. Ibbotson expressed thanks from everyone to the soldiers who had served in the war, and gratitude for their home coming. At the end of his speech Rev. Ibbotson read out the names of the men 'who gave their lives in doing their duty to their Country'.

Reginald Dunk
Geo. King
H. Horbury
Leon Walker
F. Marcus Lindley
Foster Lindley
Cyril Bassindale
Frank Armitage

Mr. G. H. Danby took the stage and welcomed the returned men saying that he wanted them to feel at home. The 'place had been carried on for 90 years by men and women who had not the privileges' enjoyed by people at that time, so he encouraged the company to make the best of them, and to leave the world 'better than our forefathers left it for us'. The remainder of the evening was apparently spent enjoying 'camp fire yarns' and other forms of entertainment. 

The Men Remembered

Frank Armitage is a distant relative of my husband and this is the first time I have seen his name in a form of commemoration by the Blucher Street UMC despite his father serving many years as caretaker to the building. I hope he was remembered on the permanent memorial in the Young Men's classroom. His only other memorial is on his family's gravestone in Barnsley Cemetery.

Reginald Dunk was, in contrast, very well known in Barnsley having received an award for saving two soldiers who were in difficulties in the Suez Canal whilst the Barnsley Pals were training there. His father was a wealthy builder and contractor. Reginald was remembered on the memorials in St Mary's Church, Barnsley Swimming Club (lost) and Penistone Grammar School. 

Geo. (presumably George) King could be one of three men commemorated in Barnsley. George King from Tankersley, George Henry King from Hoyland Common, or George Richard King from Cudworth. 

H. Horbury is a puzzle - the Barnsley War Memorials Project recorded a Frank Horbury and a Thomas Hilton Horbury, a pair of brothers from Monk Bretton. Was H. Horbury the latter of the two, or someone completely different? Thomas Hilton Horbury is remembered on a number of memorials in Monk Bretton and a family gravestone in the cemetery there, but Frank has only a mention on the Old Mill Wesleyan Methodist Roll of Honour (where his brother is also named) and absolutely no mentions in the Barnsley Chronicle during the war years. Had he left Barnsley before the war? He didn't die until November 1918, and yet he is not on the Absent Voters List compiled the previous spring. I suggest H. Horbury was Thomas Hilton Horbury ... for now.

Leon Walker, well there is a Leonard Walker, a mason's apprentice from Caxton Street in Barnsley who was remembered on the memorial in St Mary's Church. If Reginald Dunk can be remembered by a Methodist Church and an Anglican Church, then Leonard Walker might have been too.

The Lindley brothers we know about since their parents made the donation of the communion chairs to the UMC in their memory. They were also remembered on the Barnsley Grammar School memorial. I wonder if the two chairs at either side of the table in the picture are the ones with their names on? They are a different style to the ones we can only see side on.  Frank Marcus Lindley and his brother Foster Lindley are also remembered on their family's gravestone in Barnsley Cemetery.

Cyril Bassindale was not remembered on any memorial in Barnsley that we are aware of. He was reported missing in April 1918 and his parents, who lived on Well Street (Racecommon Road area) appealed for information in our local newspapers in June. To no avail I imagine. He joined the army in September 1917, just after he was 18 years old and did not make 19.  He was a stone mason who had been employed by Mr. F. W. Oxley, sculptor, of Doncaster Road (who made a lot of the gravestones and memorials in the Barnsley area). The Rev. J. Ibbotson signs the declaration made by Cyril's parents after the war defining his next of kin for the War Office. There is a record card for Cyril on Find My Past suggesting that he died a Prisoner of War in German hands.  I have also found a smudged letter in his service records (complicated by the fact they had spelt his name Bassingdale) reporting that his name had appeared on an Official German List stating that he'd died in a Field Hospital from a shot wound to the head and had been buried at Beaulencourt Cemetery. This is borne out by the information on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in which he is buried which contains a number of burials taken in from German cemeteries nearby.

In Conclusion

It is nice to actually find Frank Armitage mentioned in connection with the UMC and Cyril Bassindale isn't remembered anywhere else either. So this newspaper article has been useful, even if it has posed more questions. 

References
The National Archives, Blucher Street United Methodist Free Church records, https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/f4a39827-a7b6-4d82-8d6f-d7a597fc9aae

Barnsley Archives and Local Studies, A/2/3/N 2/3/2/1, Blucher Street Chapel Minutes, 1891-1950

Barnsley & District War Memorials, Blucher Street UMC, Memorial Window, www.barnsleywarmemorials.org.uk/2014/09/barnsley-blucher-street-umc-memorial.html 

Barnsley & District War Memorials, Blucher Street UMC, Communion Chairs, http://www.barnsleywarmemorials.org.uk/2014/09/barnsley-blucher-street-umc-communion.html

Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Cyril Bassindale https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/564521/C%20BASSINDALE/

Commemorative Medals for Barnsley Men after the First World War

Research in Old Newspapers

I continue to search local newspapers on Find My Past (FMP) for references to First World War commemoration (war memorials, rolls of honour, war shrines etc) and remembrance (military funerals, memorial services, services at war memorials after the initial dedications). Yesterday I discovered that the Penistone, Stocksbridge and Hoyland Express had been added to the British Newspaper Archive (which is the same material as on FMP) and included issues covering the war years. It does seem to have much the same articles as the Mexborough & Swinton Times on occasion so I assume they were published by the same company.

The coverage of the period 1914-1939 as of today 6 March 2021 is:

Barnsley Chronicle        (still ends at 1912)  -                  
Barnsley Independent                                   1916, 1918-1919, 1921, 1926, 1928
Mexborough & Swinton Times                    1899-1942
Penistone, Stocksbridge, Hoyland Express  1913-1920, 1922-1923, 1925, 1927-1928, 1930-1940
Sheffield Daily Telegraph                            1855-1932, 1939
Sheffield Evening Telegraph                        1912-1938
Sheffield Independent                                   1914-1923, 1926-1938
Yorkshire Post & Leeds Intelligencer           1899-1955

I still am waiting for the Wakefield Express to cover the war years and beyond, currently it only has 1910-11 then a gap to 1918 and nothing after that. 

Communicating My Findings using Social Media

I am the administrator of a Facebook page, 'Barnsley's History - The Great War', on which I post links to my blog posts and to other websites that might be useful for research into Barnsley's First World War history. It currently has over 1,000 members. 

A few days ago I posted this cutting from the Penistone, Stocksbridge and Hoyland Express from 31 January 1920. 

Penistone, Stocksbridge and Hoyland Express 31 January 1920
(from Find My Past Newspapers)

The article above reported that the decision had been made to present returning servicemen with gold medals, widows of men who had been killed with gold lockets and gold watches to men who had won decorations. I thought this would be interesting to the members of the Facebook page as many of them have joined to find out more about their First World War servicemen ancestors. 

The gold medals were awarded to 403 men on 28 February 1920, either 50 or 59 (fuzzy newsprint, sorry) gold lockets were given to the dependants of men who had died and gold watches presented to men who had been decorated. Two men were actually awarded their Military Medals at the ceremony. All were inscribed, 'Presented by the Wombwell Main Colliery Company and workmen for services rendered in the Great War'.  The Committee had initally estimated that about 350 men had served, but 'when enquiries were made it was found that the number was 529'. (Mexborough & Swinton Times 6 March 1920)

Later, after search of images online, I was able to post these pictures of what I assume as a similar medal so that people had some idea what to look for in their memorabilia.

Images of Hickleton Main commemorative medals
(found via Google, presumably old Ebay sales)

These medals were presented by Hickleton Main, a colliery just on the boundary of Barnsley and Rotherham. Gold watches were presented to employees of Hickleton Main who had been decorated in January 1920 according to the Sheffield Daily Telegraph on 10 January 1920 (and there had been other one-off presentations of watches mentioned prior to this) but I haven't found anything about the above medals yet. The inscription on the reverse of the Hickleton medal in the smaller photo appears to be very similar to that on the Wombwell Main medals, 'Presented to L. Hepinstall by the Company & Workmen for Services Rendered in the Great War 1914-1918', but it is a bit difficult to read in the low resolution image.

This morning a member of the Facebook page posted these two pictures. 

This medal belonged to 28791 Pte Fred Massingham RAMC
(with thanks to Kevan Goldsby-West)

I was able to discover that the 'Wombwell Main and Hough Lane Welcome Home Committee' had been able to raise £60 to put on a public reception for their returning servicemen. They estimated that there would be 120 'to whom honour was due'. (Mexborough & Swinton Times 29 March 1919). The following week it was announced that the Committee had decided to present these silver medals with the Wombwell coat of arms on one side and the name of the individual on the reverse. It was generously decided to include all men who had returned to the area, even those who had lived elsewhere on enlistment. (Mexborough & Swinton Times 5 April 1919). At the end of May it was reported that 130 medals had been presented and that 'the medals are of a pretty design and good quality'. (Mexborough & Swinton Times 31 May 1919). The inscription on the medal above reads, 'Presented by Inhabitants of Wombwell Main & Hough Lane to F. Massingham in Recognition of Military Service During The Great War 1914-1918'.

I know that gold watches were presented in 1918 to men from Houghton Main who had been decorated. The relevant articles are in the Mexborough & Swinton Times on 27 July, the Sheffield Daily Telegraph on 27 September 1918 and 22 November 1918 and the Mexborough & Swinton Times on 30 November 1918. But I have seen no mention of this type of medal being given to all Houghton Main servicemen. 

Individual gold watches and medals were given to men who had been awarded the Military Medal (M.M.), Distinguished Conduct Medal (D.C.M.) or Victoria Cross (V.C.) throughout the war, which had usually been paid for with money raised by local people. Although the citations for the latter two medals were recorded and are available online, in the case of the Military Medal reports of these presentations in the local newspapers are sometimes the only indication of the acts of courage which prompted the award. Some I have seen mention rescuing wounded whilst under heavy fire, or holding a position during a German offensive. 

I would love to see photos of other local Barnsley area commemorative medals, or even of the watches or lockets described above, awarded in commemoration of services during the war. 

The giving of a small medal such as this was not an unusual practice in the Barnsley area. There are many instances of precedent in the newspapers for the giving of medals as a reward for long service at workplaces, bravery or outanding services to societies or charities in the newspapers of the time. Gold and silver medals were also given as prizes at sporting events including athletics, football, fishing and pigeon racing.

Unfortunately the prevalence of these other medals makes finding mentions of the war related commemorative medals in the newspapers quite time consuming. The quality of the optical character recognition on the Find My Past site, especially when a newspaper is faded, fuzzy or creased, can throw in a few problems too. So finally, for your amusement, here is the actual article I was looking for this morning and the transcription of it that FMP was using in their searches. The only words that were unmangled were 'Hough Lane' and 'Welcome'.

Medals for Returned Heroes
from the Mexborough & Swinton Times 31 May 1919

Thank you for reading.

An Unusual Category of War Memorial - Beds

Today I remembered that the Barnsley British Co-operative Society had endowed two beds at Beckett Hospital after the First World War in memory of their 32 employees 'fell in the war'. This intention was reported in the Barnsley Independent on 16 August 1919 and carried out in November 1919. 

 

From the Barnsley Independent  29 November 1919
(Find My Past newspapers)

In all I have found evidence in the newspapers for five beds having been endowed at Beckett Hospital in 1919 specifically in memory of men who lost their lives during the war or, in one case, in the name of Peace after the war. I don't think there is any physical evidence of them any more - although from looking on the War Memorials Register site, where there are 109 examples, the usual thing was to put up a simple plaque marking the donation. 

In a corridor in Barnsley Hospital there is a wall of old plaques but only one commemorates a bed connected to the First World War. 

Photo by GB in July 2015 (see B&DWM page)

The above bed was endowed in 1925 but as the plaque makes it plain that intention was as a memorial to the workers of the Order of St John and the British Red Cross during the First World War there is not any doubt that it should be included in our count of FWW memorials in Barnsley. I wonder what happened to the other plaques - if they ever did exist.

I did find a newspaper cutting referring to this bed - it seems it was listed amongst other donations at the same time which were not obviously connected to the war. 

From the Mexborough & Swinton Times 11 July 1925
(Find My Past newspapers)

Lower down the same article it expands upon work of the Dennis Bayley Fund, which was created by 'mine owners and men during the war for the equipment of ambulances and hospital ships'. There are a good number of reports in newspapers from across the country on Find My Past which report ambulances being supplied to various organisations by the fund. I am not sure whether Dennis Bayley had any particular connection to Barnsley, or whether similar beds were being endowed across the country with the residue of the fund mentioned.

References:

Barnsley & District War Memorials, Dennis Bayley Fund, St John's & Red Cross Workers, Beckett Hospital http://www.barnsleywarmemorials.org.uk/2015/12/barnsley-dennis-bayley-fund-st-johns.html (accessed 4 March 2021)

Find My Past Newspapers https://search.findmypast.co.uk/search/british-newspapers (accessed 4 March 2021)

Barnsley Mechanics' Institute in the First World War

 Last week during one of my regular searches of the Barnsley (and Sheffield) newspapers on Find My Past I discovered a report on the Barnsley Mechanics' Institute's Annual Meeting from 19 February 1916.

Barnsley Independent 19 February 1916 (from Find My Past)

It notes that 'twenty-five members of the Institute were serving in the military forces and a roll of honour had been hung on the walls'. This was a war memorial (the definition of a war memorial includes any tangible item which commemorates war) that I had not been aware of before. I wanted to know more about the Mechanics Institute and the men who joined up to serve in the war who had been connected with it.

The Barnsley Civic website notes that its building, which dates from 1877, had been the Barnsley Mechanics' Institute and Public Hall, later becoming the Harvey Institute, named after Charles Harvey who gifted it to the people of Barnsley. The building that is now the Civic had housed the public library, provided space for public meetings and hosted speakers and education. 

However, I found reports in the Barnsley Chronicle and Independent that the Mechanics' Institute had moved in 1912 when its new building was opened between Hanson Street and Royal Street (Barnsley Chronicle 28 September 1912). So this means that the First World War Roll of Honour hung in this new building, not the one which is now the Civic. 

The location of the Mechanics' Institute in 1931 (Old Maps)

As you can see in this map snip the Institute was located behind the Billards Hall on Regent Street. It had only moved a little way from the Harvey Institute which is shown above as the Public Hall & Library. The Mechanics' Institute was still plainly visible on the 1961 map, but by 1968 it had gone. 

The report on the opening of the new building included a history of the institution. It was obvious that the Mechanics' Institute's remit had changed over time. In 1837 it was formed to promote education amongst young men, public lectures were given and a library formed. The library was in Wellington Street and the rooms were in the Oddfellows Hall on Pitt Street, later known as the Temperance Hall which still exists today.  In 1890 the Mechanics' Institute moved into 'the old building in Hanson Street', but I cannot identify this on a map. When the lease ran out on that building in 1905 they decided to build a new premises. This does not seem to tally with the article on the Barnsley Civic website, unless they rented part of the Public Hall/Harvey Institute for a short while between removal from one building to another before the building of the new premises.  Further evidence that the Mechanics' Institute was not housed in the Harvey Institute in 1912 can be found in a small advertisment in the Barnsley Chronicle on 28 September 1912.

Barnsley Chronicle 28 September 1912

The advert reports that the furniture shop of Mr. E. Moss 'is moving to larger and more convenient premises, lately occupied by the Mechanics' Insitute', where he will be selling the 1913 Season's New Stock. I cannot imagine there being a furniture shop in the Harvey Institute and this clearly states that the previous home of the Mechanics' Institute still stood (and had not been demolished to make way for the new which I thought might have been the case).

A further search of the local newspapers has shown that the Mechanics Institute did move into the ground floor of the Public Hall when it was opened in January 1878. On 2 June 1877 (Barnsley Chronicle) the Mechanics' Institute reported their eagerness to make the move, as they were operating from a number of small premises spread across Barnsley. They were in the process of putting themselves forward to host the meeting of the Yorkshire Mechanics Union the following year. It sounds a bit like bidding for hosting the Olympics ... they were telling the other delegates at the 1877 meeting how great the facilities would be in the new Public Hall in Barnsley in 1878!

Some talks and lectures were advertised in the new building between 1878 and 1890. However, it is difficult to spot these adverts in the digitised newspapers as they are usually in block capitals which don't seem to be very well picked up by the indexing.  I have found some art classes advertised, a series of lectures on geography and another series on Tudor history. A price of one penny per lecture was quoted for the geographical lectures in January 1885. In October the same year a charge of one shilling per lecture, or 6s in advance for eleven lectures, was made for the historical series. That was some inflation in prices!

When the building was handed over to the Council by Charles Harvey in 1890 the Mechanics Institute had to move out. This changeover appears to have caused some friction between the organisations especially concerning a grant of money for the School of Art. Technical education and new books for the library were discussed at some length in early 1891, with the Council and the School Board having heated discussions about who should pay for what and what rooms in the Public Hall/Harvey Institute could be used by who. This may be why there was an tactful gap in the history of the Mechanics' Institute related at the opening of their new Hall in 1912.

An article in the Barnsley Chronicle on 23 July 1910 partially explains what happened. When the manager of the Institute, Mr Chambers, was presented with an award for 25 years service, his speech was reported. He mentions that when he came to the Institute (so in 1885) it 'had between 500 to 600 members, but that was when there were libraries and classes attached to it'. When the Town Council adopted the Free Libraries Act it was decided that the Mechanics' Institute 'should be continued in the form they saw it today', that is,  without the educational aspects. The Free Libraries Act was enacted in 1850, so it took some time for Barnsley to adopt it. 

A report of the Annual Meeting in 1911 noted that 'it had sometimes been stated that the members of [the] Institute were the "cream of Barnsley"'. It commented that the members were men who belonged to the 'clerical, legal and other professional walks of life'. It no longer appeared to host classes or lectures and attracted a distinctive class of men. In 1912 it was for men only, although in the report of the opening of the new building the possiblity of ladies being able to attend in the future was mentioned. I have found a PhD thesis by Martyn Walker online which noted that in 1849 the Barnsley Mechanics' Institute had 62 female members and 232 male members. Walker noted that by 1880 'Barnsley Institute had doubled its membership and the ratio between male and female members was 506 to 70'. So this separation of the sexes had taken place gradually over time until there were no female members by 1912.

I did find a letter in the Barnsley Chronicle of 7 November 1885 which suggested that the trend towards members of a higher social status had been the case for a while. The writer, Mr. J. Tomlinson, commented that 'founded upon my own observation and experience ... the Barnsley Mechanics' Institute is emphatically not an institute for mechanics. ... I believe I am acquainted with the majority of the the mechanics of the town but I can count on the fingers of one hand all the members of that class that I ever saw at the Institute.' He went on, 'in this town of Barnsley, whose population is so largely industrial ... we ought to find a "working man's college" devoted to the higher education of the toilers, we find instead a mere "circulating library and news room ...". He did concede that previous efforts by the Institute on the topic of education "have been met on the one side of the skilled workers in the various trades with the most surprising apathy and indifference" but also notes that those efforts had been made by the Institute "in a very perfunctory and spiritless fashion". He also comments on the prohibitive fees for membership and for the lectures. Sadly it seems that the Institute had moved on from its original remit before it even left the Public Hall.

During the speeches at the opening of the new building in 1912 the President noted that the Institute was a place for men to meet their friends without having to go to a place which served 'intoxicating liquors'. The description of the new building mentioned reading rooms, a writing room, a library, a telephone room (!) and, on the first floor, two billiard rooms. In the basement there was a cycle store, 'approached [a] sloping path out of main entrance lobby'. The building frontage on Hanson Street was 61' 6" and enclosed by a fence wall and wrought iron railings and 'gates of special design'. There was a 5' wide frontage onto Royal Street providing a secondary entrance. I have been unable to find a photograph of the building unless it is the two story building with basement windows, just visible on the extreme right of this picture of Hanson Street on the Tasker Trust website. I think a tiny sliver of wall and a bit of roof gable of the same building is visible on this photo of Royal Street on the Tasker Trust website. Its position behind the billiards hall would seem to confirm that this shows the secondary entrance to the Mechanics' Institute referred to in the newspaper report.

Royal Street in the 1960s (Image EGT1213 from the Tasker Trust)

The Barnsley Mechanics Institute after 1912 does sound like a superior men's club, but without the benefit of alcohol. One piece in the paper suggests that wives should not worry if their menfolk came late home at nights, they would have been enjoying wholesome social interactions with their friends at the Institute. 

First World War

I decided to see if I could find the names of the men from the Institute who had served in the war. The social class of the members described above suggested that I might find more officers than private soldiers, but even with that advantage (officers are mentioned by name more often in the newspapers than the 'other ranks') the task turned out to be quite difficult.

Along the way I discovered that there weren't very many other mentions of the Barnsley Mechanics' Institute in the newspapers during the war years, besides their February Annual Meeting each year. The Institute was occasionally mentioned in articles about other events, for example in lists of donations to the Belgian Refugees' Fund or the Barnsley Comforts Fund (for Servicemen), they gave a billards table to the Beckett Hospital in June 1916 for the use of wounded soldiers, and the Institute was used a Recruiting Office in December 1916. But there was no regular list of their events or fundraising efforts. They did have a chess club, the prizegiving was reported in the newspaper.

In contrast the Dodworth and Wentworth Mechanics' Institutes were mentioned quite often during the period I examined, hosting meals for the elderly, sports tournaments (billiards and dominoes) fundraising whist drives and dances, talks and lantern slide shows and even as venues for inquests. Maybe the institutions in the villages had not lost their working class roots?

At the Barnsley Mechanics' Institute Annual Meeting in 1917 (Barnsley Chronicle 17 February 1917) it was noted that thirty-two members were serving in H.M. Forces, In 1918 (Barnsley Independent 23 February 1918) forty-two members were serving and by 1919 (Barnsley Independent 22 February 1919) this had increased to forty-seven. At that same meeting the committee discussed reviewing the conditions of membership of the Institute 'in view of the numerous applications of intending members'. Was this because men were returning from the war? 

A Barnsley Grammar School teacher, Richard Butler, gave a talk at the Mechanics' Institute in Februrary 1916 on the subject of his internment at Ruhleben Camp in Germany on the outbreak of the war, he was sent back to England in December 1915. There was no advertising in the newspapers before the talk, suggesting attendance was restricted to members. When the death from influenza of a member of the Mechanics' Institute, Fred Dunk, aged 40, was reported in the Barnsley Chronicle on 14 October 1916, it was noted that his younger brother Reginald Dunk had been killed in action in July of the same year. The report of the 1918 Annual Meeting mentioned the death of a Captain D. Grey without making clear his connection to the Institute. Unless he is Lieutenant George Donald Gray, son of James (a solicitor) and Elizabeth Gray, who died of wounds on 5 May 1917 and who is remembered in St George's churchyard on a family gravestone? I cannot say for certain who he was. These are the only mentions I can find of men connected to the Institute being directly affected by the war.

The coverage of the Barnsley newspapers online is a bit patchy - the issues of the Barnsley Independent which might be of interest for the First World War are 1912, 1916, 1918-1919, 1921, 1926 and 1928. The Barnsley Chronicle online coverage currently halts at 1912. You can see more of these newspapers in Barnsley Archives - they have a digital copy of the Barnsley Chronicle and the other Barnsley newspapers on microfilm. I have a copy of the index the Barnsley War Memorials Project made of the servicemen in the Barnsley Chronicle August 1914 to March 1919. But there were absolutely no mentions of the Mechanics' Institute in the index.

This left me with little to go on. I can see that original records for the Barnsley Mechanics' Institute, 1874 to 1963, 1960 to 1975, are stored at Barnsley Archives, so I will add a search of those to my list for when the Archives reopens. Maybe the names of the men serving are mentioned in the minute books. 

Lieutenant George Donald Gray

G. D. Gray from the Barnsley Chronicle
(with thanks to Barnsley Archives)

The Barnsley Chronicle reported the death of Lieutenant Gray on 12 May 1917.  It does refer to him as G. Donald Gray, so maybe this indicates that he commonly went by Donald and therefore he was probably the man referred to at the Mechanics' Institute Meeting in February 1918. Maybe he had been an Acting Captain at the time of his death?

'A painful senstation was caused in Barnsley during the early part of this week by the news that Lieut. G. Donald Gray had met his death on the front somewhere in France. A telegram from the War Office conveyed the sad news to the relatives stating that the gallant officer had died of wounds on May 5th.

Lieut. Gray, who in civil life was a solicitor of the firm of Messrs. James Gray and Sons, Regent Street, Barnsley, was very well-known in the district and was highly respected, his untimely death being a source of great sorrow to all who knew him. On the outbreak of war he immediately offered his services and became attached to the K.O.Y.L.I. On the death of his father [3 May 1915 according to his gravestone at St George's], however, he was transferred to the 2nd Barnsley Battalion and was for some time stationed at Silkstone Camp. He was with the Reserve Battallions until about 6 weeks ago when he was transferred to the Hallamshires and went out to the front, only to meet his death as stated. Lieut. Gray was 33 years of agan and was educated at the Wakefield Grammar School.

Only six weeks ago his mother died [11 April 1917 on the gravestone], and he was home on short leave. Lieut. Gray had a promising legal career before him. He was well known at Doncaster, where he organised the Boy Scout movment, and he was a keen worker in connection with the Y.M.C.A. hut appeal.'

George Donald Gray is slso remembered on the war memorial in St Mary's church, Barnsley.

Reginald Dunk

From Barnsley Chronicle 22 July 1916
(with thanks to Barnsley Archives)

Sergeant Reg Dunk was declared 'missing presumed dead' on or about 3 July 1916. He has no known grave and is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial in France.

The report of Reginald Dunk's death and the following obituary appeared in the Barnsley Chronicle on 15  July 1916 with his photograph appearing the following week.

'Members of the Barnsley Swimming Club are deeply deploring the death in action of one of their most popular memers - Sergeant Reginald Dunk, of the 2nd Barnsley Battalion, son of Mr. W. Dunk, builder, etc., of Hopwood Street, and Peel Street, Barnsley.

"Reg", as he was so popularly known locally was a born athlete. Occasionally he kept goal for the Barnsley Reserve football team, but it was in swimming that he gained renown, and in addition to being the champion of the club he was the esteemed captain.

Some months ago, when the Barnsley Battalions were in Egypt, Sergeant Dunk was able to distinguish himself by life saving in the Suez Canal. A comrade, it will be recalled from the account which at the time appeared in this paper, fell into the Canal at a point where it was deep and a swift running tide. "Reg" saw the mishap and without a moment's hesitation he plunged into the water and saved the Pal from a certain death. That action was greatly admired by the whole Battalions - by officers and men alike - and by a singular coincidence he very shortly afterwards performed a similar gallant feath by rescuing a second lad from the Canal. Sergeant Dunk, in a letter home, said that he spoiled his watch in entering the water but, he added, he did not care for that and was more than compensated by the fact of saving the lives of the two soldiers.

The news of Sergeant Dunk's gallantry was received in Barnsley with great pleasure and satisfaction, and his colleagues of the Swimming Club were more than ever proud of him. Only the other week we mentioned that the Royal Humane Society had recognised the dual acts by presenting him with a Certificate which, at the Sergeant's personal request, the Society sent home to his father to keep for him while he was out on active service. Mr. and Mrs. Dunk have received many expressions of sympathy in their bereavement, they can take consolation from the fact that their brave son died nobly doing his duty. Sergeant Dunk's brother, Vernon, is a Corporal in the Army.'

Reginald Dunk is remembered on the family gravestone in Barnsley Cemetery, on the war memorial at St Mary's Church, on the lost Roll of Honour for Barnsley Swimming Club and on the Old Boys' Memorial at Penistone Grammar School.

The social class profile of these two men does meet my expectations for the kind of men connected to the post 1912 Barnsley Mechanics Institute. A junior solicitor from a family firm and the son of a building contractor.  It might be possible to spot a few others by looking at the sons of the various committee members mentioned in the newspaper reports.

References:

Barnsley Archives and Local Studies, Barnsley Town Hall, http://www.experience-barnsley.com/archives-and-discovery-centre (accessed 1 March 2021)

Barnsley Civic, 'Our History', https://www.barnsleycivic.co.uk/our-history/ (accessed 1 March 2021)

Find My Past newspapers, https://search.findmypast.co.uk/search/british-newspapers (accessed February/March 2021)

Old Maps https://www.old-maps.co.uk/ accessed 28 February 2021)

Tasker Trust, http://www.taskertrust.co.uk/ (accessed 1 March 2021)

Walker, M. 'Solid and practical education within reach of the humblest means’: the growth and development of the Yorkshire Union of Mechanics’ Institutes 1838–1891' (Ph D, University of Huddersfield, 2010)

Possible Source of the Brampton Parish Hall RoH - The Guide Post Inn

 First published 21 June 2020

I have been researching the Roll of Honour (RoH) rediscovered recently in Brampton Parish Hall since February 2020.  It was found in the papers of an outgoing Parish Clerk in 2018, conserved by the Clifton Conservation Service - Rotherham, framed and then hung in the Parish Hall. A friend spotted it whilst at an event in the Hall and photographed it for me. I have yet to work out where the RoH originated, though suggestions have included Cortonwood colliery, the local school or the nearby Methodist Chapel. In each of these cases there are sufficient discrepancies to suggest that the RoH did not come from there.  This morning I may have found another candidate.

The top of the front page of the Mexborough & Swinton Times 5 June 1919

The local newspaper for Wombwell and Brampton during the years of the First World War was the Mexborough and Swinton Times, later the South Yorkshire Times.  Some digitised copies of this newspaper were recently released by the British Newspaper Archives and its sister site Find My Past.  I have been gradually working my way through the names on the Brampton Parish Hall Roll of Honour searching the newspaper for mentions of the men.

Searches using the term 'Concrete' for the Concrete Cottages that used to stand where Garden Drive and Springhill Avenue are, brought back a number of relevant results including the names of men from the area who are not on the RoH.  One interesting hit was in a list of Wombwell 'Notes and News' from 30 September 1916. 

Patriotic Fund - Over 102 soldiers and sailors have benefited by the Guide Post Inn Patriotic Fund, which includes Concrete, New Wombwell, Park Road and Park View.

I am aware of a pub RoH from the Second World War from the Honeywell Inn just outside Barnsley town centre, so I would not be surprised if the Guide Post Inn had started their own list, especially as they were obviously keeping track of the men from their area who were in the forces for the purposes of their Patriotic Fund.

Last week I wrote about two brothers, James and Albert Crawford, from Concrete Cotttages who were both killed in the war.  James is named on the Brampton Parish Hall RoH but Albert is not.  I suggested that this might be because Albert did not enlist until after his marriage in May 1918.  If the RoH was drawn up before that, and the space filled after the addition of Fred Godfrey in pencil at the very end, maybe a second RoH was begun for men who joined up later and this has yet not been found.

The Guide Post Inn was situated on the junction of Wath Road and Brampton Road, just to the north west of The Junction, where the Elsecar Branch of the Dearne and Dove canal joined the main canal.  It and the housing around it appear on the 1890 Ordnance Survey map of the area.  That area was sometimes known as New Wombwell.  On the 1855 map of the area several guide posts are marked on the route between Brampton and Wombwell, one of which was on this corner - however there was no housing there at that time.  So the pub was built after 1855 and before 1890, which fits with the expansion of housing provision in the area as Cortonwood Colliery opens.

1905 map of The Junction, Wombwell (from NLS maps)

On the 1905 map (above) the Guide Post Inn is indicated and a G.P. for a guide post. The triangle of housing is completed by Junction Street, and there is a terrace of housing on Brampton Road just south east of the pub. There is another guide post marked at Tunstall Cross, at the top left of the above snip.

1931 map of The Junction, Wombwell (from NLS maps)

By 1931 housing has spread up Wath Road towards Wombwell, between the Guide Post Inn (now labelled simply as Inn) and the crossroads (which was Tunstall Cross on the earlier map).  Park Street begins after the crossroads and continues into Wombwell going north east. I cannot identify Park Road and Park View on these old maps. They may have been the names of individual terraces or groups of houses on Wath Road.

The 1918 Electoral Register for the South-East Ward of Wombwell includes Park Street, Wath Road, Wombwell Junction and Brampton Road.  It also mentions Park View but not Park Road.  Could the newspaper article have been mistaken and written Park Road for Park Street?  The 1918 and 1919 Electoral Registers are particularly useful for First World War research as they indicate which men were 'Absent Voters' and 'Naval and Military'. Men who were aged 19 and over and in the military were included despite the usual voting age being 21 years and over.

The first man named on the Brampton Parish Hall RoH is John Andrews who may be the man listed in the 1918 and 1919 Electoral Registers at 28 Park View, however he is not indicated as being an Absent Voter in either register.  There is a Thomas Atmore of 74 Concrete who is not listed as an Absent Voter in either register, however this is probably the father of the family (at 55 years old in the 1911 census he was rather too old to have served in the war) because in 1919 a Thomas Atmore jnr is also listed. As he was 19 years old in 1911 this raises the question why was he not listed in 1918?  Sydney Beckett [Sokell] listed third on the RoH is indicated as an Absent Voter from 46 Concrete in 1918 but he is listed and not absent in 1919 suggesting he had returned home by the late winter of 1918. Information for the 1918 registers was collected in late winter 1917 and early spring 1918.

The first three names on the Brampton Roll of Honour

Going back to check on the Crawfords whom I mentioned above, Albert and his other brother William (James having been killed in 1916) are both listed in the 1918 Electoral Register but in 1919 only William is listed - on both occasions the address is 11 Wath Road, the family home. Albert is not indicated as an Absent Voter at all, despite us knowing he served, but the late date at which we know Albert Crawford enlisted, after the collection of the data, might explain why he is still registered at home. The omission of his name in the 1919 register suggests that his death in November 1918 was known before the data for that register was collected.

The only photograph I have found of the Guide Post Inn (so far) is on a Facebook page for old photos and shows it standing alone, the triangle of housing behind having been demolished. I mentioned the pub in a blog post some months ago as three generations of the Savage family ran the pub between 1891 and 1968. Joseph and Walter Savage are mentioned on the Brampton Parish Hall RoH. Having members of the landlord's family in the forces would have been an additional incentive to create a Roll of Honour for display in the pub.

Other addresses associated with the Brampton RoH men beside Concrete include Brampton Road, Wath Road, Carnley Street in West Melton, Elliotts Terrace in New Scarborough, Wombwell (listed in the South East Wombwell ward in the Electoral Registers), Hough Lane, Wombwell (listed in the South West Wombwell ward), Hawson Street, Wombwell (South East Wombwell ward), Gower Street, Wombwell, Milton Street, Wombwell (South West Wombwell ward), Deputy Row, Wombwell (I don't know where this was, but it sounds like housing connected to the colliery).

The area covered by the Brampton RoH is fairly discrete - where a man named did not live in the area in 1911 he had usually lived in Concrete Cottages beforehand and had moved a short distance to Stairfoot, Ardsley, Hoyland or Barnsley itself.  It is not unreasonable that a man might pop back to visit his friends in his old local, keeping in touch up to the beginning of the war.

Further research on the Electoral Registers and the dates when men enlisted will help to narrow down the time span in which the Brampton RoH was created.

Thank you for reading.

References:

Absent Voters, Barnsley War Memorials Project, http://www.barnsleywarmemorials.org.uk/p/absent-voters.html, accessed 21 June 2020.

Mexborough and Swinton Times, British Newspaper Archive, https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/titles/mexborough-&-swinton-times, accessed 15 June 2020.

West Yorkshire, England, Electoral Registers, 1840-1962, Ancestry, https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/3057/, accessed 21 June 2020.

Yorkshire CCLXXXIII.NW, Revised 1901, Published 1905, National Library of Scotland (NLS), https://maps.nls.uk/view/100949606, accessed 21 June 2020.

Yorkshire CCLXXXIII.NW, Revised 1929, Published 1931, National Library of Scotland (NLS), https://maps.nls.uk/view/100949603, acccessed 21 June 2020.