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.
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| 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.