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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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'.
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| Medals for Returned Heroes from the Mexborough & Swinton Times 31 May 1919 |
Thank you for reading.