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.
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| 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/