Lincolnshire Remembrance: Memories and Memorials Newsletter October 2014

Project Update: http://www.lincstothepast.com/home/lincolnshire-remembrance/

We still have a lot of work to do adding photographs and information, but over the next few months it should start to become a really useful resource. We would really like you all to check that we have information on your local memorials and please do let us know if there are any we have missed. There will be mistakes so please do let us know if you spot any!

I am currently sorting through the memorial photographs with the help of some 'data angels' and I am compiling a list of memorials for which we do not have a good photograph. I will email this to you all as soon as I have a reasonable number so that hopefully we can gain a more complete record of the memorials.

Training and Information days for Lincolnshire Remembrance

We are running a series of training and information events in October and November. This will finally give us a chance to meet you all and give you a chance to participate in the project. Please do attend if you can; to book a place email me at [email protected] or call on 01522 554959. Lunch will be provided so please let me know if you have any special dietary requirements, or indeed any other special needs. All the events are free of charge and we have tried to choose venues with parking where possible. We can book some more events at other locations if there is sufficient demand – please let us know if you will find it difficult to attend any of the events listed.

Lincolnshire Remembrance Training Events:

Date Venue Time

7th October Lincoln, The Golf Centre, Thorpe on the 10am-3.30pm Hill, Lincoln LN6 9BW

9th October Caistor Arts and Heritage Centre, 28 Plough 10am-3.30pm Hill, Caistor, LN7 6LZ

3rd November Lincoln, Seminar Room, Robert Hardy 6.30pm – 9.30pm building, Bishop Grosseteste University, Longdales Road, Lincoln

10th Gainsborough Library 10am-3.30pm

November

Please book by contacting me (Cath Pike) at [email protected] or telephone 01522 554959

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Other Events:

15th 'The Three Philip Henry's in Grantham Family History Society October the Lincolnshire Harrowby Methodist Church 7.15pm Regiment' - Peter Reichelt Harrowby Lane (on the corner of Princess Drive Post code NG31 9PY £1 donation for tea/ coffee 18th Lincolnshire Remembrance City Square, Lincoln October event with All free. 10.30 - Time Tarts World War I re- 3.30pm enactors , West Gate School Choir and many special interest groups and displays. 18th The Long-expected Day Venue: St Peter-at-Gowts, High Street, Lincoln, LN5 7SR October A commemoration in £5 admission 7pm Words and music of the For further information and to reserve tickets (also Great War available on the night) please contact Julia Hart 01673 862426 18th Gainsborough's War Story Gainsborough Heritage Centre October 1914-mid 1915" Book 10am Launch 20th The German Atrocities in Western Front Association October 1914 – John Chester Robert Hardy Building, Bishop Grosseteste University 7pm Longdales Road, Lincoln £4 inc. tea/coffee 25th Royal British Legion – East Kirby Aviation Heritage Centre October Launch of the Poppy Appeal 2014 26th Echoes of the Past Epic Centre, Lincolnshire Showground October Family History event 30th The Christmas Truce Friends of Lincoln Tank October 1914 – Rod Fanthorpe The Royal Naval Association Club 7pm for Coulson Road 7.30pm Lincoln LN6 7BG £5.00 including light refreshments www.friends-of-the-lincoln-tank.co.uk 3rd Ceremony to mark the Gainsborough General Cemetery November restoration of 20 Hickman Hill 11am Headstones Gainsborough 8-9th Exhibition and guided Gainsborough General Cemetery November walk of Gainsborough Hickman Hill Cemetery Gainsborough 8-9th Willoughton Remembers Willoughton Village Hall and St Andrews Church November An exhibition telling the Vicarage Road, Willoughton, near Gainsborough. 10am – story of WW1 in a DN21 5SA 4pm Lincolnshire village, Artefacts including a unique WW1 Motorcycle,

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rare RNAS photographs and RFC kit will be on show. 23rd Dedication of new plaque St Martin's Church November and service of South Willingham 6pm commemoration for the men of South Willingham who died in the Great War If you have events you would like us to advertise do email me at [email protected]

Can Anyone Help?

This article refers to a memorial for Corporal William Johnson of Swarby being installed in the Primitive Methodist Church at Swarby. The church no longer exists…but does anyone know what happened to the plaque or have a photograph of it?

Grantham Journal Page 6, 16th February 1918

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Memorial for Sale!

Geoff Tann contacted me this week as he had recently visited an antiques fair and seen a brass plaque commemorating 'Members of St Aidan's Church who fell in the Great War' for sale for £160. With a bit of detective work we were able to establish that the memorial was from St Aidan's Church in Derby, which was demolished in the 1970s. But should the memorial be offered for sale?

We contacted the Trust for advice:

War Memorials Trust believes that war memorials should not possess a commercial value and that the buying and selling of war memorials is wrong for the following reasons:  war memorials form part of our shared past and national cultural heritage;  war memorials should be accessible to the public for commemoration and remembrance of those affected by conflict;  war memorials bought and sold maybe removed from public display which prevents them being available to people to commemorate those recorded, often including family members of those recorded on the memorial;  buying and selling war memorials creates a market value for such items which could lead to more being removed from public display and encourage the theft of such pieces for commercial gain. The War Memorials Trust has a help sheet with advice which can be found at http://www.warmemorials.org/uploads/publications/58.pdf This includes a sample letter to explain to sellers why they should avoid buying and selling memorials.

Conservation Focus:

Lincolnshire graveyards often contain family graves with memorials to soldiers who died. There are also some soldiers who died who do not have Commonwealth War Grave headstones. These are some of our most vulnerable memorials; families may no longer be caring for them, weathering may have obliterated the lettering or the headstone may have toppled or been laid flat for safety reasons. The Friends of the General Cemetery in Gainsborough

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have worked tirelessly to resolve these problems in remembrance of those who sacrificed their lives.

The work to bring to public attention the servicemen buried and remembered in Gainsborough cemeteries has been going on since 2005 when Private Albert William Hill's grave was accepted as a War Grave and a headstone was erected during a ceremony held on a frosty March day by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. He died at Rugeley Training Camp in 1917. There was an account of his death in the local paper but his grave in the cemetery was unmarked.

Since then twelve graves of soldiers buried in the General Cemetery during WW1 have been accepted as War Graves and headstones have been erected by the CWGC. The latest grave to be accepted if that of Gunner Alexander William Cressingham who died on 7.3.18. It currently has a temporary marker.

After consultations with the CWGC in 2011 the "Friends of Gainsborough Cemeteries and Chapel" working with Trent Valley Academy and supported by members of the Gainsborough branch of the Royal British Legion raised funds to repair family headstones marking the War Graves of two RFC officers buried in the cemetery. They had died in flying accidents flying for 33 Squadron which had its H.Q. in Gainsborough from late 1916 defending the country against Zeppelin raids. The crosses on both graves had been lying on the ground broken for several years. 2nd Lt. Laurens Jacoates Van Staden was from South Africa and Lt. Jack Harman was from London. Relations of both officers were traced and they agreed to the restoration. The work was carried out by Lincolnshire Co-op who generously funded half the cost.

While the masons were carrying out the work they inspected four other family headstones marking the war graves of RFC officers Lt. Brophy, Lt. Menzies and 2nd Lt. Pinnock, all from Canada, and Lt. Benitz from Argentina. An unexpected problem was that all four needed to be made safe to meet modern standards so we set about raising the additional funds to achieve this.

Finding relatives of the officers concerned was not easy but we did manage to trace relatives of all of the officers except Lt. Brophy. After an article appeared in the "Ottawa Citizen" newspaper and an interview on CBC Radio we managed to trace relatives of Lt. Menzies who sent photographs which added greatly to our knowledge about his R.F.C. career. We even received photographs of his military funeral in Gainsborough. So far these are the only photographs we have of a military funeral

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in the town during WW1. The family of Argentinean officer Lt. Benitz also sent several photographs and information which added greatly to our knowledge.

Two ceremonies were held to mark the restoration of the headstones. We were delighted that relatives of Lt. Benitz travelled especially from Canada. They were able to tell us that the tree planted at the foot of the grave had been planted by Lt. Benitz's family when they visited the grave after the war. The ceremony was also attended by officers from the RAF including four members of modern-day 33 Squadron who today fly Puma helicopters from RAF Benson.

The cemetery also has approximately 50 family headstones with inscriptions remembering servicemen who are buried or commemorated abroad. A successful application to the West Lindsey "Community Chest" fund in September 2013 enabled us to clean and re-erect two such headstones which had fallen flat. They remembered Private Oyitch and Private Brighton. Private Oyitch is remembered on the but as far as we are aware there is no other place in this country where his name can be seen on a , except in Gainsborough Cemetery. The in Gainsborough does not have names on it so this makes the cemetery headstones even more important. Private Brighton is remembered on the to the Missing and on Morton St. Paul's War Memorial.

This was a relatively straight-forward project but we knew that there were several other headstones which had not just fallen flat but were broken into several pieces and would be a far greater challenge to restore. In autumn 2013 we applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant to restore approximately 20 of the headstones in greatest need of cleaning and repair.

Our application was successful and so far 20 of the headstones have been expertly put back together and cleaned by Paul Hubbard and his masons from Barningham Memorials Ltd. of Scunthorpe. The inscriptions mention many of the major battles of the war - Loos, Jutland, the Somme, Arras, Bullecourt. They also mention "Died of wounds," "Killed in action," "Fell in action," "Bravely he Fought and Fell," "Missing." There is an inscription remembering a victim of the "Lusitania" and the grave of Grace Broadbery a W.W.1 nurse who was one of the first to go to Belgium in August 1914.

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A number also have the date 13.10.15 which marks the worst day of the war for Gainsborough when over 50 local soldiers were killed in the attack on the in northern France. Following this event the obituaries in the local newspaper often mention "The unknown grave is the bitterest blow." Many families added inscriptions to family headstones as somewhere where they could place their flowers to remember their loved ones.

We hope that the restorations being carried out will mean that local people will be able to remember the sacrifices made by these young men for many years to come.

A ceremony to mark the restorations carried out so far will take place in the General Cemetery close to the Chapel at 11 a.m. on Monday 3rd November. The cemetery can be found easily at the top of Hickman Hill. Anyone interested in the project will be very welcome to attend. Also during Remembrance weekend 8th-9th November there will be an exhibition in the Cemetery Chapel and cemetery walks with information about the restoration project. There are several more headstones which will be restored and also a number in North Warren Cemetery.

Further details can be obtained from Susan Edlington (01427 612030) or Peter Bradshaw (01427 610507) or visit the website www.friendsofthegeneralcemetery.com

Media Review The Long Shadow – Professor David Reynolds BBC 2, Wednesdays 8pm David Reynolds traces the legacy of the Great War across 100 years and 10 different countries, examining how the war haunted a generation and shaped the peace that followed. I found this a very thought provoking series about the legacy of the Great War and how we remember it. David Reynolds has also produced a book with the same name.

Research Focus So far our research articles have focused on the documentary sources available. However these sources always leave tantalising gaps and questions unanswered. Oral histories and family stories offer a valuable source of information but also a personal perspective which is obviously absent from official documents. Through this project I have been privileged to meet and work with Paul Espin who has been capturing the stories of people who lived through the Second World War. At Louth on the 13th September one of his films of local man Patrick Hagan 'Mr Chips' was shown. It was a very moving and thought provoking

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experience for all present.

Paul Espin editing the film of Patrick Hagan

As a young child growing up in the post-war years many stories of both World Wars were passed on to me by my family instilling a life-long interest in the social impact of both these conflicts. Even as a child in the 1950s I remember walking across bomb sites to get to Primary School. Much later in 2010 I was given an opportunity to produce a film about the people of the Community in Long Sutton, Lincolnshire about their experiences of the Second World War. This gave me the inspiration and desire to interview more people in North Lincolnshire after I moved there just over two years ago. With the kind co-operation of residents and members of local community groups I was able to interview, many people with wide ranging experiences. These interviews were processed into films and now form part of the website www.livingthroughww2.com where anyone can view them.

It was not my intention to only portray the horror and tragedy of war but to form a “social history document” indicating the social impact of World War 2 both at home and in the Forces. All of the stories were very varied ranging from a child's view to serving in the Forces and working on the Home front. Some stories were sad and poignant yet others had an element of humour in them. Together they form a collective experience of life in the Second World War. The “golden thread” running through it all was the resilience of the British people and the fact that they would not be beaten into submission. Some of the memories were detailed enough to form complete stories in their own right.

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One of these accounts relates to Patrick Hagan of Louth whose detailed description of his experiences as a Commando was quite unique. As a result of this I was able to produce a film in which Patrick recounted his story. As part of the Wolds in Wartime Exhibition held at the Sessions House in Louth on September 11-14th 2014 Patrick's film was shown at Louth Library. A compilation DVD of other interviewees was also shown during the Exhibition.

In order to continue recording people's experiences I would be very grateful if any other volunteers would like to come forward and be interviewed. If anyone is interested then please contact me via the website and associated email address or telephone me on 07900 378073.

PAUL ESPIN

Lincolnshire Remembrance project also has some oral history recording equipment which we can loan to you and we hope to run another oral history training session in 2015. In Spilsby as part of the Wolds Words festival on the 15th October 2014 Colin Hyde from East Midlands Oral History Archive will be running a training day contact http://www.down-your- wold.co.uk/ to book a place.

Trench for sale or hire.

After a brilliantly successful exhibition mounted by the Horncastle Civic Society, they have a life size section of trench which they can offer for sale or hire. The trench is constructed of wood and can be collapsed for transportation. It is ideal for exhibition or theatrical use.

Please contact [email protected]

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