SPENBOROUGH WAR MEMORIAL HISTORY

Photo: Andy Dracup

The Spenborough War Memorial was unveiled on 11 November 1922 by Lt Colonel Alfred Law Mowat DSO MC, to commemorate those who lost their lives in the First World War. It was paid for by public subscription, at a cost over over £20,000 - a very large sum at the time.

It bore the names of 469 local men and one woman. The names of four men who had been missed off the original commemorative plaques were added in 1928. Many more local men were to die from their wounds in the 1920s and 30s but they were not listed on the Memorial.

At that time, Spenborough consisted of the towns and villages of Cleckheaton, Liversedge, Gomersal, Scholes, Flush, Millbridge, Hightown, Roberttown, Norristhorpe, part of Oakenshaw and some smaller communities in the heart of the then West Riding of Yorkshire. During 1935 Spenborough was extended to encompass Birkenshaw and Drub.

In the year 2000 the names of a further 35 Servicemen who lost their lives in the First World War were added. These men had been missed off the original Memorial for various reasons. Thus the Memorial now commemorates 509 First World War casualties.

In the early 1950s the Memorial was adapted to accommodate those Servicemen who lost thier lives in the Second World War and as a result, a further 218 names were added.

On Armed Forces Day in 2009 the names of an additional seven local Servicemen lost since the end of the Second World War were added.

This was done during a Service of Re-dedication of the Memorial and had been arranged to be as near as possible to 1 July, as it was on this date the Battle of the Somme commenced. 22 Spenborough men lost their lives that morning and a further 100 perished before the battle was over - the blackest period in the history of the area,

In 1922, when Lt Colonel Mowat unveiled the Memorial, no one would have thought that 87 years later his grandson Major General Shaw CBE would be attending the re-dedication of the same Memorial, therefore keeping continuity for the town and the family.

Compiled by Charlie Turpin - Spenborough Branch

MEMORIAL SCULPTOR

The Cleckheaton War Memorial was designed by Sir George James Frampton RA (1860 - 1928), a notable British Sculptor of the "new sculptor" movement.

Portrait by Meredith Frampton in The National Portrait Gallery (by courtesy)

Other works of art by this eminent sculptor include; Monument to Edith Cavell outside the National Portrait Gallery in London, Statue of Peter Pan (1912) in Kensington Gardens and the "Lions" outside the British Museum in London.

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See also Latest Branch News - 12 July 2011.