Rolls of Honour

LUDDENDEN & MIDGLEY VILLAGES' ROLLS OF HONOUR

WHAT IS A ROLL OF HONOUR?

At the outbreak of war, and probably as incentive to join up many Churches and Chapels, Pubs and Clubs, places of work etc.. started recording the names of the people who signed up to join the fight.

Below are the details of all the Rolls of Honour I have found for Luddenden & Midgley.

Booth Congregational Church

This example is from Booth Congregational Church. The list is in in the order that the men joined up and added to as the next man enlisted. Fifty Four spaces ere allocated within the Roll of Honour.

Booth Congregational Church Roll of Honour currently at Mount Zion Methodist Heritage Chapel

The first man to enrol was Donald Murgatroyd shortly after war was declared and he was in the local regiment, The Duke Of Wellington's Own(his war records did not survive, so we do not know the exact date he joined up.)
The third man's war records did survive. Frederick Greenwood from Ive House signed up in October 1915.
The War records for the 35th name, James Holmes survived and we know he joined up 2 years later in June 1917. The last man to sign up was Arthur Robson.

This Roll of Honour current resides at the Methodist Heritage Chapel at Odgen, though it is not on public display.

Providence Methodist Church

The Roll of Honour from Providence Methodist Church in Midgley (which now resides in the Midgley Community Rooms.) has been for the first part done in Alphabetical order. The first name on this list is Louis John Ackroyd from Well House, Midgley. He joined up on 8th Dec 1915 aged 17 but is unlikely to be the first man to join up from this church.
The alphabetical section ends with Percy Allan Varley.

Subsequently this list was added to with 39 non alphabetical names, presumably these were then in the order that the men signed up?
You can see in the decoration around the border that the emblems of the Four Nations have been included, the Welsh Daffodil, the English Rose, the Irish Shamrock and the Scottish Thistle. The original colours are quite badly faded.
The names of the fallen soldiers on this Roll of Honour are indicated by a box drawn around the name.

Providence Methodist Sunday School Roll of Honour currently on display at Midgley Community Rooms

Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Church

Many Rolls of Honour were later completely rewritten and often embellished, like this one from Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Church. This Roll of Honour's whereabouts is unknown and the photo quality is poor.

after the Luddenden Dean Church burnt down, this Roll of Honour's whereabouts is unknown

A Transcript of the names can be found here

It is not too clear on this image, but the four nation symbols (the Welsh Daffodil, the English Rose, the Irish Shamrock and the Scottish Thistle) are present again at the four corners, this time joined by a garland of laurel leaves, the symbol of Triumph.

A symbol has put against the names of the soldiers who lost their lives.

Some of these names appear on other local Rolls of Honour.

And it is clear that the calligraphy on this document is the work of the same person as the Luddenden Working Men's Club Roll of Honour.

Luddenden Working Men's Club

There is a story behind this particular Roll of Honour. The Original Working Men's Club was in the old Chapel at the bottom of Halifax Lane and when this closed, the Roll of Honour disappeared.

Luddenden Working Men's Club Roll of Honour

In 2007, it was spotted for sale on E Bay and was bought for £323 for the village by The Conservation Society and Luddenden Mayor's Fund.
The layout is identical to the Luddenden Dean Roll of Honour and the national emblems and laurel are clearly visible.
The names are is in alphabetical order and there are details of rank and regiment. The fallen soldiers are identified with an asterisk.

We know that this one was written before 1922 as the last soldier to be commemorated on our war memorial, Harry Patrick third from bottom in the righthand column is not marked down as one of the fallen. He died on 23rd February 1922 after the Roll of honour had been finished.
This Roll of Honour now resides in The Lord Nelson Inn.

Luddendenfoot Working Men's Club

The Luddendenfoot Working Men's club was demolished when the Kershaw Estate was built and its Roll of Honour has been lost.

On this memorial, the fallen soldiers are listed separately at the top.

Note that the date for the end of the war is marked as 1919.

Ebenezer Chapel

This chapel was at the bottom of Halifax Lane, now demolished. The Roll of Honour is engraved onto a marble slab and would have originally hung inside the chapel.
It currently resides in the Chapel graveyard, now a private garden.

Again, those who died are listed at the top of the memorial.

This stone memorial was completed at the end of the war and would have been a transcription of the original document.

Note that on this Roll of Honour, the date of the end of the war is also recorded as 1919, in common with most of the area's Roll Of Honour.

St James' Methodist Chapel

St James' Methodist Chapel is on High Street and has now been converted into private housing. The Roll of Honour is kept at the Methodist Heritage Chapel in Ogden. It is not on public display.

This Roll of Honour has suffered some water damage.

The list has a symbol against the names of the War Dead and also beside the names of the men who were wounded.
It too has a relief motif showing the National Flowers of the four nations.

Interestingly on this Roll of Honour the alphabetical list of names has been written on a sheet of paper and then carefully glued over the top of the original list of names.

St Mary's

And finally, in a slightly different format, we have the stained glass in St Mary's church.
Whether the church compiled a Roll of Honour is unclear, but the church's war dead are remembered on this window.

How many local men fought in World War One

So eight lists of names, how many soldiers have we got in total on these lists. You might be surprised, there are 275.
And not all the servicemen from World War One got a mention on a Roll of Honour.

An estimate using the 1911 Census return for the area for the total number of men that would have been eligible for Military Service gives a figure of just over three hundred. The population of Luddenden and Midgley at this time was approximately 1,500 people.

How many local men died in World War One

Well this is another unknown quantity.

• The Midgley and Luddenden War Memorial lists 45 Soldiers who died in World War One.
• The Rolls of Honour name another five that are neither on this War Memorial nor on the Luddendenfoot War Memorial.
• There are six war graves in Luddenden Cemetery with only one of the men named on the Memorial.
• Inscriptions on gravestones in the cemetery name another thirteen and the Methodist graveyards will have more inscriptions to add to the total.

So for example, Ernest Murgatroyd was christened at St Mary’s in 1893, the family were living at Wainstalls at the time of his death, 5th May 1915. He is not mentioned on any Roll of Honour.
He is remembered on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres, he is remembered on gravestone of his parent and he’s remembered on the church Memorial window, but not on the War Memorial. One wonders why?

to be continued.....