The War Memorials of Keswick, Cumbria
.jpg)
1. The Keswick War Memorial and Latrigg fell
2. The C. K. & P. Railwaymen's WW1 memorial
3. Brigham School, Keswick (WW1 Memorial)
For additional information click on 'Comments' below.
posted by ritsonvaljos at 5:20 pm
6 Comments:
Additional information
Keswick's Fallen heroes & heroines of WW2
A separate article has been written about the WW2 casualties listed on the Keswick town memorial. To read this click on the following link:
The WW2 casualties of Keswick, Cumbria
-------------------------
The Keswick War Memorials
The civic war memorial for Keswick, Cumbria (previously Cumberland) can be found in a prominent position beside one of the main thoroughfares of the town. It is situated at the junction of Station Road and Penrith Road. Looking down on the memorial from afar are the fells (mountains) of Latrigg and Skiddaw. Growing up in this place generations of Keswickians would have known and loved Latrigg, Skiddaw and other nearby fells. It is fitting to note that the WW1 and WW2 memorial tablets are made from Skiddaw slate.
For many of those whose names are inscribed on this memorial, their final resting place is far from their home. Some of them have no known resting place. Yet, as long as this memorial remains standing their names and their loss to the town will remain in the hearts and minds of the people of Keswick.
Keswick War memorial (Photograph No 1 above) was originally erected to commemorate those from the town who gave their lives in the First World War (1914 - 1918). These names are engraved on a memorial tablet on the front of the memorial.
On the rear of the memorial is an additional metal memorial plaque commemorating the employees of the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway who gave their lives in the 1914 - 1918 war (Photograph No 2 above). Some of these railwaymen were not Keswickians by birth or abode. Even so, they are rightly commemorated on this memorial because they worked on the railways in the Keswick area and lived nearby.
There are also two tablets listing the names of 50 of Keswick's WW2 casualties on the memorial.
In the nearby Keswick Museum and Art Gallery is yet another WW1 memorial. This memorial remembers the former pupils of the nearby Brigham School, Penrith Road, Keswick (Photograph No. 3 above). It was crafted by Mr W.H. Mawson and donated to the museum by Mr Alan Hully of Keswick in 1997.
--------------------------------
Dedication to 'The Fallen'
On the front of the war memorial is the following dedication, also engraved on a tablet of Skiddaw slate:
"To keep fresh the memory of our brave men who fell in the Great Wars". One could make the case that the term 'World Wars' should have been used rather than 'Great Wars'. This would have avoided any misunderstanding about the meaning of the term 'Great War'. A 'Great War' does not mean a 'good war'. Can there ever be such a thing as a 'good war'?
Another thing to note about this dedication is that it implies that there were only Keswickian men who died in the World Wars. In fact, there are at least two Keswickian women listed on the town memorial among the names of the 'Fallen' of WW2: Mary Evans and Vera Venetia Spedding.
One of the Keswick women casualties listed on the war memorial is Leading Aircraftwoman Mary Evans. She was the daughter of Walter and Josephine Evans and died of meningitis on 12 February 1945 in Blackpool's Victoria Hospital whilst serving with the WAAF. At the time of her death Mary Evans 24 years old. She was brought home to be buried at Keswick.
In 2005 Mrs Joan Woodhouse (nee Rushton), who had served with Mary Evans in the WAAF, gave a personal account of Mary's death and funeral to the BBC "People's War" project.
To read Joan Woodhouse's poignant account of the death and funeral of Mary Evans on the BBC "People's War" website click on the following link:
WAAF Mary Evans (BBC People's War story)
The second Keswick woman listed on the war memorial is Sister Vera Venetia Spedding, Q.A.I.M.N.S. who died on 20 February 1940, aged 30. Sister Spedding was the daughter of John Anthony Spedding and Vera Spedding of Keswick. She is buried at Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey.
-------------------------------
WW1 casualties listed on Keswick War Memorial
Below are the names of the WW1 casualties commemorated on the front of Keswick War Memorial:
A. Abbott
T.V. Atkinson
G. Bateson
R. Bertram
C.W. Birkbeck
J. Birkett
G. Blamire
J. Blamire
J. Boadle
L. Boustead
T. Boustead
W.W. Boustead
F. Brownrigg
W. Butterworth
J.W. Cartmell
J. Chapman
T.C. Clapham
S. Clark
P. Cockbain
G. Cowperthwaite
A. Craigen
E.H. Dalzell
M.L. Davey
T.W. Dent
W. Dent
J. Dover
B. Easton
D. Easton
J. Edwards
E. Evans
H. Forrester
T. Forsyth
L. Foster
F. Gardiner
J.H. Gillbanks
T. Gill
H. Graves
T. Graves
N.A. Grisdale
A.R. Hall
T. Hetherigton
W.J.C. Hoare
F. Hodgson
I.H. Hodgson
J. Hodgson
J.C. Hodgson
J.W. Hodgson
J.W.M. Hodgson
T.A. Hodgson
W. Hogarth
J.S. Holliday
I. Hunter
G.H. Jackson
A. Johns
S. Johns
T. Johns
F.Kendall
G. Kennedy
R.H. Knight
R.B. Mandale
F.S. Martin
M. Mayson
W. McCade
J.M. Mitchell
D. Milburn
T. Moore
G.A. Mounsey
J. Nelson
W. Notman
C.M. Pears
J. Peet
T.E. Peill
J. Perry
W. Pratt
D. Rigg
E. Rigg
A. Robinson
J.B. Rose
E.L. Sanders
R. Sanderson
E. Scott
J. Scott
R. Scott
G. Sewell
J.W. Sewell
E.M. Sparks
E.W. Stanley
W. Stewart
W.H. Stockdale
T.G. Storey
J. Swinburn
J. Swinburn
P. Swindle
V. Swindle
C.S. Taylor
J.H.B. Thornton
G. Todhunter
J. Towers
M. Towers
W. Tyson
R. Usher
H. Vickers
J. Watson
H. Watt
J. Welsh
H. White
C. Williamson
G.B. Wivell
J. Youdale
--------------------
The C, K & P Railwaymen's memorial
For completeness, below is a transcription of the local railwaymen's WW1 memorial which can be found at the rear of Keswick War Memorial. It remembers the loss of 7 former employees in the First World War.
"Cockermouth, Keswick & Penrith Railway Company
In proud & honoured memory of the employees of this company who gave their lives for King & Country in the Great War.
1914 - 1918
Wm. Notman, Sergeant, Border Regiment
J. Youdale, Corporal, Border Regiment
J. Gibson, Private, Border Regiment
J.W. Hebson, Private, Border Regiment
W.R. Hetherington, Private, Border Regiment
M.S. Mitchinson, Private, Border Regiment
R. Watson, Private, King's L'pool Regiment".
------------------------------------
Brigham School, Keswick WW1 memorial
Also for completeness, below is a transcription of the Brigham School, Keswick WW1 memorial (surnames first).
"1914 - 1918
IN MEMORY OF BRIGHAM OLD BOYS WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR
Abbott, Allan
Atkinson, Thomas
Bateson, Geoffrey
Blamire, George
Blamire, Joseph
Boustead, Wallace W.
Boustead, Taylor F.
Boadle, John
Bertram, Robert
Clapham, Claude T.
Cockbain, Percy
Cowperthwaite, Walt. W.
Cowperthwaite, George
Craigen, Allan
Chapman, James
Dover, James
Dent, Walter
Dent, Thos. Bowers
Dalzell, Ernest
Easton, Douglas
Evans, Edwin
Forsyth, Thomas
Fisher, Joseph
Grisdale, Norman
Gillbanks, John H.
Hodgson, Jn. Charles
Hodgson, I. Harvey
Hodgson, Allan
Hodgson, William
Hodgson, Frank
Hodgson, Joseph
Hodgson, James
Hogarth, William
Holliday, James
Jackson, George
Johns, Stephen
Johns, Arthur
Kennedy, George
Martin, Fred S.
Mayson, Mark
McCade, William
Milburn, Derwent
Mounsey, Alwyn
Notman, William
Pinkney, Cyril
Peers, Charles
Pratt, William
Rose, John B.
Rigg, Derwent T.
Robinson, Alfred
Scott, Ernest
Stockdale, William H.
Swindle, Peter
Saul, Andrew
Storey, Thomas
Swinburn, Joseph
Swinburn, John
Scott, James
Scott, Robert
Sewell, Gilbert
Sparks, Edwin M.
Swindle, Vipond V.
Todhunter, Gilbert
Thornton, Joseph
Usher, Robert
Welsh, James
Wivell, George
Watt, Henry
Watson, John
White, Herbert
Williamson, Chris
Youdale, John
THIS TABLET WAS ERECTED BY OLD BOYS AND GIRLS OF BRIGHAM SCHOOL"
---------------------
Dedication:
Standing in front of Keswick War Memorial one may call to mind the following poem 'Pollitici Meliora' ('Having promised better things') by William Frank Thompson, R.A. (1920 - 1944):
'Polliciti Meliora'
"As one who, gazing at a vista
Of beauty, sees the clouds close in,
And turns his back in sorrow, hearing
The thunderclouds begin.
So we, whose life was all before us,
Our hearts with sunlight filled,
Left in the hills our books and flowers,
Descended, and were killed.
Write on the stones no words of sadness -
Only the gladness due,
That we, who asked the most of living,
Knew how to give it too".
W.F. Thompson (1920 - 1944)
----------------------
This article is dedicated to the memory of the townsfolk of Keswick and district who died in the two World Wars:
« L’heure passe, l’amitié reste ».
“The hours pass, friendship remains”
(Sundial motto, Hope Park, Keswick)
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Further reading
To read additional articles by the writer of this article about Keswick during WW2 click on the following links:
1. Keswick Hotel during the Second World War
2. Roedean School at Keswick: the war years
3. The Roedean School Shield, Keswick
4. The writer Sir Hugh Walpole (1884 - 1941)
5. 'Keep Smiling Through' (a stage musical about wartime life in Keswick)
=====================
+++++++++++++++++++++
Post a Comment
<< Home