[Retlaw]

Originally Posted by Tealeaf

If the collation of names were only on the basis of the Observer records, then I can easily see how duplications and omissions would have been made. Surely, though, there must have been at least some assessment made by the powers that be (council committee?) of the eligability of individual names to go on the memorial.
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Never come across any evidence of committe hearings on the subject of names, but there are some on the design of memorials and discussions in the newspapers on the subject
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I suppose this problem would not have been unique to Accrington/Oswaldtwistle. After all, at a national level there is not even agreement on the duration of the war; some memorials date it as 1914-18, others 14-19 so if that could not have been agreed upon it is no surprise that the methodology in obtaining and the criteria in listing names would differ from memorial to memorial.
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There are over 160 names missing from the memorials in Great Accrington (Hyndburn)
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I wonder if the Accy Observer would have had, in it's 1920's correspondence columns, complaints of missing, duplicated and incorrectly spelt names and as such, what was subsequently done to rectify the situation?
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Most of the War Memorials round here were erected in 1922, if there had been any complaints about the errors, why have'nt they been corrected over the past 87 years
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One final thought occurs to me. What was the role of the next-of-kin in the process of placing names? At what stage were they consulted, if at all? And is it not possible that in a radical political climate (and in a local tradition of socialist non-conformism) that certain families would not have wanted their loved one's name carved on a monument seen as glorifing war?

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Some names were ommited especially those missing in action, some relatives held on to the hope that they may come home. Others were so disgusted at the way their loved ones had been treated, refused to have their names added.
Others had their names put on several memorials.
Accrington has an addenda panel, several names on there, are already recorded on other memorials.
Retlaw.