Originally Posted by Neil (Post 707514)

It is a shame that all you gents with all this knowledge can't get together and make our memorial as accurate as possible.

Originally Posted by Retlaw (Post 707526)

I only deal in PROVEN facts, any mistakes, and it throws the whole into question. I don't like mistakes or errors, if its a thou out its scrap.
Retlaw.

Originally Posted by Tealeaf (Post 707528)

Why do you think the mistakes were made in the first instance, particularly in relation to the listing of names on memorials in the 1920's?

Originally Posted by Retlaw (Post 707531)

Those who compiled the original 1922 Roll of Honour, and the Greater Accrington Roll of Honour, mainly from lists compiled by the Accrington Observer in 1918, thats why some men are named twice, if he is recorded as John Thomas Bloggs wounded in one of the issues, and then later as Thomas Bloggs was killed in action, he gets one under each of the Christian names.

Then you've got the type setters in the printing shop trying to read some newspaper reporters scribblings,
and so it goes on and on and on.

Retlaw

Originally Posted by Tealeaf (Post 707536)

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?

Originally Posted by Retlaw (Post 707526)

Who are all these gents with all this knowledge.


Retlaw.

Originally Posted by Gayle (Post 707544)

You for a start, Andrew Jackson (not sure if that's his name on here or real name) and presumably Roy Lockwood, who's been doing research for the War Memorial. That's three gents for a start.

Originally Posted by Retlaw (Post 707553)

Me I'm no Gent, and as one of the young ladies in the library said, your obssesed with finding all these men.

To me the other two are amatuers. If it takes 7 years to gain an apprenticeship, and I've been at it since 1983, what does that make me.

The only thing thats making it easier for me now, is the fact I don't have to keep travelling down to the Public Record office in London, now the documents I need are available thro Accy Library

Retlaw.

Originally Posted by Gayle (Post 707559)

Surely, then, they could benefit from your wisdom to find out their mistakes. They may be amateurs but they're a darn sight more knowledgeable than the average person and if they're the ones publishing information then that's the information that the average person will trust to be right. And it's their information that will be read by future generations when you aren't around to correct them in person.

Originally Posted by Gayle (Post 707570)

As a resident of Oswaldtwistle, I want the War Memorial to have the right information on. We need people like yourself involved. He may not have asked you to help but have you offered?

Originally Posted by Tealeaf (Post 707576)

.......but there is an argument, is there not, for leaving the memorial as it is - mistakes and all. It is after all, an historical symbol made by people with the most noble of intentions, still under a cloud of immense grief, and so who are we now to reinterpet their statement of their time?

Sorry, I'm just philosophising..............:(

Originally Posted by Tealeaf (Post 707594)

Two questions:

1) Where on the memorial will the names be placed?

Originally Posted by Tealeaf

2) WW2, Korea, Falklands, NI conflicts have been added to the memorial. At some point in time, can we expect the names of those fallen to be added to the memorial and if so, where?

Originally Posted by Gayle (Post 707570)

Well clearly he's not managing quite well if you've spotted some mistakes. So to make sure that the information that is on the War Memorial is correct, would he not want your help.

As a resident of Oswaldtwistle, I want the War Memorial to have the right information on. We need people like yourself involved. He may not have asked you to help but have you offered?