We Remember

Below is the list of men who died in March between 1914-1918 and who are listed on Old Whittington War Memorial

  John Smitheman              Died 8 March 1916

 John Atkinson                   Died 21 March 1918

William Wood                   Died 23 March 1915

John Carlile                       Died 27 March 1918

Frank Charnley                Died 29 March 1918

color_cross_day

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
    That mark our place; and in the sky
    The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
    Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
        In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
    The torch; be yours to hold it high.
    If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
        In Flanders fields. 
John McCrae (1872-1918)

The Fallen

I have finally started writing a short family history for the young men of Whittington who gave their lives in WW1 and who are  listed on the War Memorial on Church Street and the War Memorial on The Brushes.

I hope that it helps bring the soldiers stories to life in this important year for WW1 remembrance and I would again ask if any family members would like to contribute anything to these young mens stories, it can be added onto their webpage.

Joseph Sydall

Having lived in Whittington for most of my earlier life I was surprised that I  never realised Joseph Sydall, a well known artist, was born in Old Whittington at Church Street in 1864.  Mary Swanwick, from the well known Swanwick family, spotted his talents and under her patronage he went on to study at Art School.

I will look further into the history of Joseph Sydall and hopefully be able to find some copies of his drawings or sketches to put on the website.

A bit of luck!

Continuing with my research into the names of the fallen on the internet I came across a web page on Derbyshire War Memorials.  It has the  names, regiments and some brief family histories  for some of the men.

This will be at least a good starting point for the Military information.  I need to double check everything with census, parish records and military records as the sources aren’t listed and therefore need checking.  However, it has given me quite a few reference points to start with.

The web page if anyone would like to have a look can be found here