War dead to appear on online roll of honour
ARCHIVISTS building a comprehensive county-wide database of soldiers and other Armed Forces staff killed during the First and Second World Wars are coming to Halton to find out about residents’ own family histories and add to the ever-expanding online roll of honour.
Stephen Benson, who set up the Cheshire County Memorial Project in 2014, said the website is the only one of its type in the UK and continues to grow every day.
The site also features a rolling gallery.
An open morning will be taking place at Halton Lea Library in Runcorn from 10am2.30pm on Saturday, January 27, and the memorial team is hoping for an many residents as possible from across Cheshire to bring in their pictures and information.
Mr Benson said the roll of honour does not yet feature Widnes soldiers as it is based on the pre-1974 boundary changes but will be expanded in 2019 to cover all conflicts since 1945 so any Widnes soldiers who died after 1974 can be included, such as during The Falklands, in Northern Ireland, Iraq or Afghanistan.
As an example of the troop profiles compiled, Mr Benson revealed a slew of information and sepia photograph on the website for Sergeant Richard Newport, of Runcorn, who died on May 1, 1916, from wounds suffered during the First World War.
The facts revealed on the website about Sgt Newport cover aspects of his life from his parentage, being born to boot-maker John Newport and mother Elizabeth, to where he lived – 206 Main Street, and later 103 Main Street, his education, training and employment as a teacher, the latter being at Runcorn Parish Church Boys School, before continuing in detail through his enlistment and esteemed skills as a marksman, and his final actions amid a mine-ravaged battlefield and ultimately fatal wounds inflicted by a German shell that landed 20 yards away. The site also featured embedded links, for example, that connect Sgt Newport’s profile to a full list of the 77 Cheshire soldiers buried at Ecoivres Military Cemetery, Mont-St Eloi, France, for which images are being added as they are discovered.
Every night the website is scanned at 12.01am to find and list the troops who died on that day during 1914-18 and 193945.
It also has a rolling gallery of pictures.
Mr Benson said it was a ‘massive’ undertaking that ‘touches every corner of Cheshire’ and is being run by a team of 10 volunteers researching and writing the individual stories.
He said: “It’s the only project in the UK that’s creating a county roll.
“We’re looking for people to come in with any photographs they of relatives to add to the website – we’re building a story of every single one.
“The county roll has 30,000 names on it.
“It’s a massive project, there are hundreds of stories on the site that tell what happened to those individuals, from all sorts of census records, military records, the local press.
“The website is quite big, it has over 30,000 names on it.
“It’s a lifetime’s work to do.” He added that interest has been generated far and wide.
Mr Benson said: “I had someone from New Zealand yesterday who saw the story of their relative and I hadn’t had his pictures but he sent his photographs.”
Discussing the upcoming open morning he said: “We hope to get as many people as possible to come in with their pictures and information on their relative or anyone from the county who fell during the two world wars.
“We can also give help and guidance to anyone who is looking to find out about their relative.”
Readers can also find out more at the project’s Facebook page or on Twitter at @cheshire1418.
For more information visit www.cheshirecountymemorialroll.com ●