Forgotten memorial to First World War dead is found

A FORGOTTEN cenotaph with a list of names of men who died during World War I and II has been rediscovered in Leeds.

Themonumenthasbeenfound at the entrance of Q One Residence, an apartment building originally erected by the Brunswick Methodist Chapel which was demolished in the 1970s.

City councillor Kayleigh Brooks first noticed the memorial when delivering Covid- 19 support leaflet bundles during the first lockdown.

It wasn’t confirmed as a World War One cenotaph until Remembrance Sunday, when she remembered about the structure and contacted local historian Freda Matthews.

The cenotaph reads: “In honour of the men of Brunswick who fell and in gratitude to those who served in the Great War 1914- 1918. Their names shall be remembered in lasting remembrance.”

A later plaque remembers the soldiers lost in World War Two.

An office block was built on the site before becoming the current apartments in 2014.

Coun Brooks said: “I spoke to Freda and she told me there was once a chapel on the site, and after a bit of research she confirmed it was indeed a WW1 cenotaph. I was stunned. We don’t understand how it could have been forgotten.

“The29menwholosttheirlives or went missing in the First World War deserve to be remembered, along with all the others. It’s an important piece of local history.

“The dead and missing are remembered all over the country. It was quite sad to think of Leeds men just being forgotten like that.”