Special event on Descendents of bereaved mum found in time for ceremony
Centenary of war memorial’s dedication
DESCENDANTS of bereaved mothers who took part in a ceremony a century ago to unveil Hinckley’s War Memorial have been found thanks to a public appeal to trace them.
The families will now be attending a short ceremony in the Garden of Remembrance in Argents Mead, at 10.45am on Friday, May 20 – 100 years to the day since the memorial was first dedicated.
Members of the public are also invited to attend, along with members of the armed forces and local dignitaries.
In 1922, six bereaved mothers who had each lost three sons in the Great War were invited to take part in the war memorial’s dedication service.
Local historian Greg Drozdz, right, had traced descendants of some of the mothers to invite them along to the centenary event and, following a public appeal, descendants of the remaining mothers have now been found.
Greg was interested to discover that the descendants of the mothers all still live locally – four in Burbage, one in Earl Shilton and one from Sapcote.
Greg said: “With the clock ticking down to the commemoration on May 20, we have found the last family we were looking for in the nick of time.
“Through the detective work of museum volunteer and family historian Jean Gilbert, we have traced descendants of the Dixon family.
“This will add greatly to the historic re-dedication of the memorial.”
Mary Ann Dixon, from Upper Bond Street then Coventry Road in the town, lost three of her six sons, Joseph, Herbert and William in the First World War. They were killed in action in France in 1917 and 1918.
Talking about the ceremony, Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council’s Armed Forces Champion, Councillor Danny Findlay said: “We warmly invite everyone, and particularly descendants of the fallen, to join us for this very special ceremony.”
There is information about the fallen remembered on Hinckley’s war memorial on an archive published on Hinckley and District museum’s website, called “Nobody Told Us”.
The archive represents 25 years of research by Greg, using archive information as it became available, and it is illustrated with photographs and historical news reports to show the lost life that each fallen soldier represents.
The archive is open to all at: