War memorials, guns go on display and weavers get a piece rate pay boost
HERE in our regular feature we take a look back at stories in the Rochdale Observer from 100 years ago:
●●SUGGESTED WAR MEMORIAL
The Chairman expressed the opinion that the present is an opportune time to consider the provision of a permanent memorial to the local soldiers and sailors killed in the war.
He added that various suggestions had been made as to the form of memorial.
Some had named a memorial hall, other proposals were for baths or a park.
If anything was done, he hoped that it would be something worthy of the sacrifice that had been made. He moved that: A committee representing the council, the churches of the various denominations, social and political organisations and also employers of labour and work people in the district, be formed for the purpose of instituting a scheme for the erection of a permanent memorial to the soldiers and sailors who had left the district to fight for us, and who had made the supreme sacrifice.
The motion was seconded, and heartily adopted.
All the members of the council were appointed on the committee (with power to add).
●●WAR GUNS FOR ROCHDALE
At a meeting of the Rochdale War Savings Committee in the Lyceum on Monday evening, it was decided to accept the offer of the National War Savings Committee to send guns of various types used in the war for exhibition at Rochdale during the week commencing January 13th, 1919.
During this week a war savings campaign, in which it is hoped that the surrounded districts will cooperate, will be conducted.
●●WEAVERS GET AN ADVANCE
In connection with the weavers demand for an increase of 30 per cent on the current rate of wages, the Court of Arbitration has awarded an advance of 50 per cent on the standard piece price list, to take effect from December 8, 1918.
This is equal to an increase of about 30 per cent of today’s wages.
●●WAR CASUALTIES
Gunner Harold Tomlin (Royal Garrison Artillery) succumbed to influenza in a casualty clearing station in France on November 18th. He was 26 years of age. His widow resides at 31 Hurst Street, Rochdale.
Private J. A. Buckley (Suffolk Regiment) the son of Mr and Mrs Robert W Burkley of 12 Salley Street, Calderbrook, Littleborough, has died from wounds. He was in his 20th year.
●●BAGHDAD: A DESCRIPTION BY A LOCAL SOLDIER
Signaller JW Bradbury of the Machine Gun Corps, a local soldier, who is with the Expeditionary Force in Mesopotamia, sent us the following letter about Baghdad:
“I send you a few remarks of interest about Baghdad, that much talked of and important Eastern city in the eyes of our enemies.
It is the largest city in Arabia, with a population of about 140,000 inhabitants composed of Arabs, Jews, Armenians, Persians and a few Europeans.
Most noticeable of all, the American Embassy with the Stars and Stripes floating overhead in the breeze.
The city that was famous for its wealth thousands of years ago; once the centre of the world’s greatest granary, now almost barren, the centre of the famous stories of the Arabian Nights, the reputed home of Sinbad the Sailor, the city which stands in the country where many of the great men of the Bible lived.
What city in the world can challenge its history?
It stands on the river Tigris, which very peculiarly here is of a sandy colour, not so elsewhere.
It was once surrounded by a great wall and a deep moat, but very little of it remains to be seen.