Nearly-Midnight The genealogy website relating to the family. A tangled web of people all related to one another, explore!
Robert Clark The Father of Henry Martyn-Clark - A missionary out in the North-West Frontier of India. One of the first Europeans to set foot in Afganistan
Affetside Census
A small village north of Bury, Lancashire, I can trace many of my immediate ancestors from there. On the Roman Road, Watling Street
Andrew Martyn-Clark My Father and his part in my World. Also my mother and his parents too.
Henry Martyn-Clark My Great Grandfather, his roots and his achievements. Discusses malaria but also his confrontations with Islam.

Update!


Many photographs have been added! LazylikeSunday.net home page lists them Please copy and reuse them - a link to LazylikeSunday will be much appreciated!

Friday 30 November 2012

St Mary's at Goosnargh

I have not been inside the St. May's church at Goosenargh.
According to Wikipedia it is 900 years old. However this needs further investigation.
This page should grow when I have the opportunity to visit. My photos are clichés apart from the two servicemen who are buried in the graveyard.
View of the church. This is from the carpark.

A sundial just to the left of the path, just beyond the lych gate

From the rea r of the church. These are very interesting wooden windows. Seems the roof has been slated fairly recently.

This almost identical photo is on the internet!
An early grave, Some letters are visible.

87974 Private W. Parker
Middlesex Regiment
24th December 1918
(There is no extra information on the CWG website,




IN LOVING MEMORY OF
PTE. JOSEPH STEPHENSON L.N.L. REGT.
WHO DIED MARCH 26TH 1916
AGED 18 YEARS
ALSO PAULINA
MOTHER OF THE ABOVE
WHO DIED FEB 21ST 1941
AGED 82 YEARS
ALSO JOSEPH STEPHENSON
HUSBAND OF THE ABOVE
WHO DIED DEC 9TH 1945
AGED 85 YEARS.
It appears that there are 3 more casualties in this graveyard, but I did not spot them. Their information is here.

Saturday 24 November 2012

Layton Cemetery

In Layton Cemetery, very close to the Polish airmen - and a stone's throw from the large cross in the centre are two low memorials commemorating the fallen in the Great War. There is very detailed information on the two memorial stones. The links end up on the CWG Web site. The majority of the personnel commemorated are Royal Army Medical Corps. More information will be forthcoming here. Many of the dates are after the cessation of hostilities.

The cross in the middle of Layton Cemetery

Another view of the cross

TO THE
HONOURED MEMORY
OF THOSE
SAILORS AND SOLDIERS
WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES
FOR THEIR COUNTRY
IN THE GREAT WAR
1914 -1918
AND WHO LIE BURIED
IN THIS CEMETERY

Looking to Layton flats, they are due to be flattened.



60891 PRIVATE J.F.GROGAN ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS  20/10/1917 AGE 30
130043 PRIVATE W. KEEGAN ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS  25/9/1917 AGE 39
6987 PRIVATE T. KENNY KINGS SHROPSHIRE L. I. 16/2/1917  AGE 44
130089 PRIVATE C. McCREA  ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS 9/11/1919
7920 PTE W. McLOUGHLIN  ROYAL LANCASHIRE REGIMENT  6/11/19 AGE 34
130088 PRIVATE J. MURPHY ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS 10/5/1918 AGE 33
142806 PRIVATE J. WILSON ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS 19/6/18  AGE

None of these names is on the Blackpool cenotaph. Why is that?

The memorial facing the one above.
83531 L/CPL A.P. ADDINGTON ROYAL IRISH REGIMENT  22/8/1918  AGE 32
97512 PRIVATE T ALLKINS ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS 18/4/1917 AGE ?
S/10368 PRIVATE T. BAXTER CAMERON HIGHLANDERS 21/3/1918 AGE 24
5371 RIFLEMAN G. BLUNDELL THE KINGS LIVERPOOL REGIMENT 7/4/1920 AGE 48
6239 PTE. E. BRETHERTON BORDER REGIMENT 5/1/1919 AGE 41
156054 PTE. W.E.EDMONDS ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS 1/11/1919 AGE 42
135787 PTE. A.C.R. FERNANDEZ ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS 17/11/18 AGE 21
32145 PRIVATE H. HAWLEY YORK & LANCASHIRE REGT 22/5/1919  (The date differs in the cwg doc)
72637 CORPORAL C.G. LATTER ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS 28/5/1917 AGE 31
136567 PRIVATE W. McCANN ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS 24/10/1918 AGE ?
76865 GUNNER A. MITCHELL ROYAL GARRISON ARTILLERY 22/11/1920 AGE 31
91559 PRIVATE S.T. NICHOLS ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS 3/7/1919 AGE 34
139626 PTE R.L.PEROWNE ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS 29/10/1918 AGE ?
53399 PRIVATE A.H. RHODES MANCHESTER REGIMENT 28/2/1919 AGE 19
715695 SH. SMITH A. SCRIBNER ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY 23/3/1919 AGE ?
13024 PRIVATE F. STOBART ROYAL LANCASTER REGIMENT 29/11/1919 AGE ?
111529 PRIVATE J.F.TEMPLE ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS 3/2/1918 AGE 24
687210 DRIVER F. WILLIAMS ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY 1/2/1919 AGE 25 (This serviceman is found on the Blackpool Cenotaph transcription)

Leading from the cross, you can see the 2 memorials facing each other


The whole of Layton Cemetery could do with a proper survey - there must be a few war graves in their that have escaped documentation.

This is the information that is shown on the Commonwealth Graves web site:

Location Information

Blackpool (Layton) Cemetery is on the road to Fleetwood and Poulton. It contains 138 Commonwealth War Graves, and a War Cross is erected in the main drive.

Historical Information

In October 1915, the 4,600 bed King's Lancashire Military Convalescent Hospital opened in Blackpool and early in 1917, the town became a Royal Army Medical Corps training centre. During the Second World War, there were units of the Polish forces stationed at Blackpool and the Polish Air Force had its headquarters at Talbot Square.

Blackpool (Layton) Cemetery contains 139 scattered burials of the First World War and 39 from the Second World War. A Yugoslav airman is also buried in the cemetery and there are 26 Polish war graves together in a group. A Cross of Sacrifice stands on the main drive.

In all 178 Identified casualties

Friday 23 November 2012

Garstang Memorial Garden

These two memorial plaques are placed at a roundabout fairly close to Garstang town centre. This is where Park Hill road joins Croston road. It seems the site was donated by the Adelaide and Castle lodges of the Oddfellows in 1987. This is memorial 3381 in the War Memorials Archive.

View from across the roundabout towards the garden.

The two plaques looking across to the roundabout

Donated by the Adelaide and Castle lodges of the Oddfellows
In May 1987


1914  THE GREAT WAR 1919

IN THANKFUL MEMORY OF THOSE MEN WHO
WENT FORTH FROM GARSTANG AND BONDS
TO SERVE AND SAVE THEIR COUNTRY AND 
IN DOING SO LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES

+

THOMAS ARMSTRONG
WILSON BARTLETT
JOHN COWARD
Ed CROMPTON
JAMES CROSS
THOMAS FISHER
RICHARD HALL
CHARLES HILLS
JAMES LEA
THOMAS P. LONGWORTH
ALBERT E. MATHER
ARTHUR PARKINSON
JAMES PARKER
COLIN PYE
RICHD. RICHARDSON
GEARGE W. RONSON
WILLIAM THOMAS
RICHARD H. WARD
NOEL T. WORTHINGTON


AND OF THOSE WHO FELL IN
WORLD WAR II 1939 - 1945

W. TREVOR BARNES
THOMAS H. BILLINGTON
BENJAMIN CARTMELL
HARRY COOK
RICHARD COOKSON
NORMAN COOKSON
DENNIS R. DAGGER
JOHN GREEN
NEVILL P.B. GREEN
ARTHUR HALL
LIONEL LUND
THOMAS SALISBURY
ERNEST SPENCE
GEORGE P. TAYLOR
JAMES A . WOODS

Looking north from the memorials down Croston road.


Nicely Maintained and looked after.

Monday 19 November 2012

The White Church, Ansdell

This is a remarkable building. More history and more photos to follow. I am not happy with the ones I have taken, but as far as I am aware these are the only ones published of the memorials and pulpit. I feel I will be returning here to update the pictures at some time.

There is more information on these memorials at the War Memorials Archive numbers: 42403 and 42404.


Taken from Clifton drive looking towards Lytham




1939 - 1945
IN GRATEFUL MEMORY
OF THOSE ASSOCIATED
WITH THIS CHURCH
WHO MADE THE
SUPREME SACRIFICE
DURING THE
SECOND WORLD WAR
1939 - 1945
AND
IN RECOGNITION OF
THE SERVICES GIVEN
BY OUR MEMBERS
IN
HIS MAJESTY'S FORCES
AND
CIVIL DEFENCE UNITS

The memorial panel designed by
Walter Marsden.
This has four names only:
HARRY BOOTH
HARRY D CROMPTON
ALFRED C. DIXON
T. HERBERT DIXON





Designed by Walter Marsden.
The bottom line says
"VITA NUOVA MCMXVIII"

Not quite sure of the translation - Seems to mean "the new life+1918"
The year is undoubtedly right but the translation is enigmatic considering the content of the image above:
An angel appearing to bear a naked man away. The sun is rising (hopefully) in the background bottom right.
Lovely image though.

1914 -1918
THE GREAT WAR

THESE GAVE THEIR LIVES

H. BOOTH
H.D. CROMPTON
A.C. DIXON
T.H.DIXON
J. MEADOWCROFT
A.V. REILLY
A.J. ROBINSON
A. SHEPHERD

THESE ALSO SERVED

H.E. ADDERLEY
J. AIREY
W. ALLEN
H. ALLEN
C. ARCHER
K. ARCHER
H. ASHTON
S. BRIAULT
E. BURTON
J.R. CARR
W. CROOK
H. CROOK
A. CROOK
T.H. GREENWOOD
J.L. HADFIELD
R. HALL
A.K. HALL
W. HART
W. HAWORTH
J.H. HOLDEN
I.E. HUGHES
A. JOHNSON
R.C. McLELLAN
W. MILLER
E. NIGHTINGALE
S.R. OGDEN
G. OGDEN
F. OGDEN
H.J. PAUL
A. PENDLEBURY
H. RILEY
H. RILEY
M. RILEY
D. RILEY
A. SHAW
E. TAYLOR
P. TAYLOR
F.L. TREASURE
B.D. WALMSLEY
W.B. WALTON
J. WEBSTER
H. WRIGHT
  





 
There will be more images added in future. There are a couple of dedications around the church and a link will be added to the site in due course too.


Sunday 18 November 2012

St Thomas' church, Garstang.

Spent some time in Garstang, a market town with a long distinguished history. Set halfway between Preston and Lancaster. The A6 goes past the town but not through it. The M6 goes past it but not through it. Garstang is sandwiched between the two!

It is really likeable and plenty to see historically.
I was drawn to the war memorial which I photographed. Then visited St Thomas' church. Then explored the graveyard. Its on a tilt and is probably the slippiest place I have ever been in!

The graveyard to the rear of the church. The leaves on the ground on the slabs made it slippy.
Not sure it was as tilted as this! A panoramic shot stitched together.


These were the two servicemen’s graves I found.

Private E. Crompton

Private A.E Richardson
Both men were comparatively old when they died. Both left wives and family in the local area too. The links relate to a reference within the CWGC Database.

Friday 16 November 2012

Calder Vale War Memorial

There is one road in to Calder Vale - and only one road out, the same one! There are paths in at the top of the village by the lodge and also around the back of the factory. I have taken part in the "Calder Vale Supper run" twice - it passes the memorial - but you won't notice - the legs are screaming! It was also on the route of the " Bleasdale Bash" This was the first long distance challenge I ever undertook. Pretty certain this event was never revived. However the memorial. This is recorded in the IWM Archives as No. 3380. There is additional information here.

Calder Vale Methodist Chapel,
The road goes up to the left to cottages and then continues via a style as a path.
A mill is on the right. The supper race starts and finishes here.
The river Calder is to the right. The photograph is almost on the bridge.

The Memorial is about 300 metres from the last picture.
The road continues to the village.
Houses face the cross.

Face on.
The inscription on the cross reads:

1914 -1918

IN
HONOUR AND MEMORY
OF THE MEN
WHO SERVED AND FELL IN THE
GREAT WARS.

On the top level of the pedestal is engraved:

      1939      JAMES MAGILL     1945
THOMAS JAMES LEVER RUSHTON

FRANCIS WRENALL






 The links take you to the CWGG or a family history site.

This is from the left:

JAMES CROMPTON
HERMAN FLETCHER
JOHN GREAVES
ERNEST HALTON
GEORGE HARRIS
THOMAS HOGGARTH
JOHN JOSE
THOMAS LINSAY




The main road is to the right, It heads towards the A6... eventually.

THOMAS LONGWORTH
HARRY MALLEY
SAMUEL PIPER
ALBERT RAY
FRANK WALTON
RICHARD WHITESIDE
ROBERT WHITTAM


The memorial garden.


Wednesday 14 November 2012

Blackpool Cenotaph

This is also a work in progress - it links to the transcription that can be found here. As far as I am aware this transcription is complete and accurate.

The Blackpool Cenotaph is a very striking piece of monumental architecture. Completed in 1923 by Prestwich and sons. It is 100 ft high and is considered to be Britain’s tallest monument.This cenotaph is number 565  of the War Memorials Archive

There have been developments with this memorial. 3 names are about to be added to one of the bronze plaques that surround the base of the memorial. Much of the information is taken from the Blackpool Evening Gazette (Dec 17th 2012) and some from sources on the internet. Links provided.

The first name is James McDowell, Stoker  on the submarine P514 was accidently sunk by the Canadian minesweeper HMCS Georgian of the coast of Newfoundland. However the information from the Commonwealth Graves Commission (see link above) puts a James McDowell on the HMS Glorious at the time of his death, 8th June 1940. ( From this link the P 514 was rammed on the 21/6/1942) Could there be 2 James McDowell's? It seems that there is a memorial at Swinbrook to the crew of the P514.  This is an excerpt from Ancestry by the son of James Ronald McDowell:

The submarine my father was serving on, P514, was on patrol in the North Atlantic of the coast of Newfoundland in 1942. For some reason the submarine was unable to identify themselves and consequently she was rammed by the HMCS Avalon with the loss of all hands. The circumstances of the sinking was withheld until after World War 11 in order not to bring comfort to the enemy

The other information on Ancestry  gives James the middle name Ronald, born in 1915 in Blackpool. He married in 1938 in Blackpool when he was in the Navy. Clearly there has been excellent research by Local Historians here.

The second name is Acting Sergeant Barry Jewkes. There is considerable information at this link. It includes correspondence from his commanding officer to to his wife. This is indeed worth following up.

The final name is Private Tomas James Dale, a former St Georges pupil. There is a link here. Again searches on the internet will reveal much about Tomas.

When the plate is refixed I will photograph it.

Looking North towards Bispham.
The Metropole Hotel is on the right of the monument.
The monument is set into a depression and it allows a large body to be assembled.

A poignant moment - photo by Charlene Dodds
Thanks Charlene! chance to share your well thought out
and edited photo.

I feel that it is quite stern and foreboding. It is located quite close to the tower and in a way echoes its shape. Situated a stones throw from North Pier and the Town Hall it is indeed a stark reminder of the fallen.
The Blue Plaque.
The Falklands Casualty

R. FOULKES M.N.



The newly built choir stall.
It is at the landward side of the monument facing the tablets of the WW2 fallen.

The frieze on the North side of the obelisk. This is a panoramic picture. There are more pictures of details further down. This is labelled 1918 at the bottom.

The Frieze on the South Side of the Obelisk. Again a panoramic shot, multiple pictures stitched together. This is labelled 1914 at the bottom

One of the four servicemen depicted on the base of the cenotaph

The frieze continues to the right of this soldier.
The Sailor

The Airman
A detail from one of the 2 Friezes


The famous cat.
Gilbert Ledward's name is below.
1923


Another detail. This is a continuation of the image above.

 Gilbert Ledward's imagery takes on a timeless wistfulness that does not appear to be of this time. It responds to a time of great hurt. There is little savagery there, a great deal of strength but little anger. But if you look closely at the northern frieze, you will see a trampled German soldier on the left hand side.
To the left below the feet are the panels containing the names of the fallen from the WW2
To the right is the low stone block. The top has the bronze panels with half the names from WW1.
This is the northern side of the cenotaph
  
Looking to sea. The 2 wreaths are lying against panels of the WW2 fallen.
To the right and the left are northern and southern panels of the WW1 fallen.
They are raised on coffin shaped stonework.

The southern stone block - also containing the names of WW1 casualities



There are many short pillars around the cenotaph - all are very similar,
clearly a lion. Seems like a warning of sorts!

View to the right of the cenotaph. This is North Pier.
A panoramic shot made up of 16 shots stitched together