Memorials

This page records the men from the village commemorated on local war memorials, church memorials and plaques as well as headstones in local church graveyards. It also gives the locations of Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries and memorials across the world where Brindlers are buried or commemorated.

It is hoped, over time, to add details of war memorials, church memorials and plaques as well as headstones in church graveyards in villages in the local area. These will include Hoghton War Memorial, Hoghton Parish Church (Holy Trinity), Trinity Methodist Church (formerly Gregson Lane Methodist Church), Walton-le-Dale War Memorial, All Saints C of E at Higher Walton, St. Patricks R.C. Church at Walton-le-Dale, Samlesbury War Memorial, Abbey Village War Memorial, Brinscall War Memorial, Heapey & Wheelton War Memorial, Withnell Fold Paper Mill War Memorial, St. Bede’s R.C. Church Clayton Green and Clayton-le-Woods & Whittle-le-Woods War Memorial. Contact the site author for details; any information and photographs would be most welcome.

A full list of men with a Brindle and Hoghton connection who were killed in the First World War will be published in the forthcoming book, ‘Brindle and Hoghton Pals’. It will also give the location of respective memorials, graves and plaques locally and across the world.

Brindle War Memorial

WW1 Memorial in St. James’ Church, Brindle

The First World War memorial is located in St. James’s C of E, the Parish Church of Brindle on Water Street in the centre of the village. The actual memorial is unusual as it commemorates not only the 16 men from the Parish who were killed but a further 85 who survived. Above the names are the words “To the Glory of God and in honour of he men who fought for liberty and right in the Great War 1914-18”.

The Parish Council minutes for the 15th April 1919 recorded “A meeting of the Parishioners is to be called for Monday evening May 12th at 8 o’clock to consider what form the War Memorial shall take”. The minutes from that meeting record those present as being Mr. Whitehead, Rev. Wm. Holden, Mr. V.H. Gatty, Joseph Greaves, David Sharples, John Seddon, Samuel Marshall and “many others, males and females”. Mr. Whitehead was voted to the Chair. The meeting resolved to form a Committee of the fore-mentioned men and to “examine the various designs to be procured by Mr. Whitehead and report to a meeting to be held later”.

The St. James’ Parochial Church Council minutes of the 15th July 1920 recorded a faculty (permission) “for a War Memorial on the inside of the west wall of the Church”.

The Men listed who were killed in WW1 listed on the Memorial are:

WW2 Memorial in St. James’ Church, Brindle

The Second World War Memorial, next to the WW1 memorial in Brindle Parish Church, records four names from the Parish: Joseph BAXENDALE, Fred GREENWOOD, Arnold HOLDING and Frank PEARSON.

In November 1948 the Parish Council held a special meeting 1948 to discuss a proposal to erect a War Memorial on the Pinfold (the Parish Pound) but the idea was dropped. However, the PCC (Church) minutes of the 8th March 1949 recorded that “Mr. Stott moved that a public appeal be made for money in the form of a letter separate from the leaflet. Mr. Crook seconded and the motion was carried. All donations to be sent to the Rector not later than 31st May – no second appeal to be made”.

The memorials in Brindle Parish Church do not record the names of men killed in both World Wars who worshipped at Brindle St. Joseph’s R.C. Church, a number of whom lived within the Brindle village boundary.

Arras Memorial

Arras Memorial

Located in the town of Arras in northern France, the memorial commemorates 34,717 servicemen from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand who died in the Arras sector between the spring of 1916 and 7th August 1918 and have no known grave.

There is just one man who was born in Brindle on the memorial:

Lance Corporal John RILEY MM

Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing on the Somme

Thiepval Memorial

Located on the Somme battlefield in northern France, the memorial records the names of 72,089 officers and men form the U.K. and South Africa who died in the Somme sector before 20th March 1918 and have no known grave (the dead of other Commonwealth countries who died on the Somme and have no known graves are commemorated on national memorials elsewhere). Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. The memorial also serves as an Anglo-French Battle Memorial in recognition of the joint nature of the 1916 offensive and a small cemetery, containing equal numbers of Commonwealth and French graves, lies at the foot of the memorial. The Thiepval Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was built between 1928 and 1932. It was unveiled by HRH Prince of Wales (later to be Edward VII), in the presence of the President of France, on 31st July 1932. A ceremony is held at the memorial each year on the 1st July, the anniversary of the first day of the battle in 1916.

There are two men born or from Brindle on the memorial:

Private Samuel HUNT
Private James WAREING

The Menin Gate

Menin Gate Memorial

The Menin Gate in Ypres (Ieper) is one of four memorials to the missing in Belgian Flanders which cover the area known as the Ypres Salient. The site of the Menin Gate was chosen because of the hundreds of thousands of men who passed through it on their way to the battlefields. It commemorates those of all Commonwealth nations (except New Zealand) who died in the Ypres Salient, in the case of United Kingdom casualties before 16th August 1917. Those United Kingdom and New Zealand servicemen who died after that date are named on the memorial at Tyne Cot, a site which marks the furthest point reached by Commonwealth forces in Belgium until nearly the end of the war. The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial now bears the names of more than 54,324 officers and men whose graves are not known. The memorial was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield with sculpture by Sir William Reid-Dick. It was unveiled by Field Marshal, Lord Plumer of Messines on the 24th July 1927 in the presences of King Albert of Belgium and General Foch from France. In his address, Lord Plumer said “…….it can be said of each one in whose honour we are assembled here today - 'He is not missing, he is here'." At 8.00 p.m. each evening Buglers from the local Fire Brigade play The Last Post at a simple ceremony at the memorial.

There is just one man who was born an lived in Brindle on the memorial:

Private Richard HUNTER

Tyne Cot

Tyne Cot Memorial

Located a few miles to the north of Ypres in Belgium, 34,864 United Kingdom and New Zealand servicemen who died on the battlefield after 16th August 1917 are named on the memorial at Tyne Cot Cemetery. The memorial, designed by Sir Herbert Baker was unveiled by Sir Gilbert Dyett in July 1927. It forms the north-eastern boundary wall of the Cemetery, one of the largest Commonwealth war cemeteries in the world with 11,952 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried in its boundaries.

There are two men who were either born or lived in Brindle on the memorial:

Private Thomas ROBERTS
Private Albert E. TOWLER

Helles Memorial

Helles Memorial

The Memorial bears more than 20,835 names and serves the dual function of Commonwealth battle memorial for the whole Gallipoli campaign (April to December 1915) and place of commemoration for many of those Commonwealth servicemen who died there and have no known grave. The United Kingdom and Indian forces named on the memorial died in operations throughout the peninsula, whilst the Australian names are those who fell at Helles. There are also panels for those who died or were buried at sea in Gallipoli waters.

There are two men born or with a Brindle connection on the memorial:

Lt. Colonel Francis A. JACQUES
Lt. Edmund WOODS

Basra Memorial

The Basra Memorial in Iraq commemorates more than 40,500 members of the Commonwealth forces who died in the operations in Mesopotamia from the Autumn of 1914 to the end of August 1921 and whose graves are not known. Until 1997 it was located on the main quay of the naval dockyard at Maqil, on the west bank of the Shatt-al-Arab waterway, about 3 miles north of Basra. Because of the sensitivity of the site, the Memorial was moved by a decree from President Saddam Hussein. The move, carried out by the authorities in Iraq, saw the Memorial re-erected in its entirety some 10 miles along the road to Nasiriyah, in the middle of what was a major battleground during the first Gulf War (1991).

There is one man born in Brindle on the memorial:

Private George BARTON

Of those men listed above, only Samuel Hunt is on the Brindle War Memorial. Richard Hunter and Thomas Roberts both lived in the village and only are commemorated on St. Bede’s R.C. Church at Clayton Green where they regularly worshipped.