© Cirencester Archaeological & Historical Society & Contributors 2016-2021
Registered Charity no. 287289
Cirencester
War
Memorials
This project got started when
it was realised that not only
are there two main memorial
lists, but that they differ.
First World War Memorials
in Cirencester
Seeking the personal stories:
The project began many years ago when Jim and Deidre Waddell
compiled the lists of names from the two memorials. We have lists
from the town memorials for both World Wars, but have chosen to
study the Great War first, during its centenary. The list from World
War Two is available [panel left below ]
The study limits itself to understanding why the names are on the
Memorials, and others who might justifiably be there, but does not
include those people commemorated on memorials outside of the
Cirencester Parish, such as the surrounding villages. (Some of these
villages have made their own studies, much easier due to low
numbers!)
Linda Viner compiled a searchable list from the two, sorted much
else besides, and has found out more about the one woman on the
list. Dale Hjort leads the project for CAHS and has been adding
dates of death and regimental information. This shows several
gaps, where he has not been able to distinguish between men of
similar name, or indeed can find no information. Florence
Beetlestone searched the Wilts and Glos Standard for news items
referring to these people.
We still need your help to fill in the lives of these people. We would
like to see stories, pictures and confirmation of detail of these men.
Most of the photos we have are copied from old newspapers. If you
would like to offer better quality originals, we would love to copy
and use them. You can contact us at ww1 at cirenhistory.org.uk
Our studies so far were available in the Corinium Museum
exhibition on World War 1 which ran from mid August to mid
September 2014. They are now made permanently available via the
links to be found left. All detailed pages are now available on this
site.
Below are a few of the posters from the exhibition. Unfortunately
we cannot blow them up enough here to make them readable, as
they were very large. [You may read some of it if you have a Retina
display]
Page updated 27 Feb 2018
Dale Hjort’s notes on the
background Picture, sent by
David Brooks of Thornham in
Norfolk:
W Dennis Moss was a
Cirencester-based
photographer during the
WW1 period and
photographed much local
military activity.
I think from studying their
cap badges that the group of
soldiers in your Moss
photograph are men of the
1/1 Gloucestershire
Yeomanry.
They appear to be the
Machine Gun Section with
their officer; the barn where
they are gathered looks
more Norfolk than Cotswolds
to me. Some of them are
wearing jackets with frogging
on the sleeves, suggesting
the early months of the war.
Between November 1914
and April 1915 1/1 Gloucs
Yeomanry guarded the North
Norfolk coast. The officers’
mess at The Home Mead
was damaged on the night of
19/20 January 1915 when
the German airship L4
jettisoned bombs on
Heacham.
At least one Gloucester-
based professional
photographer “attached”
himself to a local battalion in
the early months of the war.
If these suggestions are
correct, these men would
within a few months be at
Gallipoli.
[Ed- for those using a tablet
the picture is shown right, it
can be expanded.]
Clive Bowsher has written of the above picture: “…the accompanying text
speculates that it depicts the machine gun section of the regiment. I can
confirm that is correct - the same photo was published in the
Cheltenham Chronicle & Gloucestershire Graphic, April 3, 1915 and can
be found on the web. The officer is Lt G.N. Horlick (of the family that
produced the powdered drink of the same name). The photo was taken
at Hunstanton.
The photo shows that some members of the RGH were still wearing their
old pre-war uniforms up to the time they left for Egypt - some of their
caps are 'Beaufort' or 'Badminton' blue (worn with khaki cap covers),
they have the same colour on their stand-up collars and it is also used
for the piping on the cuffs of their tunics. They also wear blue puttees
and may have (although they're not visible) thin blue stripes up the
outside of the legs of their breeches. As you might guess, my interest is
in uniforms (the RGH in particular).
There is some more info on Lt Horlick at http://1914-
1918.invisionzone.com/forums/topic/199396-horlicks-malted-milk-lunch-
tablets/ “
Background
On 31st October 1918 the War Memorial Cross beneath the Tower
of Cirencester Parish Church was dedicated to "... the men of
Cirencester who have given their lives for their King and Country in
the Great War, 1914 -18". It was intended to inscribe their names
on panels on the West wall of the South porch once the war was
ended. In December 1918 a preliminary list was published of "... all
who have fallen in the war who are known to have been natives of
Cirencester or whose home was in Cirencester at the time that they
joined up...", together with "... a few relatives or close personal
friends of the donors," Mr Thomas and Hon. Mrs Kingscote of
Watermoor House, who had funded the Memorial.
It is believed that the qualifying area would have been that of the
“Urban District Council”, which differs from the present Town
Council area.
In July 1919 a public appeal was made for a further memorial in the
form of an extension to Cirencester Hospital, then in Sheep Street.
The Roll of Honour on this building - now the Cirencester Memorial
Centre - was prepared in 1921 to list "... all Cirencester men and
women who fell in the war or died from the effects of wounds
received or illness contracted on active service, the qualifications
adopted being 1] birth in the Parish of Cirencester 2] enrolment
whilst resident in Cirencester."
So broadly speaking some men are named on the church panels
who did not qualify for the later memorial, which includes some
whose death occurred or became known after the inscription of the
church panels.
Only one woman is named, Julia Herbert, who was a Red Cross
worker. The lists (left) give name, date of death if known, regiment
or service, if known, and which memorial panel the names are on.
The date of death will help you search the Wilts and Glos Standard
(to be found on microfilm in Cirencester’s Bingham Library) for
announcements, obituaries or letters. We have now extracted most
World War 1 references from the WGStandard. If you find a
newspaper article we have not included in the relevant biography,
do let us know.
You may find that relatives that you thought met the criteria above
are not listed. We would like to know this too. There is
correspondence about Henry Day, for example, who died of
wounds in November 1915, who had links to many places near
here, but not, it seems in Cirencester itself. He cannot be found we
think on any memorial in the county. His grave is in Sussex.
Other War Memorials to Cirencester People
There are two memorials inside Cirencester Parish Church, one for
old members of the Church Lads Brigade [IWM 20703] who died in
WW1, with a surprising 42 names, and one for Lt R E Westmacott
RN [IWM 20704] who died in WW2.
In St Georges Chapel at the Royal Agricultural University is a
memorial to Lt SWP Vereker who died in the Anglo-Zulu War in
1879.
More well known is the memorial to Major EJ Bannatyne [IWM
45136] who died in WW1. The memorial is an oak staircase in the
Cirencester Memorial Hospital that CDC keeps wanting to convert
into a carpark.
There is a memorial in the Bingham Hall to ex-pupils of Cirencester
Grammar School.
We are aware that there are war memorials to ex pupils of Oakley
Hall School in its chapel, which is listed [Now a private dwelling].
Some or all of these we now understand have been transferred to
the care of the Letts family (Last owners of the school). A stone
tablet with the names of all past pupils who perished has recently
been erected on a wall in public view at the entrance to the old
Chapel. As a boarding school, few of these pupils had other
Cirencester connections. Are there other relevant memorials that
you know of?
Some stories on the way
The previous version of this site carried a blog of a journey towards
the 2014 exhibition in the Corinium Museum, which is not
reproduced. We give a few stories below.
8 Nov 2012
The War Memorials Trust has sent us their bulletin. They have
launched www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk which cost English
Heritage £250K, so it is cleverer than this site, which has only cost
about £36 a year so far. Their new site uses the Imperial War
Museum listing of memorials, and wants you to add in the details.
The Trust is set up to preserve war memorials, and has many
examples of those in disrepair. Our church memorial has just had
a facelift, of course, but we need to carefully watch the other, which
CDC is minded to sell, we hear.
From W&G Standard 8 Aug 1914 [four days after War Declared]
Army horses from Ciren district
On Wednesday morning a party of officers and men from the 18th
Hussars arrived at Cirencester with instructions to procure 72
horses at once. We understand the horses were obtained during
the day, many of the hunting men of the district and other owners
readily placing their horses at the disposal of the government.
Between 70 and 80 horses of various stamps and all exceedingly
serviceable were marshalled in the yard of the King’s Head Hotel on
Wednesday evening, and after being branded and labelled were
taken by the soldiers in charge to Salisbury Plain. On Thursday
morning owners having horses for sale were requested to parade
them at the Cirencester cattle market at 11 o’clock.
Found by Linda Viner - published in Newsletter 59
1 April 2013
Some controversy surrounds the Bannatyne Staircase (see Other
Cirencester Memorials) which is not “listed”, nor is the building in
which it is located. CDC would clearly like to demolish the Memorial
Hospital, but have been trying to find relatives since 2002. It is a
handsome staircase which would have been climbed by most
patients and visitors to the hospital which closed in the early 90s.
Member Simon Fielding of Rendcomb later provided detail of
Bannatyne’s life and death.
23 November 2015
News of a Gloucestershire man who does not seem to be on any
memorial. Kevin Gordon of Seaford Museum in Sussex has been
researching the 250 or so war graves in his local churchyard - there
was a military hospital nearby. Henry Robert DAY, 11th Glos Rgt
died aged 19 on 10th November 1915. Linda has found that the
family lived in many places in the county and the death
announcement in WGS. Kevin ensured that a poppy was placed on
his grave on the centenary of his death
The history of the Memorial Hospital building can be found in
Newsletter 48