Grange & District

Grange War Memorial Project 2015

This project of the men on the Grange War Memorial is the first of our collaborative projects on Grange over Sands. The group have now produced over twenty biographies. They appear by name as a link on this page below.

We have based the project on the work done by Frank Brookes and Peter Robinson in their excellent booklet “A Book of Remembrance of the men commemorated on Grange over Sands War Memorial” (2011). The booklet mentions thirty-four men listed on the War Memorial in the Water Gardens, who fell in the Great War 1914-1918. One other soldier, John Lord Duxbury, also warranted inclusion.

The booklet by Frank and Peter by definition, could only mention the briefest of details on the men, so there is always remains the question of, who were they, where did they live and most of all, what were they like as people? It is these elements which form the core of our extended research.

We have used existing information in the various archives in Cumbria, together with extensive searching on the internet via such sites as “Ancestry.co.uk”, the National Archives and the many other available online sources. Many sources are new, such as the War Diaries series for WW1 (National Archives) which give graphic detail on the day-to-day action of regiments and divisions involved. The indexing of the Westmorland Gazette and Barrow News for the period by Cumbria Library Service has been invaluable in our research.

The amount of detail varies enormously between individuals. Some have just a few lines of detail, whereas others have an amazing amount where the records have survived and family photographs, letters and ephemera still exist within the family. We have had extraordinary luck with family material from relatives in the area and as far away as Scotland and Australia!

We make the material free for anyone to use for their own research on family members who died in this “War to end all Wars”.

I would like to thank all the members of the group listed below for their support in this ambitious project which we have all enjoyed immensely. Tricia Thomas, Andrew and Jean Platt, Shirley Richards, Pat Rowland, Jan Tomlinson, Christine Woods, Janet Coomber, Jackie Bailey, Margaret Robinson, Karyn Loader, Roger Handley, Maire Matthews.

David Clapp
Family and Social History Group Co-ordinator -12th April 2015