War Memorials

'Lest We Forget'

Manchester General Cemetery Transcription Remembers the fallen

1914-1918

"They Shall grow not old,as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary then, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them"

fourth stanza from the Poem

by Robert Laurence Binyon (1869-1943)

for the Fallen 1914-1918

with Grateful Thanks

to J Carmont & our lovely friend Jean Harrop

The majority of these brave men who gave their lives are commemorated on a Family Gravestone or

have a Commonwealth Gravestone in the Manchester General Cemetery.

Collyhurst War Memorial

The site of Hall's Crescent on Rochdale Road for the War Memorial to be erected by public subscription was humbly presented by John Hulbert Jnr Esq., of Manchester. The unveiling took place on Friday 25th May 1923 by the Right Honorable Edward George Villiers Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby K.G., Secretary of State for War. Many thousands of people witnessed the unveiling and ceremony. At the time 430 men who were killed in action or died of wounds were inscribed on the stone which is surmounted by a cross. Rev G. H. Proctor of Albert Memorial Church gave a brief service and dedicated the memorial . After which a number of wreaths were laid at the foot of the memorial.

Blackley War Memorial

The Blackley War Memorial stands at Boggart Hole Clough near the old flagstaff on the upper slopes overlooking the village, the first sod for the foundation of the memorial was cut by Mr John Singleton on Saturday 6th November 1920.

A Memorial Committee consisting of representatives of all religious bodies and works in the district and the people of Blackley had already subscribed nearly the whole cost of £2600 awarding the commission to Frederick Roslyn, London Sculptor.

The unveiling ceremony took place on Saturday 28th May 1921 at 3.30pm by Dr Herbert Leinstein, PhD,M,Sc., (a director of the British Dyestuffs Corporation (Ltd). A large crowd endured the driving rain while the ceremony of unveiling was in progress. The Rev E. G. F. Macpherson, C. M. G., C.B.E. Assistant Chaplain General of the Western Command dedicated the Memorial and the Lord Mayor Alderman Kay of Manchester accepted custody of the Memorial on behalf of the city. The procession was headed by the band of the 7th Manchester Regt., leading the singing. A firing party and the 'Last Post' and 'Reville' were sounded.

341 men of Blackley who lost their lives are remembered. The Memorial of Stone and bronze stands 28ft high, the tall pedestal is surmounted by an alighting bronze figure the 'Winged Angel of Victory' holding in each hand a wreath and wheat and the four corner figures representing the Army, Navy, Airforce and Nurses are in bronze. A bronze wreath is grafted to the base of the column and a raised panel with the words "Their Name Liveth Forever More"

2019

the bronze wreath, two small bronze plaques and the four bronze figures on plinths are no longer existing.

Heaton Park Somme Memorial

Sunday 18th November 2018 a Memorial honouring those soldiers who lost their lives during the Battle of the Somme was unveiled in remembrance of 100 years since the end of WW1 at Heaton Park, Higher Blackley. The Somme was the deadliest battle of WW1.

The Memorial which is a curved wall stands two metres high and seven metres in width and was designed to resemble a sandbag stacked trench on the Western Front. One side of the wall says "Somme" and on the other side over 320 Memory Tiles featuring Soldiers in recast porcelain.

Heaton Park during WW1 was a training ground for recruits of the Army. R.A.F. and Manchester Regiment and Manchester Pals Battalions. Heaton Park Hall was also later used as a military hospital and convalescence home.

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