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21st-CENTURY VIRTUAL WAR MEMORIAL UNVEILED

Submitted by Editor on

The new 'virtual Broughton war memorial' which we previewed in December (Issue 225, p.3) has arrived online, and is a thing of beauty.

Broughton History Society (BHS) members have been assembling biographical details on the first of nearly 700 local service personnel who died between 1914 and 1919. Their researches so far have now been collated in one place on a dedicated Roll of Honour for the first time.

This evolving treasure trove is available free. You can search the easily navigated site using an alphabetical index or the clickable map partially shown below. There's also a page detailing the locations of local war memorials, and another listing websites and books you can use to find out more.

BHS launched the project in the summer of 2011 and members have been compiling notes since using a mixture of Census and military records, newspapers, books and online resources.

A typical entry comprises at least the subject's: date of birth, next of kin, home address(es), trade or profession, military career, date of death, place of burial (if known) and site of memorial. Some also include photographs.

Spurtle's brief tour of the site suggests a no-nonsense economy of consistent style, scholarly attention to detail, and meticulous citation of sources.

The site is still in its infancy, but this is a very promising start. The partial re-peopling of Broughton streets with their former residents – as here, for example, in the case of Bombardier William George Bannerman – is a fascinating exercise, carried out with respectful diligence and no cloying sentimentality.

We also applaud the modest fashion in which contributors' names do not appear on each entry.

On the evidence we have seen, this site will merit return visits for years to come.

For Broughton History Society membership details, contact addresses and a list of forthcoming events, go here.

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  1. 3h

    Fantastic. MT Broughton History Society unveils virtual memorial for dead.

     

    2h

    Duncan, have mixed feelings about the WW1 commemorations, but, this approach works very well.

     

    2h

    It's brilliantly simple, and very effective. I shall shortly walk past several places and see them with new eyes.

2h

     Yes, an excellent piece of social

history, hopefully it will be kept permanently?

 

Fergus Smith It's looking great.