WEST AUCKLAND:  WW1 MEMORIALS

There are 4 memorials:

1) West Auckland Memorial Hall

Located on Darlington Road, the Memorial Hall commissioned by the Memorial Hall Committee was formally opened 7 February 1925 by Mrs. Malcolm Smith.  It cost £2,750 with money raised by public subscription and the Miners Welfare Committee on land donated by Messrs. Bolckow & Vaughan. The foundation stone was laid 24 May 1924 by James Robson esq.  Another 4 stones are inscribed by:

• Sydney Monk esq.
• R. Doggart esq.
• Archibald Reed esq.
• H. Kellett esq.

 2) West Auckland Roll of Honour

Located in the Memorial Hall but transferred from the Methodist Church in the 1980’s, it lists 53 servicemen.  Harold Wilson is named on the Roll of Honour but is not inscribed on the War Memorial.

3) Primitive Methodist Church: Memorial Plaque

The plaque commemorated 5 worshipers:

• John Jackson
• John Greenwood
• Thomas H. Vickers
• Thomas H. Gibson
• Norman A. Clay

John Greenwood does not appear on a West Auckland memorial.  He is commemorated on the War Memorial at St. Andrew’s Church, South Church, Bishop Auckland.

4) West Auckland War Memorial

Located on the West Green in front of the pant, the water fountain built to commemorate Queen Victoria’s 60^th Jubilee, the memorial was organised by the Parish Council and unveiled 7 June 2009.  It commemorates 71 servicemen who fell in WW1 including those on the Roll of Honour in West Auckland Memorial Hall, those buried in West Auckland cemetery and several additions.  Some men are also commemorated on the St. Helen’s Colliery Memorial Cottages panels.

There are 2 men named Thomas Smith, one is included below and details can be accessed by clicking on his name and a second is 80111 Private Thomas Smith, 31st Battalion, Canadian Infantry who was killed in action 7 April 1916, has no known grave and is commemorated on the Ypres [Menin Gate] Memorial, Ypres, Belgium.

Another soldier, a resident of St. Helen’s Auckland, has been identified.  He is not commemorated on the West Auckland War Memorial or the Roll of Honour.  51618 Private John Mooney, 146th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps was killed in action 22 November 1917 and is buried in Jerusalem War Cemetery, Israel [formerly Palestine]. He was about 41 years old and is commemorated on the Bolckow, Vaughan Company Limited memorial housed in Kirkleatham Museum, near Redcar.

—————————————————————————————

This research will use the list of 71 names on the War Memorial and include John Greenwood from the Primitive Methodist Chapel Roll of Honour.

GREENWOOD J……..312th Bde. R.F.A…………11/08/17………….VRAUCOURT COPSE