The town of Walsall in Staffordshire, has a lot of War Memorials, and rather than creating individual pages for each one, I will rather put them altogether in one page and slowly split them off as I get to them one day. Images open in a new window.
I have dealt with the the Cenotaph in the main post about Walsall and this post covers my other discoveries. The major memorials are situated in the Council House, and there are 4 that I know of, as well as 3 VC plaques that I did not know of at the time. There are also war memorials at St Matthews Parish Church, as well as St Mary’s of the Mount Roman Catholic Church.
As far as I am concerned the most spectacular memorial was the Alabaster Memorial by Messrs R Bridgman which must have stood in the St Paul’s Church close to the Council House. This has been “re-invented” and the memorial was moved to the Council House in 2002. There is however still a war memorial in the church, although it is a much smaller one.
War Memorial in the former St Paul’s church
The Alabaster Memorial is a beautiful memorial, and unfortunately it is not easily accessible. I was fortunate that helpful staff did take the time to show it to me, along with 3 other memorials in close proximity to it.
The Alabaster Memorial
Information panel
The next memorial in this particular passage is a Boer War Memorial. Unfortunately the legibility of the memorial is not that great, but the inscription reads as follows:
ERECTED BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION
TO COMMEMORATE THE NAMES OF THE OFFICERS, NON-COMMISSIONED
OFFICERS, AND MEN OF THE 2ND VOLUNTEER BATTALION, SOUTH STAFFORD
SHIRE WHO VOLUNTARILY AND GALLANTLY SERVED THEIR
SOVEREIGN AND COUNTRY IN THE BOER WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA 1900-1
Anglo Boer War Memorial
The next Memorial is the Roll of Honour of the Walsall Corporation employees who gave their lives in The Great War.
Walsall Corporation Roll of Honour
The final memorial in the council house I could not photograph completely. It is situated in a large hall, and comprises of at least 8 name plaques affixed to the walls of the hall, and 2 large murals flanking the pipe organ on the stage. There was also an addendum plaque to the memorial which was for those who died in service in the Korean and Malayan war, Falklands conflict, Iraq, Afghanistan, Cyprus and Germany.
Walsall Borough War Memorial Dedication
The paintings flanking the pipe organ
The matching paintings are by Frank O. Salisbury and they were commissioned by Joseph Leckie “to commemorate the never to be forgotten valour of the South Staffordshire Regiments in the Great War 1914 – 1918” and were completed in 1920. One shows “the First South Staffordshires attacking the Hohenzollern Redoubt”, the other “the 5th South Staffords storming the St. Quentin Canal at Bellingtise Sept 29th 1918”.
Images merged and tilted slightly
The church of St Matthew overlooks the city from a hill, and it too has a war memorial, albeit in an awkward place. Photography here was almost impossible, but there are three name plaques that are not visible in the photograph.
St Matthew’s Parish Church War Memorial
St Mary of the Mount Roman Catholic Church has a small memorial in the parking lot, dedicated to the men of the parish who died during the two world wars.
St Mary’s of the Mount War Memorial
I am very sure that there are other memorials in the city and if/when I go back I will track down the three VC plaques, and attempt to obtain images of all the plaques in the Hall at the Council House. Currently there is only a statue to commemorate John Henry Carless VC, which is situated outside the Library.
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And at Queen Street Cemetery a small plaque announces that this was the burial place of James Thompson VC. Unfortunately I could not find a physical grave for him, although I do not know whether his grave has been formally restored.
I was really surprised by the memorials I had seen in the city, and I suspect there may be more, although accessing them is always a problem. Who knows what a return trip will reveal. My blogpost about visiting Walsall may be found on Musings.
DRW © 2015- 2021. Created 25/04/2015. Moved to Musings 15/01/2021