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When negotiating the junction of Dee View Road, The Mount, Dawstone Road
and Rocky Lane, it is the mirror which attracts our attention, but how
often have we noticed the small area that surrounds it, the site of
Heswall's War Memorial? The red sandstone cross 350cm high tops the plinth
which is inscribed thus-
To the memory of those of this parish who fell in the Great War
• 1914-1918 and of those of Wirral Urban District who fell in World War
II 1939-1945.
To the memory of those civilians
of this parish killed by enemy action in World War II • 1939-1945
There are twenty four names listed alphabetically, with
decorations for World War 1 and eighty names listed, on two separate
plaques, for World War 2. Considering the population in Heswall in 1931
was 5532 the fatalities of the wars were a high proportion to the
inhabitants of Heswall Village.
The memorial was unveiled, on 13th April 1924, by Mrs Peter Campbell whose
husband was the first man to die in World War 1 from Heswall. A large
gathering was present to witness this and the service was led by the
Rector, Rev D W Hobson, and the roll of honour was read by Charles
Thompson who was headmaster of Heswall Council School. Photos of the event
show it to be a wet day and plenty of umbrellas in evidence.
In addition to the plaques at this site, Rolls of Honour are to be found
in St Peters Church, Heswall Methodist Church, Christ Church Barnston and
Heswall United Reformed Church where the memorial has been taken from the
stained glass window of the previous church and put onto the entrance when
the present church was built. The graveyards of both St Peter and Christ
Church contain many graves of the war dead or memorials to them.
In the list of casualties from World War 1 the names of families still
living in the area crop up and in my research I have been saddened to find
the deaths of such young men; often two from the same family and in one
case one son who died in WW1 and another son in WW2. One can imagine them
leaving Heswall full of enthusiasm for serving their country but never to
return!
Many of the soldiers were from the Cheshire Regiment and the Kings
(Liverpool) but many regiments had representatives from Heswall in them.
Ranks include Major, Flight Sub Lieutenant, Rifleman, Gunner, Private
amongst others and decorations include DSO MC DCM MM and Croix de Guerre.
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The oldest person to have died that I have found is 44, a
Regimental Sergeant Major J F Wilcock who at the start of WW1 was training
recruits in Heswall. Mary Marshall, the only uniformed woman whose name is
on the memorial, was a staff nurse with the Queen Alexandra Nursing Corps
when she died aged 30 in 1917. I cannot find why she is listed for Heswall
as she originally came from London. Could she have been a nurse at the
newly opened Children's Hospital or Cleaver Hospital? Her name also
appears on the United Reformed Church Roll of Honour. Many shop keeper's
names from Heswall are represented on both memorials. William Jackson was
the son of Thomas Jackson a
bootmaker in Telegraph Road. The Broster family had a bakery
shop in the Lower Village and two sons, Edward aged 21 and William aged
24, both died in WW1. William was a corporal in the King's Liverpool and
was awarded DCM & MM. In the WW2 list names such as Meakin, Fox and
Tarbuck appear, which to many of us who have lived in Heswall for some
time will revive memories of shops long gone.
There were several small incendiary bombs dropped on Heswall in WW2
causing minor damage to the hospital, the school on the Puddydale and
causing a thatched roof on a house in Tower Road North to burn. The worst
of all was to happen on Whitsuntide Weekend in May 1941. On a clear
Saturday night, the air raid siren rang out to encourage the people of
Heswall to take to their air raid shelters. One of the incendiaries hit
the Church school house, off School Hill, killing Lilian Mills the
daughter of the headmaster and her friend Joe Lancelotte. The school house
and part of the school buildings were reduced to rubble. Another bomb hit
Whitby House, now the site of the Lower Village garage, killing Mr and Mrs
George Shone and their 18 year old daughter Dorothy Lilian. Another
casualty of that night was Florence McGrath of Riversdale, Telegraph Road.
Another civilian casualty listed but for whom I can find no details was
Stanley Evans.
These tragedies left the people of Heswall stunned. It was thought that a
German bomber jettisoned its surplus bombs over Heswall after a raid on
Liverpool. Whatever the reason it brought more tragedy to the small
village of Heswall.
Jenny McRonald 2008
I would be very interested to hear from anyone who has any information
about any of the names on the War Memorial in order for me to progress
with my research. You can write to me care of: mike@heswall.com
For
a list of names from the War Memorial, click HERE
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