Following publication of the book the following information has come to light.
Servicemen (click here)
Memorials (click here)
Please advise the author of any helpful comments or additional information that you feel should be noted on this site. You can contact the author here.
Servicemen
In the case of Servicemen the new information is shown by alphabetical surname.
ALLEN, William Hoades and John Joseph Allen.(Pages 337 and 350). These photographs were kindly supplied by John Millward, the nephew of these two brothers, who has also provided additional information about John Joseph. He had apparently added two years to his real age when he joined up so he was only 19 when he was killed, not 21. Also, he had been taken prisoner on 21st March 1918 and when he was killed on 29th June 1918, it was as a member of an enforced and illegal working party just behind the German lines. Almost certainly John was killed by British fire, and as his battalion, 2nd Sherwood Foresters, had by then moved up to the Hazebrouck area, there is the dreadful possibility that he could have been killed by “friendly fire” from his old battalion or its supporting artillery.
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William H Allen
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John J Allen
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COATES, Clarence Hugh and his brother Dick (Richard Frederick). These photographs, courtesy of Pete Holmes, are of Clarence's Commemorative Plaque and War Medals (left) and Dick's 1915 Star, War and Victory medals.
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KEY, George Vernon. Having survived an air crash at the RNAS Flying School in France (see Page 312), he returned home after the war to work for his father. After two serious operations, he died of appendicitis in the Nightingale Nursing Home in Derby on 22nd August 1921. He was 21 years of age. It was estimated that 2 000 people crammed into Cromford to pay their last respects at his funeral. He was interred in a vault at St.Marks.
RATCLIFFE, George A volunteer in September 1914, his letters home frequently appeared in The High Peak News. He survived the conflict to return home to Cromford but his death in hospital at Cannock on 19th August 1921 was attributed to the war for, as the Vicar of Cromford said in the Parish magazine " ..he came out of the army with an internal complaint caused by exposure, for which there is no remedy". He was 39 and was buried in Cromford, leaving a widow (Millicent) and four children ( Frances Maria, George, Dorothy and Douglas Henry - who was only 14 months old when his father died.)
Original information thanks to Christopher Shelton.
SMITH, Fred, Co. QMS, Meritorious Service Medal, 2/6th Sherwood Foresters. Here is his photograph. Also in Appendix I, The Roll of Honour on Page 481 lists two men from Matlock Bath with the name Fred Smith, one living in Orchard Road and one along Temple Walk. Information received from Ken Smith now indicates this was the same man, his Uncle Fred, who lived in a house which because of its position was referred to as sometimes being in one location and sometimes in the other!
VANN, Bernard William, Lt. Col The Rev., V.C., M.C. and Bar, Croix de Guerre avec Palmes. 1/8th Sherwood Foresters attached 1/6th Sherwood Foresters. This is his correct full name. ( He is referred to on Pages 281, 357 & 361 as simply “William Vann”)
Memorials
MATLOCK BATH WAR MEMORIAL
At the last War Memorial Committee meeting held on 22nd August 1921 it was revealed that the total cost of the monument was £649. 0.0d with further expenses of £21.0.3d. 330 people had subscribed towards the cost. It was agreed that the small surplus of 4s 6d should be placed in the poor box.
SCARTHIN WAR MEMORIAL
During the War, Scarthin Nick came within the boundaries of the Matlock Bath Urban District Council. It arranged for its own War Memorial which was unveiled by ex-Pte J H Toplis, the first local man to enlist, on 5th September 1920 . Because of a printers' strike at the time which led to the loss of three issues of The High Peak News, the event never received the news coverage that it deserved.
" Courteousy of Glynn Waite"
