Talk
The Lost Men of a Parish Our Lady & St Joseph’s Heroes Remembered 1914 -18
Standing proudly in the grounds of Our Lady & St Joseph’s Church, Carlisle is an 18ft White Marble Memorial bearing witness to the 75 men who fell in the Great War this was our starting point.
Little was known of those men, not a sheet of paper could be traced anywhere, some of whom are remembered without their Christian name or initials. Who were they? Where were they from? How old were they? Were they married? Where and how did they fall?
Following four years of dedicated research, the authors’ have been able to painstakingly trace the lives 73 of these lost men all of whom made the supreme sacrifice for their King and country far from home. This book has traced their parents, siblings, careers and sadly the last few days leading to their loss.
Men who came from all walks of life, three made new lives in Canada and Australia, heard the call of duty of the mother country to which they returned to don Khaki. Poignant moments when the Parish Priest announces the loss of a Parishioner to his congregation. The sad letters home, the telegrams that didn’t arrive, the lost and precious belongings that didn’t make it. A son who was only identified by his button, a father who waited for twelve months before his beloved son was traced, men who continue to share a grave. Men who still lie somewhere in foreign fields.
A printer, a farmer, a decorator, a mine owner, a future priest, a joiner, career soldier all are recorded as their young lives become know to us.
Seminarian Francis McNiff shot down over the English Chanel on his first flight; James Murray who was discharged, for ill discipline, from the navy then joined the Army using a false name; Arthur Henry was imprisoned for being underage, before being returned to Carlisle.
Many who died with their most precious possessions in their pockets.
These compelling personal stories, and how they were unravelled, are contained in over 80,000 words and over 200 illustrations and graphs and are the subject of Derek’s illustrated talk.
A ZOOM LINK FOR THIS ONLINE TALK WILL BE SENT ON THE DAY OF THE TALK.