North East War Memorials Project -

Roll of Honour 1914-18 Hospital

H51.26

HEXHAM

NY 936638

War Memorial Hospital, Eastgate (demolished). In the War Memorial Room, which was on the right of the main entrance to the hospital.

The hospital was closed in April 1995. The boards were sent to Hexham General Hospital for temporary storage. They were re-erected in the new hospital, which opened in July 2003, and can be seen on the wall of the passage leading to the chapel.

1914-19

Opened Thursday, 29th September, 1921 by Prince Henry, later Duke of Gloucester, ("his first official ceremony") and dedicated by the Rector, the Rev. J.V.C. Farquhar, B.A.

Roll of Honour, set into a purpose-built stone surround. Board is 290cm high x 120cm wide. At the top is an integral carved laurel wreath, above which the words "Roll of Honour" are written in an arch in black lettering with red shadowing. On either side of the wreath are the dates "1914" and "1918" each in a scroll. Names are listed in three columns, using black Roman capitals with red initials. At the bottom is another scroll bearing the words "Is it nothing to all ye who pass by" .
The board is set into a panel, flanked on either side by narrow panels bearing the names of those who subscribed to the hospital. Over all is a lintel, set into the plaster wall, which bears the dedication, incised in the plaster and painted gold. On either side of the board is a narrower board which gives names by year. These are said to be the names of either the Chairmen of the Hospital Committee or the main donors of funds to the hospital. The inscriptions are all in upper case lettering, with red initials.

Wood

On lintel:
And love lives on, and hath a power to bless / when they who loved are hidden in the grave.
On Memorial Board:
Roll of Honour / 1914 / 1918
Is it nothing to all ye who pass by

229 names, ranks and regiments.
See transcript.

Hexham War Memorial Committee

�14/13/9d for memorial boards was paid to the firm of J.A. Hedley.

Public subscription

Good

J.A. & T. Hedley, Joiners, Cabinet Makers, St.Mary�s Chare, Hexham.

1. This memorial is identical in style to that for the 1939-45 war which hangs on the adjacent right-hand wall. Facing the board is a glass case holding the Standard of the British Legion, which was superseded when the Legion became the Royal British Legion in 1971.

2. There was great debate over the location of the scrolls after the closure of the hospital in 1995. The suggestion that they be placed in the cemetery chapel of rest was branded as "appalling". It was finally agreed that place of honour be found for them in the new hospital building.

3. Although a new hospital was to be built, great debate went on regarding the old building. It was given to the town as a War Memorial Hospital, and there are those who felt that it should be returned to the town.

4. Arthur Gardner, who led the campaign to have the memorial rolls moved to somewhere suitable, died on the eve of the decision to put them in storage and to rehouse them them in the new hospital when built. In June 1995 a street in France was named �Rue Captain Arthur Gardner� in his honour.

5. The Account from J.A. & T. Hedley reads
�1921. The Hospital.
Aug22. To making the Memorial board &c. �7/10/0;
To 40 sq.ft. x � oak @ 2/6 = �5/00/0;
To 20ft x 5 x 7/8 P. 5/-. 25 ft x 1�� mould 6/3 = 11/ 3d;
Sept. 5 To getting out oak for carving 18� x 14� x 1� = 6s
Sept.26 To fitting up do. 24/6 = �1.6.6
Pd Oct 28/21 �14.13 9d.

Photos: C.N. Dallison

Supplement to the Hexham Courant, Saturday, 01/10/1921.

The Journal 10/01/1995 reports debate on new place for memorials; 11/01/1995 reports no room in the Abbey for them, and the monastic workshop was also considered; 13/01/1995 reports death of campaigner on eve of meeting to discuss future location; 27/06/1995 reports naming of street in France in honour of Arthur Gardner

Day Book, page 325, J.A. & T. Hedley, Joiners, Cabinet Makers, St.Mary�s Chare, Hexham.

Sources of quotations
�And love lives on . . .� Elegy on the death of Dr. Channing James Russell Lowell
�Is it nothing to you . . . Lamentations 1 v 12

C.N. Dallison

Alan Grint has researched the names on the Hexham memorials in his book The Faith and Fire Within, 2006, Ergo Press ISBN 0955275814 Contact:-Cogito books 01434 602555

You are looking at all the information and the best images we have so far on this memorial. If you can supply more information or better images please get in touch by sending an email to enquiries@newmp.org.uk.

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