Memorial

Plaques 1914-18 Cowpen and Crofton Collieries

Cowpen and Crofton

Memorial Name: Plaques 1914-18 Cowpen and Crofton Collieries (C58.01)

NEWMP Ref No.: C58.01

Parish: Cowpen and Crofton

Original Location:

Cowpen South “A” Colliery

Present Location:

Civic Centre, Blyth.

First floor corridor.

(former Cowpen and Crofton Miners’ Welfare Hall)

Which War:

1914-18

Dedication, Creation or Publication date:

Unveiled November 29th 1919 at South A Pit, Cowpen Colliery by Mrs. Forster, wife of Mr. T.E. Forster, Managing Director of the Cowpen Coal Co. Ltd.

Materials Used:

Teak from H.M.S. “Britannia”

Who Commissioned:

Cowpen and Crofton Colliery Company.

How Money was Raised:

Crofton and Cowpen Miners’ Patriotic Fund, Mr. Wm. Shaw Treasurer and Mr. W. Bell, secretary.

Sculptor, Artist or Designer:

Messrs. Hughes Bolkow & Co.

Inscription:

Upper plaque
In
memory of the men of
Cowpen and Crofton Collieries
who fell in defence of their country
+ 1914-1919 +

Lower plaque
The
Great War 1914-1919
For God, King & Empire

Their names shall live for ever.

Memorial Description:

Two plaques one above the other as follows:

Top plaque has a staggered triangular shape, 11½ inches high at its highest point x 56 inches wide (29cms x 142cms) and bears the dedication.

The lettering is hand written in Roman capitals in gold paint, with a small painted cross on stepped plinth on either side of the dates.

The lower plaque is square with glass doors with gable top, measuring 45½ inches high and 44½ inches wide (116cms x 113cms)

The dedication is in the gable part.

The central panel is divided into three by pilasters joined together to form arched tops to the panels.

The names are written in a single column in each panel, handwritten in gilded Roman capitals.

Names:

162 full names plus decorations where relevant.
See transcript.

Notes:

1. An old photograph shows the memorial to have been outside in an inset stone panel. The staggered dedication plaque echoes the shape of the original stone one which was above the sunken panel. The Morpeth Herald reports:
“The memorial is fixed on the gable of the pay office wall at the South Pit in a recess, the panel of which was carved by Messrs. Cocks, sculptors, Blyth. The gable is protected by a neat iron pallisading.”

2. The memorial includes men who had worked at Crofton and Isabella and North Pits.

3. When the Cowpen and Crofton Patriotic Fund closed in July 1919, £3,000 had been subscribed. 48 widows and 82 children were being supported by the fund.

Sources:

Photos: Jack Tait; Tony Harding; old photo: Jack Tait

Morpeth Herald
05/12/1919 reports unveiling.

Newcastle Weekly Chronicle
01/11/1919 reports proposed unveiling on 29/11/1919;
06/12/1919 reports unveiling.

Source of quotation:
“Their names shall live for ever” presumably based on “Their name liveth for evermore”, from Ecclesiasticus 44

Sources Link: Morpeth Herald 12 05 Fri -1919 01
Sources Link: Morpeth Herald 12 05 Fri -1919 02
Sources Link: Morpeth Herald 12 05 Fri -1919 03

Additional Research Documents

Research Acknowledgements:

Jack Tait, Blyth Local History Society;
Tony Harding;
Dorothy Hall

Research In Progress:

If you are researching this memorial please contact 2014@newmp.org.uk

Provide Details

If you know more about this memorial, please send the details to NEWMP.

Names Documents:

COWPEN, Civic Centre.

 

  In

  Memory of the men of

  Cowpen and Crofton Collieries

  who fell in defence of their country

  1914-1919

  The

  Great War, 1914-1919

  For God, King and Empire

 

  The Heroic Dead               The Heroic Dead            The Heroic Dead

 

  Armstrong, Samuel             Forster, Thomas            Summers, John C.

  Adamson, Matthew              Elliott, James             Preston, George

  Aitchison, Walter             Evans, Hugh Evan           Pringle, Thomas R.

  Allen, Peter                  Fenwick Andrew (D.C.M.)    Pollitt, William

  Allen, John Henry             Ferry, Thomas              Phillipson, Micheal (sic)

  Allen, Alex                   Fogarty, Edgar             Purvis, William

  Allen, R.C.                   Forster, Geo. Wm.          Reid, John.

  Allen, Francis James          Foster, James              Rhodes, Richard D.

  Allen, George Edward          Gibson, John Wm.           Robson, Ralph

  Anderson, Marshall D.         Gibson, George             Robinson, Thomas

  Armstrong. Matthew            Gregory, Cuthbert          Robinson, Wm. Norris

  Atkinson, Alex.               Gregory, Lancelot          Robinson, George

  Bradley, John                 Grey, William              Robinson, Richard

  Batey, Walter                 Graham, William            Robson, Joseph

  Bell, Matthew                 Hamilton, Andrew           Richardson, James Redford

  Bell, William                 Hall, Harold               Rutherford, James

  Bennett, George               Hertwick, Walter B.J.      Sanderson, George

  Blythe, John (M.M.)           Hertwick John Fred. (M.M.) Shevlin, Anthony

  Brown, Thompson               Hedley, William            Smith, James

  Burgess, Wm. Carr             Henderson, James           Shaw, William T.

  Butters, Andrew (M.M.)        Henderson R.C. (M.M.)      Southern, John H.

  Charlton, A. (M.M.)           Hope, Robert               Stevens, George H.

  Catchpole, John Thomas        Howes, Arthur              Stevens, George (DCM, MM & Bar)

  Campbell, James               Hudson, Nichol             Sharples, Allan

  Carr, George                  Irving, John               Stephenson, John S.

  Charlton, Henry               Jacobs, William            Storey, Alex. Bruce

  Charlton, Robert              Jackson, W.H.              Taylor, John

  Charlton, George              Johnson, Matthew           Taylor, Edward

  Coleman, James West           Kelly, J.W.                Thompson, Edward

  Coleman, Ralph                Keeler, Cloudley           Turnbull, Thomas

  Cooney, Herbert               Kennedy, Albert            Turnbull, Richard

  Coyne, James                  Lambert, Frank             Turnbull, Joseph

  Courtney, Patrick             Laing, Peter               Turnbull, Henry

  Crawford, George              Liddle, William            Turner, William

  Cruickshanks, George          Lilley, Thomas(M.M.)       Traynor, John James

  Clark, William (D.C.M.)       Loud, Bowline              Tweddle, William

  Daniels, Frederick            Lyons, John Robert         Wake, Matthew

  Davidson, George              Matthewson, Wm.            Watson, George

  Dixon, Thomas                 Miller, John Greener       Watson, Archibald

  Dixon, John                   Mordue, Thomas             Watson, John

  Dixon, John Wm.               Moody, Thomas              Watson, George Henry

  Dodds, Edward                 Moffatt, Albert            Wear, Robert David (M.M.)

  Donkin, Henry                 Nelson, James              Wigham, James

  Dugdale, Matthew              Nicholson, John            Wigham, William

  Dutton, Chas. Reuben Anderson Old, J.W.                  Winship, William

  Doran, John                   Ormiston, G.W.             Wilson, Arthur

  Eadington, John Wm. Clark     Patterson, Robert          Wilson, Alexander

  Easton, Alfred                Patterson, George Finlay   Wilson, Fredk. John Bell

  Elgey, Robert                 Patterson, Thomas J.       Wilkinson, John

  Ellison, James                Parker, George Henry       Wilkinson, Thomas

  Ellison, William              Preston, Thomas            Young, John

  Blythe, John                  Summerbell, George E.      White, Ronald

  Chesterton, Thomas            Mills, Robert              Johnston, John

  Hardy, John                   Hope, Leslie               Simm, William

 

  THEIR NAMES SHALL LIVE FOR EVER

NamesC58.01

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