Notes: 1 ‘Further to my phone conversation with you on 8th August 2005, about a war memorial. The name of the church is St.Wilfrid’s and it was on Blandford Street, which is just off Westmorland Road in the Elswick area of Newcastle. I have found out from the Library that the church was Anglican and built in 1900. The memorial plaque was approximately oblong in shape, and had gold lettering. My grandfather was called James Dunbar, he was a private in the first battalion, the Northumberland Fusiliers, and he lived in Blandford Street.’ (Letter from Mr. Michael James).
2. ‘My grandfather James Dunbar lost his life in that war and his name was on the plaque which was on a church wall in St Wilfred’s in Blandford Street. The church was pulled down a few years ago and we have been unable to find the whereabouts of the plaque.’ (Letter from Mrs. L.E. Head).
3. A Diocese of Newcastle Faculty No. 1845 dated 31/03/1953 states, among three other items ‘That the 1914-1918 War Memorial (stone tablet) at St. Wilfred’s Mission Church (now disused) be removed and transferred to St. Matthew’s Parish church and fixed near the south end of the west wall (interior). Costs to be covered by gifts, and partly by St. Wilfred’s Trustees’. If this happened, in 2011 it was no longer there.
4. At the unveiling of a stained glass window (See NUT232) it was stated that ‘Later, there will be placed outside the building a stone tablet on which the names of the dead will be inscribed’ at a cost of £12/10/0d. The inscription would be cut and gilded, at the rate of 10/6d per dozen letters.
5. The payment for the bill for the Memorial was delayed, and the supplier received a ‘terse’ comment from the new incoming Church secretary complaining that it was not his responsibility to pay for the outgoing parish council Memorial request. It was paid with great reluctance.
6. This Memorial was rescued in 2014 from a skip used by builders to renovate hotels in the Centre of Newcastle. A member of the public rescued this and held it in private hands temporarily. E-mails to the relevant Church authorities advising them of this War Memorial, were met with negative and indifferent responses over a period of 2 years. It is also remarked that there was another smashed plaque showing an anchor and in white with a naval connection. The Hotel in question had been using the War Memorial slab as a flower pot stand in the entrance for years!.
7. The memorial was subject to an on-going rescue plan to re-locate this and put it back on permanent display which eventually happened. The War Memorial had been missing for over 30 years.
8. The Memorial was re-located to St Matthew’s on 6th November 2018, by Newcastle upon Tyne City Council. Cost £2,768.
