Congregational Church Sunday School
Roll of Honour
The Tutbury War Memorials Preservation Committee is pleased to announce that a hitherto unknown memorial to those who served in the First World War has been found in Tutbury –
A fellow WWI researcher, Kay, spotted a photograph of the top half of a Roll of Honour for members of the Congregational Sunday School, Tutbury. The photograph was on an Estate Agents website as part of the information about the proposed sale of a private house in Monk Street; the house was formerly the Congregational Church Sunday School. With the help of the Estate Agents, we made contact with the owners of the property who kindly brought forward their plan to give the Roll of Honour to the Congregational Church for safe keeping and public display.
It is thought that the Roll of Honour had lain forgotten under the stage in the Sunday School and was found by the new owners when they were converting the building to a house. They subsequently had the Roll of Honour cleaned and it is now in very good condition. (click on the picture for a larger image).
It lists those former Congregational Sunday School pupils who fell in the war:
William Priestley. Killed in action, France. Xmas Day. 1914
Jack Leadbetter. Killed in France. June 1917
Tom Merrey. Killed in France. July 1916
David Bond. Died in Camp. April 1918
And those who returned home safely:
Walter Chapman George Low
Charles Crossley Richard Pye
Francis George Crossley George Henry Ratcliffe
Frederick Crossley Arthur Smith
Harry Gorton Charles Smy
Roger Woolley
Ref: 20130815 1031
William Priestley was the first soldier from the village to die, on Christmas Day 1914; nearly 150 British soldiers and sailors died on the day of the so called Christmas Truce. Tom Merrey, the station porter, was the youngest to die at 17. More information on Tutbury’s fallen in WWI can be found in the Tutbury Book of Remembrance at www.tutbury-
Note the use of the term Xmas for Christmas –
