Roll of Honour

[munchkin]

Hello Everyone,

I am trying to find the obituary of my great grandfather in the local library collection of neswpapers. My question is that obviously there are hundreds of pages of newspapers to look through one at at time. I know he died on 11/10/1918, but does anyone know how long it could have been before his death was printed in the local newspaper. Also where would i look to find out if his name is on a monument or church roll of honour etc.

Thanks everyone

Glynn.

[HERITAGE PLUS]

Glynn

The Regimental Chapel of the Dukes is in York Minster. I don't know what memorials it contains - possubly a Roll of Honour Book?

[Greenwoodman]

Hello Glyn

Its quite difficult to say exactly when your great grandfather's obituary would have appeared - the only certain way to find it is to start on his date of death and work through until at least the end of 1918.

Experience dictates that it may well appear more than once, as relatives first get the "telegram", then the letter from his C.O., then perhaps letters from friends, or his sergeant, and each event has sometimes been reported.

Then the local paper may be a daily, bi-weekly, weekly - and each paper will have its own method of doing things - perhaps brief details in the papers during the week, with a feature type round-up on the Friday or Saturday. Its likely to be at least a week before his name appears, but researching from his date of death, or just before, will get you into the swing of how the local paper does things, for instance, obits may appear on the same page every time, allowing you to scan the other pages just briefly, before reading the obits more thoroughly. Don't forget to check the In Memoriams on the anniversary of his death every year until they stop appearing!

As regards memorials and Rolls of Honour, first port of call would be to search the net thoroughly - there are a large number of resources such as John Hartley'sCheadle & Gatley now appearing on the web. They may be as comprehensive as John's (who is a forum member), or they may just list names. If you're lucky, someone will have done some research in your area!

There have been a number of books written with the same object in view - Ray Westlake usually keeps a good number of these in stock. Again you may be lucky.

And thirdly, there is the National Inventory of War Memorials at the Imperial War Museum. They have details of war memorials from all over the country - but the names are not always recorded with them. But they should be able to assist you with what memorials are in the area (but even they are not fully comprehensive!!

This link should have contact details:-

NIWM

And finally, its back to the shoe leather - visit the area, check out the war memorials and the churches, contact the local British Legion, try and find out where other war memorials/rolls of honour are hidden away - schools, public buildings, non-Conformist and RC churches, places of work, drill halls, etc, etc.

Good luck!

[John_Hartley]

Glynn

Seeing as Greenwoodman has given my site a plug, I thought I better chip in. Not much to add, as Richard has given you a comprehensive answer. Best paper to look in will be the local weekly one - assuming there is one - rather than a regional evening one (although don't neglect that). I see from Soldiers Died that he was born and enlisted in Sheffield. Did he also live there? If not you may need to be looking in two places.I would actually look for a good 3 months (so probably until end of January 1919). Towards the end of the war, there was some desperate fast moving fighting and it is possible that your great grandfather's body was not immediately accounted for.

Finally, be prepared to be disappointed. There may be many reasons why someone didnt appear in the paper. Grief, a reluctance to talk to the "officialdom" of a newpaper, the reluctance to accept that a loved one was dead. I don't know why my own greatuncle's obituary didnt appear in the paper, but it didnt. You can still put together the story (read my recent article at Tom Morgan's Hellfire Corner site).

Good hunting

John

[munchkin]

Thanks to all of you guys, your help has been invaluable.

Glynn.