War Memorial

'''They shall not grow old, as we who are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning

We will remember them. '  Dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori.''

The memorial monument is a stone cross mounted on a stepped, circular pedestal, on an octagonal base, located on sloping ground in a garden to the east of the main door of St. Peter's Parish Church. The cross overlooks Colley Lane (formerly High Street) by its junction with Butchers Lane.

The unveiling and dedication of this War Memorial and also declaring open the Band Stand in the nearby Recreation Ground were commemorated in ceremonies held on Saturday January 28th 1928, conducted by the Viscount Lord Cobham (Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire). Both memorials were committed to the care of the Halesowen Urban District Council, and were accepted by J. B. Downing, Esq. C.C. (Chairman of the U.D.C.). The War Memorial ceremony included the Last Post Reveille by Bugler Slater and the Band Stand ceremony was accompanied by a musical selection played by the Cradley X.L.C.R. Band.

The war dead of Cradley were also commemorated by the planting of 60 trees in the Avenue of Remembrance, in the New Churchyard of the Parish Church, on Saturday December 16th 1922.

Near the top of the Memorial cross is inscribed:

"REMEMBRANCE"

on one side and

"1914-1918"

on the other. Lower down the cross are inscribed the words of John 15:13 :

"GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS, THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS"

below which are four stone plaques with the Roll of Honour. Below two of these are two more plaques of names for the 1939-1945 War, both of which also include added names relating to the 1914-1918 War.

A second Memorial is a wooden plaque on a wall in the assembly hall of the Church of England Primary School nearby (Ordnance Survey reference: SO 942 850).

At the top of the plaque is inscribed:

"CRADLEY C. OF E. SCHOOL

1914 FORMER SCHOLARS WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR 1918".

Below the list of names is inscribed:

"AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN

THE MORNING WE WILL REMEMBER THEM".

Many of the persons named on the School plaque are also on the War Memorial monument and are included in both lists below.

Original spellings have been used throughout.

WAR MEMORIAL: 1914-1918

Lawson ATTWOOD

George BAGLEY

Albert Henry BARNSLEY

Arthur BILLINGHAM

Joseph BILLINGHAM

Bert Woodhouse BILLS

Caleb BILLS

Edwin BLOOMER

Joseph BOXLEY

John Thomas BRIDGEWATER

George BROOKES

Henry BROOKES

Bert BURGESS

Thomas BURGESS

Alfred James BUTTERWORTH

William BYNG

William CARRADINE

Solomon CARTWRIGHT

Horace CASE

Ernest CLARKE

James Henry CLARKE

Percy COLE

Henry COOK

George Edward CORFIELD

Frederick Clifford COOPER

Joseph CRAMPTON

Joseph DAVIES

William Alfred DAVIES

Frederick DUKES

Harry DUNN

Thomas EDEN

Alfred EDMONDS

Bert FERRABY

Benjamin FOWKES

Charles William FOWKES

William Henry FOWKES

James Ernest FOXALL

Edwin GRAZIER

Charles Dennis GREEN

Tom GREEN

Joseph HARRISON

William HAY

John HEAD

Alfred HEATH

Daniel HEATH

William HEATH

Frederick HILL

Bert HOMER

John HOMER

William HOMER

John HUGHES

Alfred JACKSON

James Sidney JONES

Walter JONES

Albert KIRTON

Joseph KIRTON

John KNOWLES

William Edwin KNOWLES

Joseph MANTLE

Harry MORTON

Albert Phillips OLIVER

Ernest PAGE

Sidney PARRY

Joseph Josiah PARSONS

Reuben PARSONS

Tidal PARSONS

William PEARSHOUSE

Joseph PLANT

Ishmael RAWLINS

Thomas RAYBOULD

Walter REECE

David REYNOLDS

Walter ROBINSON

Harry RUSSELL

Joseph Henry SAVAGE

William Henry SAVAGE

Isaac SCOTT

George SIDAWAY

Stafford SIDAWAY

William Ernest SMITH

James SOUTHALL

Joseph STANLEY

James STEVENS

Fred TATE

Harry TAYLOR

John Edward TAYLOR

John William TAYLOR

Joseph TAYLOR

Andrew Albert THOMAS

Frederick Charles TIMBRELL

Joseph TRANTER

Charles TRISTRAM

Benjamin TROMANS

George TROMANS

John Henry TROMANS

John Joseph TYLER

Benjamin UNITT

Herbert WALLACE

Herbert Percy WALLINS

Benjamin WEAVER

Harry WEAVER

John WHITE

William WHITFIELD

Alfred WILLETTS

George WILLETTS

Henry WOODHOUSE

ADDED NAMES: 1914-1918

Walter James BELCHER

Arthur BILLINGHAM

Vernon HARRIS

William HARRIS

Philip HEATH

Walter Henry HOMER

Percy LEONARD

Joseph PEARCE

George Frederick ROPER

Horace Edward ROPER

Wilfred TROMANS

WAR MEMORIAL: 1939-1945

BILLS, J.C.

BRADNEY, W.H.

BRIDGEWATER, T.

BUTLER, J.

CARPENTER, V.A.C.

CARTWRIGHT, J.

COOKE, H.

COX, S.

COX, C.

COX, D.

DAVIES, W.H.

GILLIAM, H.

GRAINGER, C.T.

GRAZIER, W.

HEATH, W.

HOARES, A.

KIRTON,S.

MILLWARD, C.

MOORE, A.

MORETON, A.F.

NORTH, H.

NEALE, T.H.

NORTH, W.

OAKLEY, B.J.

OWEN, F.

POWELL, H.

PRIEST, A.

RAYBOULD, B.

RAYBOULD, C.

REECE, T.

ROBINSON, R.

RUDGE, T.

SIDAWAY, L.

SOUTHWICK, D.

STEVENS, B.

TAYLOR, A.

TAYLOR, V.

TROMANS, J. H.

TURLEY, S.G.

WATTERS, F.E.

WEAVER, H.

WILLETTS, J.

LITTLEWOOD, J.S.J.

CRADLEY C. OF E. SCHOOL: 1914-1918

Albert Henry BARNSLEY

Bert W. BILLS

Caleb BILLS

Edward BLOOMER

John Henry BRIDGWATER

Bert BURGESS

William BYNG

Ernest CLARKE

James CLARKE

Harry DAVIS

Joseph DAVIS

Frederick DUKES

Harry DUNN

Alfred EDMONDS

Benjamin FOWKES

Edward FOWKES

C. Dennis GREEN

George GREEN

Joseph HARRISON

William HAY

John HEAD

Frederick HILL

William HILL

Bert HOMER

John HOMER

William HOMER D.C.M.

Joseph KIRTON

George JONES

Albert P. OLIVER

Thomas PALMER

Tidal PARSONS

Joseph PEARCE

William PEARSHOUSE

Ishmael RAWLINS

George REECE

Harold REECE

Walter REECE

Horace ROPER

Joseph STANLEY

James STEVENS

Frederick TATE

Andrew THOMAS

Benjamin TROMANS

John Henry TROMANS

Charles TRISTRAM

Joseph Henry TYLER

Benjamin UNITT

H. Percy WALLENS

Benjamin WEAVER

Alfred WILLETTS

Harry WOODHOUSE

John WHITE

Norman WILLIAMS

The words in the heading of this article are from For the Fallen, written on the 21st of September, 1914 by Laurence Binyon (1869-1943).

The full text is:

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,

England mourns for her dead across the sea.

Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,

Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal

Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.

There is a music in the midst of desolation

And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,

Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncountered:

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;

They sit no more at familiar tables at home;

They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;

They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,

Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,

To the innermost heart of their own land they are known

As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,

Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;

As the stars are starry in the time of our darkness,

To the end, to the end they remain.

'''The Latin quotation ‘dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori’ is from Horace, Odes, iii ii 13 and means ‘it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country’. It is also the title of a famous poem by Wilfred Owens describing the death of a young soldier by gas in the first world war.'''