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 Cradley War Memorial monument with St. Peter's in the background
War Memorial Inscriptions
War Memorial Inscriptions
War Memorial Inscriptions
War Memorial Inscriptions
Plaque in the assembly hall of the Church of England Primary School Cradley
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.
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