World War heroes to be honoured at Clarendon Primary School

Collections Rationalisation Officer Ben Whittaker with one of the Rolls of Honour. This image is reproduced with the kind permission of the Bolton Evening News

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An official unveiling

They were donated to Bolton Museum 28 years ago, and are now to be put back on display at Clarendon Primary School.

A invitation to the relatives of those named

The school are keen for former pupils and relatives of those named on the Rolls to attend a planned unveiling. This will take place at the School on June 24 at 1:30pm.

The names listed on the Rolls can be viewed further down this page.

Hint: if you would like to quickly find names on this page press Ctrl and F on your keyboard and type a name in the search box.

Ring Clarendon Primary School on 01204 33 3411 for more details.

A record of personal sacrifice

The two Rolls are hand painted on card, and housed in their original oak frames.  One, a Roll of Service, lists 383 former pupils, of what was then Clarendon Street Council School who served during the First World War. The other is a Roll of Honour and lists 52 former pupils who tragically lost their lives on active service during the conflict. 

School log books and correspondence held in the Bolton Museum and Archive Service archival collections record that the Rolls were officially unveiled by the Town Mayoress at the School on December 22, 1920.  Over 500 people were present. 

Former pupil John Hamer funded the erection of the Rolls, in appreciation of the sacrifices made by his peers.  They are thought to have cost 125 guineas, nearly £2800 in today’s money.  The Rolls were painted by local artist and designer W. A. Kelsall.  Kelsall created many of the hand painted memorials that were commissioned locally in the early 1920s, and his work was much in demand. 

The Rolls were donated to the Museum in 1979, and have been cared for and preserved in the Museum’s stores.  They were last displayed in the war memorial exhibition ‘Our Brothers Died’ at the Museum in 2004.

Rolls to be returned to their original home

Staff at the museum felt that the Rolls deserved to be out on display as intended, and that they would have the most meaning and significance back in their original context.  They approached Clarendon Primary School who were delighted to take up the offer.  The Rolls will be fitted with new UV resistant glass to prevent the vivid colours from fading, and installed at Clarendon Primary School by expert technicians from Bolton Museum.  The Rolls are also great teaching resources, and Bolton Museum staff will be taking part in education sessions with some Clarendon school children, who will use the Rolls as learning tools to explore issues around local history and citizenship.

Clarendon School Roll of Service

Those who served

Placing on record the names of former pupils who served with his Majesty’s forces in the cause of right and freedom in the Great War of 1914-1919.