Hello

[Glen4059]

Hi,

I am a Driver Manager based at Victoria Railway Station in Manchester and am currently researching the names on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway war memorial on the station. The LYR operated across the whole of the North of England, so many regiments are represented on the memorial and so far I have identified around 90 from the Manchester Regiment (I am sure many of you will know that Privates Ingham and Longshaw are commemerated on there).

With 1465 names to research, I tend to concentrate on the less common names first, then try to narrow down the more common ones. My first priority is to use the search function to see if any of the names I am looking for have already been mentioned on the forum, (a quick search for "railway" has given me 200 results to look through!), so I may not start to ask questions for a while.

As part of the research, I frequently find details of staff from other railway companies and am also recording those details on the list of 21355 railway staff known to have fallen in WW1

Glen

[timberman]

Welcome to the forum Glen

Quite a project you've taken on.
Good luck with the research
hope we can help.

Timberman

[harribobs]

Blimey Glen I know the monument well!

best of luck!

Chris

[Glen4059]

Quite a project you've taken on.
Good luck with the research
hope we can help.

Timberman

The Memorial is just a list of names - and that would be nigh on impossible. Luckily in late 1916 the LYR produced a roll of honour, listing all the staff who had left the railway to join the colours. This lists workplace, railway occupation and regiment joined. The St. Pauls Cathederal memorial service to Railway staff in 1923 lists the 21355 railway staff and also includes grade, so comparing the 3 lists gave a excellent starting point.

Glen

[Wendi]

An exciting project Glen!  Looking forward to watching it develop

Wendi 

[tonyrod]

welcome to the forum Glen, I am sure you will get all the help you need, I wrote this little poem august 2012

manchester victoria station,
a plaque,
to the memory of the thousands who passed through this door


to the memory of the thousands who passed through this door
those brave young men of Manchester and men from afar
they went to do their duty for the likes of you and me
and thousands never got to walk through this door again

the Manchester are on the move heading for the fight
into the front trenches where they'll spend the night
at the crack of dawn the whistle blew and over they went
lots of them would never see, another dawn again

those brave young men from Manchester they gave it their all
you'll find their names written down on memorial walls
and for those of them that have a grave you have got to go and see
that's not a lot to ask, I hope you all agree

tonyrod 6 aug 2012

[mack]

hiya glen.
google this.

roll of honour wigan wallgate station.

mack

[Glen4059]

Tony,

You obviously know the station well, there is a possibility that the side gate (Which has always been "staff only") will become a public exit when the station refurb is complete. I have a meeting in the next few weeks and if we can open it to the public, I am hoping that we will open it on August 5th.

Mack,

Fully aware of that one. Had I known about it at the time it was on EBay, I would have bought it and then got it erected at Wallgate.

[mack]

hiya glen
do you know about the one at the national arboretum in staffs to the auditing staff who fell.

mack

[Glen4059]

During the Great War, 10,422 members of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway staff, representing 27% of the total staff employed, served with His Majesties Forces – of these 1465 are known to have laid down their lives.

Manchester's Victoria Station is home to 3 separate memorials to soldiers who lost their lives during the First World War. At the time of the conflict the station was the headquarters of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, with the passenger offices above the current ticket office and the goods offices in a building directly opposite the main station building on the land now occupied by Chetham's School of Music.

The largest memorial is situated to the left of the booking office, and just around the corner is a smaller memorial dedicated to the memory of 10 staff from the Chief Goods Managers office. This plaque was originally located in the Goods offices but was relocated when these buildings were demolished in the 1970's. The 10 names on this plaque are also shown on the main memorial.

The third memorial is located to the left of the booking office close to the side entrance of the station. Here there is a gate which originally led to the "Fish Dock", a freight siding where fish from Hull and Grimsby would have been unloaded. During the war this siding was used as a platform and many troop trains left from here. The plaque reads "TO THE MEMORY OF THE MANY THOUSANDS OF MEN WHO PASSED THROUGH THIS DOOR TO THE GREAT WAR 1914 – 1919 AND OF THOSE WHO DID NOT RETURN."

The main memorial consists of 7 bronze plaques, set below a tiled map of the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway network, and mounted on a marble backboard; these are flanked by relief panels at each end which depict mounted figure of Saint George slaying the dragon, and a winged Saint Michael with his foot on the neck of the fallen Satan. Either side of the relief panels are torches with the inscriptions "COURAGE, SACRIFICE, UNITY, STRENGTH". The main inscription above the name plaques reads "THIS TABLET IS ERECTED TO PERPETUATE THE MEMORY OF THE MEN OF THE LANCASHIRE AND YORKSHIRE RAILWAY WHOSE NAMES ARE RECORDED HERE AND WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR KING & COUNTRY IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1919. THEIR GLORY SHALL NOT BE BLOTTED OUT AND THEIR NAME LIVETH TO ALL GENERATIONS. ECCLESIASTICUS XLIV.

Above each panel is a crest of some of the towns and cities served by the L&Y from left to right, these are Liverpool, Bolton, Preston, Bury, Halifax, Huddersfield and Bradford. Further crests can be found above the 4 torches, these are Lancashire, Yorkshire, Manchester and Leeds.

This memorial was unveiled on February 14 1922 by Field Marshal the Earl Haig and dedicated by the Bishop of Manchester.
The memorial lists the names of 1465 members of staff of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway who did not return from the Great War. The names, ranks and military honours are listed and where duplicate names exist, the former work location or department may also be shown.
Above the memorial is a tiled map of the railways in the north of England with the lines of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway shown in red.

There are a number of other memorials to the staff of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, which replicate some of the names on this memorial.
Horwich Works Staff, Chorley New Road, Horwich. Lists  121 Staff from the works.

Goole Steam Shipping, now in Goole Museum, Carlisle St, Goole. Lists 14 members of staff who worked for GSS (12 were in merchant service on the ships of the company)

Goole Steam Shipping, Memorial lost. Listed 6 office based staff from the company.

Audit Accounts Office (Watford). Now at National Arboretum, Staffordshire. Lists 5 staff from the office.

Wigan Locomotive Depot. Now in a private collection after the depot was closed/demolished. Lists 11 staff from the depot.

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Stores Department (Oldham Road Goods Station). In the grounds of Greater Manchester Fire Service, Thompson Street, Manchester. The station and goods yard were demolished in the 1980's and the fire station and other buildings were erected in their place. The tablet is the only part original memorial with the bronze figure and other inscribed plaques lost. Lists 27 members of staff.

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, Carriage and Wagon Department, Newton Heath. Now at East Lancashire Railway, Bolton Street, Bury. (Moved following demolition of buildings) Lists 6 members of staff who lost their lives along with 27 members of staff who served and returned.

[tonyrod]

hi, GLEN, I am a BLACKPOOL man born and bred, family's from Liverpool and to be honest  I have not seen the gate or the plaque, but its on my list next time I am in Manchester,  tony

[Atherton]

Beautiful memorial and well worth a visit, I have medals to two men who are on the memorial, one in the Liverpool Pals and the other in the Manchester Pals.

[Glen4059]

Tony,

Due to the current work being carried out on the station, the side gate is currently inaccessible (I did insist on a viewing window in the hoarding though!) If you are passing through it's worth spending a few minutes, but I would not plan a special journey to view until later in the year.

Atherton,

I would be interested to know whose medals you have so I can check if I have their correct details.

Glen

[mack]

hiya glen.
is a copy of the L+Y railway roll available in hard copy,i have the one for the L+NW railway.

mack

[timberman]

Link to the Railway Museum

http://www.nrm.org.uk/RailwayStories/worldwarone.aspx


Two files on workers that died.

Railway workers who died in World War One: Excel format
   
Railway workers who died in World War One: PDF format

Victoria Railway Station in Manchester
a video on You Tube shows how big the memorial
is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxFrJqJaP5I

Timberman