Bell Ringers

[elewis]

Credit here to forum member David Underdown as I spotted these links in his interests.

These two sites will enable you to find out if a soldier you are researching who fell in the Great War was a bell ringer, and if so add to the story.

This link http://www.cccbr.org.uk/rolls is to the "The Great War Memorial Book of Church Bell-Ringers who fell in the Great War 1914-1918"

It provides -

1) significant background to the book

2) pictures of the original pages -

""Following the Name of each man will be found that of the Parish or Township in which he gave most of his service as a Church Bell-Ringer previous to joining the Forces, and also that of the Society, Guild, or Association to which he more especially belonged."

3) Text version (looks like an onging project providing additional information and links)

The site also has another section on WWII

This second link http://halfmuffled.wordpress.com/ provides more information about the Surry bell ringers. Which is the wrong part of the country for me but at a quick scan looks good.

Well done to David and the others associated with theses sites in providing these resources for researchers.

Evan

[David_Underdown]

Several other ringing associations are researching their fallen and/or members who served. I'm aware of:

Essex http://eacr.org.uk/about/roll-of-honour/

Kent http://www.kcacr.org.uk/ww1page/ww1.htm (who I think were the first to start research, other than the CCCBR roll)

Sussex http://www.scacr.org/roll-of-honour

Salisbury Diocesan (Wiltshire, parts of Dorset) http://sdgr.org.uk/guild/history/ww1/

Durham and Newcastle Diocesan http://dandn.awardspace.co.uk/new/greatwar.html

North Bucks http://www.northbucksbranch.org.uk/the-branch/commemorating-ww1-bellringers/ (part of the Oxford Diocesan Guild, other branches may have stuff too, but this is the only one I'm aware of online, also have a community on Lives of the First World War)

Others at least have the basic details of their rolls of honour online:

Hereford Diocesan http://www.hdgb.org/ (currently displayed on front page, but this may change)

Peterborough Diocesan http://www.pdg.btck.co.uk/History#ANCHORWAR (listing names form the predecessor societies for Central Northants and Peterborough and District)

Winchester and Portsmouth Diocesan http://www.methods.org.uk/wparch/dbrwm.htm (at the time of the First World War this also included what's now the Guildford Diocese)

Some individual towers are also doing research

http://saxlinghambells.org.uk/?page_id=56

[Dragon]

I know little about bell ringing, but I collect early postcards of Alsace and the Vosges. Following David's interesting blog via my own Wordpress blog, I became conscious of the vast numbers of postcards depicting the re-dedication of new bells in that region in the 1920s and early 1930s. Some of the cards specifically state that action by the enemy destroyed the bells. Since then I have become aware of seeing bell towers where, tying up inscriptions with the names on the war memorial, it's clear that the new bells have been partially funded by subscription by widows and bereaved parents. A community's loss of its bells is an aspect of warfare I hadn't considered before.

Gwyn

[David_Underdown]

Historically bell metal was metallurgically a very close cousin of gun metal (in the days of smoothbore cannon at least), so there was a long tradition of bells being taken as trophies of war (the metal was quite valuable too, as it still the case today, there have been several cases of bells which had been removed from towers for maintenance being nicked by metal thieves). Of course in France and Belgium church towers often made good observation posts given the relatively flat nature of the ground, and so then became targets. Bells are surprisingly fragile if struck where they're not designed to be, and in the case of fire, hot bell metal plus cold water is not a good combination.

There are quite a large number of instances of bells as war memorials in the UK too (bells and bell towers are a specific category in UKNIWM or whatever it's now called, IWM war memorial archive I think). Sometimes specifically to ringers (some of the bels of Canterbury Cathedral were given by the Kent County Association after the war), or simply given by a local worthy.

[alanlw]

I have been in contact with two ladies whose great uncles were both bell-ringers and both died in WW1. They are commemorated in Horton Church, Staffordshire. They have been added recently to the roll at St Paul's. See http://www.cccbr.org.uk/rolls/casualties/?warID=1

[Muerrisch]

Old Grumpy is currently a ringer in South Lincs.

Not good, not bad, you understand.

[MBrockway]

I've just posted details of the Worcestershire Bellringers' Memorial Window and RoH plaques in the cloisters of Worcester Cathedral over in Pal Kitchener's Bugle's Worcester Cathedral topic ...

 

Mark