ianw Posted 17 December , 2004 Share Posted 17 December , 2004 Depressed to report the attack on this war memorial which left the statue of the Lone Soldier toppled and the name plaques stolen. Coincidentally it is close to the Huddersfield war memorial mentioned in a recent thread. The memorial was opened by Sir Ian Hamilton in 1921 and cost £1370 - the repairs will cost many times this and the statue has been sent to a specialist "rescue" stone mason for repair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marina Posted 17 December , 2004 Share Posted 17 December , 2004 (edited) Could they be selling these plaques? Is there a market for them? Marina Edited 18 December , 2004 by Matt Dixon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Hartley Posted 17 December , 2004 Share Posted 17 December , 2004 I saw, in the on-line version of the local paper, that the police did not discount the original theft (at Huddersfield) as being a "professional job" rather than the vandalism originally suggested. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIGEL Posted 17 December , 2004 Share Posted 17 December , 2004 Dont know why people would want to buy the plaques, its not the kind of thing you could re sell on ebay is it ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 17 December , 2004 Author Share Posted 17 December , 2004 I think from my reading of the article that the "plaques" I rather sloppily referred to are not imbedded death plaques but rather the larger bronze name panels containing the names of men from Birkby and Fartown near Huddersfield - although the article in the Huddersfield Examiner 10.12.04 does not make this clear. Unfortunately some local people are suggesting a political motivation to the attack - as a possible protest against British militarism, rather than a simple theft or good old "senseless" vandalism. One would hope that the £500 reward offered may lead to the arrest of the perpetrators but I suspect it won't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john w. Posted 17 December , 2004 Share Posted 17 December , 2004 Either way do they not know the significance of these memorials...? John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 18 December , 2004 Author Share Posted 18 December , 2004 The statue is apparently in bronze with a damaged stone plinth. The plaques have been cut up and attempts were made to grind off the names - so it seems that theft may have been the motive , although a swastika and references to Hitler were daubed on the stone work. What angers me in addition to the desecration is the stupidity of the act, with the potential reward being rather small in relation to the effort required. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 18 December , 2004 Share Posted 18 December , 2004 Ian, Somewhat saddened to read this thread, please keep us updated with any news on this. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIGEL Posted 18 December , 2004 Share Posted 18 December , 2004 But then again Ian, the mind of a petty theif, the kind of person who will break into a car and offer his booty for sale down the local for a fiver, or the scum that would beat an old lady senseless for .50p. Being as they think in an entirely different universe, trying to understand their motives is basically pointless, but i suppose some one in cyberspace could find a link between their actions and an event when in their mothers womb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Maier Posted 18 December , 2004 Share Posted 18 December , 2004 ... The plaques have been cut up and attempts were made to grind off the names - so it seems that theft may have been the motive ... Not sure I understand, Ian. Do you mean theft for the scrap value of the metal? And why topple the statue? Petty thieves don't usually go in for unneccesary work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 18 December , 2004 Author Share Posted 18 December , 2004 Clive - yes the bronzes with the names on were apparently cut up for sale. It is suggested that they felled the bronze statue to similarly sell it for scrap but bit off more than they could chew size wise. However, the surrounding area was also daubed with a backward swastika motif and some very ill spelt rantings (Hittler (sic) apparently ). So a bit of a confused slant on the whole thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest IanG65 Posted 18 December , 2004 Share Posted 18 December , 2004 Whilst living in England a few years ago this same thing happened.It was not an attempt of theft for any kind of gain.It was purely an act of vandalism.I was driving home from staying very late at work and actually saw the little thugs in the act.I persued them but lost them but I did recognise 3 of the 5 youngsters. Long story short the police were called all 5 were rounded up within an hour or two and were duly prosecuted.I believe they were fined 100 pounds each and got 1 years probation. The local Parish persued the parents through the courts and gained judgement against them.I believe the bill for repairs was about 40,000 they relentlessly went after the parents and collected every single penny. When asked why they did what they had done the reply was "Just for a bit of a laugh" Bet they wernt laughing when the parents had to fork out all that cash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Maier Posted 19 December , 2004 Share Posted 19 December , 2004 Clive - yes the bronzes with the names on were apparently cut up for sale. It is suggested that they felled the bronze statue to similarly sell it for scrap but bit off more than they could chew size wise. Ian, I can’t see it. The scrap value for iffy bronze at a dodgy yard might be half the true value – something like £800/tonne. So a large plaque measuring 50cm x 80cm x 2cm would fetch £56. Not worth the effort, unless I have got the sums wrong which is always a possibility. The statue might be worth it but you would not tackle if you had no idea how to transport it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Morton Posted 19 December , 2004 Share Posted 19 December , 2004 Clive You are thinking logically, the boneheads that carried out this desicration probably did'nt have half a brain cell between them. They probably toppled the statue to carry away not realising the weight, they obviosly took the plaques for scrap because they were found in a scrapyard. What price they were thinking of getting probabley never entered their heads as long as it bought a couple of snorts of their favourite drug, and around Huddersfield thats about £3. Regards Eddie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Lund Posted 19 December , 2004 Share Posted 19 December , 2004 What’s this about the plagues being found in a scrap-yard? Tony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Shaw Posted 19 December , 2004 Share Posted 19 December , 2004 Which scrap yard was it? I don't remember reading anything in the Examiner about where the bronzes were found, this could be vital evidence. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 20 December , 2004 Author Share Posted 20 December , 2004 My parents in law from Huddersfield can't recall that they were found in a scrapyard , rather that they were being "anonymised" for sale as scrap. However, this is not definitive, so if anyone knows better .. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leigh Posted 20 December , 2004 Share Posted 20 December , 2004 My pals car was broken into ages ago. the punched the lock causing £150 of damage to fix. All they pinched was the handle for his sunroof and his screen washer jets! if there is a couple of quid in it some people will do anything... L. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Lund Posted 20 December , 2004 Share Posted 20 December , 2004 The Birkby statue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 20 December , 2004 Author Share Posted 20 December , 2004 Fallen but unbowed - and he will rise gain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desmond7 Posted 21 December , 2004 Share Posted 21 December , 2004 Just plain wrong. Sad. The picture did paint a thousand words. Des Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Morton Posted 22 December , 2004 Share Posted 22 December , 2004 Hello Tony/John/Ianw I read the report about being found in a scrapyard last week in a local paper, I don't know wether it was the Examiner or the Telegraph, could even have been the Courier, but it was a local paper.I was reading it in a cafe somewhere. It stated the plaques had been found in a scrapyard and someone had tried to erase the names with a grinder. Regards Eddie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carninyj Posted 30 December , 2004 Share Posted 30 December , 2004 Re the memorial I'm appalled and saddened by the worst of what our modern, enlightened society has managed to produce. I would utterly despair were I not also aware of the unparalleled levels of giving to help the victims of the recent tsunami. Regards Carninyj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Shaw Posted 20 January , 2005 Share Posted 20 January , 2005 I have spoken to the person responsible for all the war memorials in Kirklees today, he told me that all the bits have now been recovered however some are beyond repair. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 21 January , 2005 Author Share Posted 21 January , 2005 Let's hope they can be replicated UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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