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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

War Memorial For Sale


neiluwins

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Martin,

Tremendous work. If the memorial now disappears for ever at least it is well recorded. Can I just point out one minor error in that the plaque is not made from brass.

Doug

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Great Work Martin. At least a virtual image of it is in the public domain - I wonder if the eventual buyer of this object will appreciate this?

As regards, a public place for the plaque, I would think a local school or pub would be best.

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Well done that man!!

i'm so glad there are men like you around who take their valuable time

and bring these warriors ' back ' to us!

Keep up this fascinating work!

thank you Martin,

Ivan.

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Martin

Straightened the picture out a bit. If you want a copy same res as your original, pm me with your e-mail

john

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Hi

In America we have a TV Channel called PBS, it's sort of like BBC 2. It aires half-hour re-runs of BBC's Antiques Roadshow. In a show from Stroud, a man brings in a really nice wooden 1914-18 Memorial.

The appraiser says that "This item has no monetery value, and as such belongs to the Nation." and then he tells the guy it should be on public display so it can be viewed by the public.

Lets hope that something can be worked out in this case.

Paul S

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Have just had this:

"WADHAM HOUSE WAR MEMORIAL

Thank you very much for your email of 22nd August informing us of the above war memorial for sale on the ebay auction site. As you are probably aware, War Memorials Trust believes that all types of war memorials should be kept accessible to the public for commemoration. We firmly believe that war memorials should not be sold, as this will likely lead to their removal from public display and will undermine our work for the protection of war memorials as part of our shared cultural heritage. Furthermore, the sale of war memorials encourages the creation of a market which has resulted in many memorials being removed from public display and even stolen for commercial gain.

As a result of your information, our President, Winston S Churchill, has written to ebay to explain how inappropriate it is to sell war memorials, to ask that such items are removed from sale on their site, and to offer our help in relocated war memorials to a suitable public place as an alternative to selling these items online.

Thank you once again for letting us know about the sale of this memorial.

Yours sincerely,

Miss Nancy Treves

Administrator"

Kath.

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Should a systm be in place such as applies to metel detectors?

A reward for reporting finds?

Kath.

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Should a systm be in place such as applies to metel detectors?

A reward for reporting finds?

Kath.

the problem with metal detectors Kath, is licensing and treasure trove, you then have to wait untill the authorities can decide whether it is to be declared treasure trove or property of the King/Queen.

either way who would pay the reward, as councils are allways telling us they have no money, hence the continual rise in community charges!!

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As a result of your information, our President, Winston S Churchill, has written to ebay....

So we can expect his letter to come up for auction shortly ..... :D

The paradox here, of course, is that if the Wadham House memorial had not been offered for sale on eBay, none of us would ever have known about it and Martin would not have been able to 'log it' for posterity.

Mick

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  • 2 years later...
Eventually sold for £450 to a Lancashire Great War collector, I think. I am sure he will look after it.

Hi Ian,

Just found out about this. I live on Arthog road, couple of doors away from where Wadham School used to stand. The students had their dormitories in our house.

I feel it would be a more fitting tribute for the plaque to be mounted outside where the school building used to be. Do you know who the Buyer was? Or who the seller was? (or their EBay IDs) as I'd like to make contact and see if they willing to do the decent thing if we can get approval for mounting the plaque on the road.

Thanks

Mickey

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I feel it would be a more fitting tribute for the plaque to be mounted outside where the school building used to be.

As you'll have seen up-thread I contacted the local civic society. They weren't ar&ed enough to even respond to my email, let alone do anything about acquiring the memorial. At least it is still in the safe custody of a collector, as it had been for some years with the previosu owners.

John

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As you'll have seen up-thread I contacted the local civic society. They weren't ar&ed enough to even respond to my email, let alone do anything about acquiring the memorial. At least it is still in the safe custody of a collector, as it had been for some years with the previosu owners.

John

Hi John,

Thanks. I mentioned this to a neighbour, whose wife is in the civic society, and he said he'd be keen to know how I get on, so he didn't seem to know anything about it. Perhaps the email didn't reach them. I will ask her too.

Its a real shame though, had I known earlier, it would have been nice to put it outside the location of the school. I think I feel a bit close to it because the boys would have lived in our house because of their dorms being here, hence my wanting to do something. Its kind of odd, but when you live in a place you somehow feel some affinity for those who stayed there earlier.

Cheers, Mickey

Sorry, Mickey, I did not keep a note of the Ebay buyers ID

Thanks Ian, it was worth a try. Have contacted Ebay but they're not proving that helpful.

Mickey

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It would be nice if it ended up where it belonged, but that's the question, where does it belong? I know the current high bidder well, he splits medal groups.

Hi Alan,

You'll see from my post that an ideal place would have been on Arthog rd outside where the school building stood. (2 doors from us).

Did your current high bidder get it in the end? If so, would you mind getting in touch with him and seeing if he would be willing to sell it if we can find a public spot for it ?

Thanks, Mickey

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And now it seems that it has been removed from ebay.

Cheers Andy.

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My understanding is that ebay only keep items on their site for a fixed period of time after the conclusion of a sale, before deleting them to free up storage space. There is nothing sinister in that practice at least.

Keith

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At least there is one in private hands which will not be for sale (see link in my signature below)

My only question is..........

If you own a memorial, What do you do with it when you die?

Son doesn't want it, although says he would keep it due to family history but it wouldn't be on display.

There are already two memorials in the town (civic & church) with the same names on them so display in a local public building can also be ruled out.

It's a question I can't answer (yet)

Andy

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Yes, just to clarify, this memorial was sold in August 2006 to what appeared to be a collector of Lancashire Great War memorabilia. So I think it is "safe" but I agree that the question of the custodianship of these memorials is a grey area. As suggested at the time banning their sale on Ebay could just result in more being melted down for scrap.

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War memorials come in many shapes and forms, and I should have thought that it would be extremely difficult to frame a watertight definition to underly a ban on their sale via auction sites. Some memorials are objects that have no inscription, and some are simply rolls of honour with no accompanying 'furniture'. Items originally installed or endowed in memory of the Fallen may be placed on an auction site by people who have come by them in a variety of ways and have no particular interest in their significance, but I doubt whether many of them are bought by people who have no interest in their significance. Is it not better, therefore, that such items should continue to be advertised on auction sites, thus bringing often obscure and little-known memorials to public attention? One would hope that even a private collector who do not intend to put their acquisition on public display would allow a memorial item to be photographed and recorded, and once it is in 'safe hands' there is always a prospect that the keeper might one day be persuaded to sell/donate/bequeath it.

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  • 5 years later...

I thought folk might like an update.

A friend tells me the memorial was originally sold to a chap in the Isle of Man. His circumstances changed and he recently offered the memorial for sale to someone in the Trafford area. So, it's now back home and in safe hands.

I understand that there's a possible permanent "on show" location being discussed in the borough but these talks havnt yet come to fruition.

John

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Some easy ones

Name: BARONIAN, HARON

Initials: H

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Private

Regiment/Service: Cheshire Regiment

Unit Text: 8th Bn.

Age: 21

Date of Death: 11/04/1917

Service No: 33006

Additional information: Son of Zarch and Shushan Baronian, of Brae Cottage, Legh Rd., Knutsford, Cheshire. Cadet of Manchester University O.T.C.

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 14 and 62.

Memorial: BASRA MEMORIAL

John, were you aware that the War Memorial statue outside the Cottage Hospital in Knutsford is the figure of Haron Baronian, and that there is a proposal that it should be moved from the War Memorial Cottage Hospital to outside the Library?

Knutsford Town Council

I sent my comments to the consultation a while ago.

I can't say how far the information about Haron on the webpage is accurate. I have a few concerns about the eventual outcome because of the utterly atrocious Great War exhibition which was blutacked into two empty shop windows for November 11th last year.

Gwyn

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I didnt know that, Gwyn. Thanks for the link.

I'm not averse to moving war memorials if there's good reason. In Stockport, two have been moved. The Long Lane (Heald Green) one was moved in the 80s because of traffic issues. Similarly, the one in Gatley wasnt so moved as duplicated - the original clock tower remains but the plaque was relocated to the village "Green" after WW2, when a new memorial for that conflict was erected. That was also due to modern traffic issues. As you'll know the Manchester cenotaph has also been relocated - although that to make way for the Metro.

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Hi John

I'm not averse to moving memorials either. I think the cenotaph in Manchester looks far more dignified in its new setting and is much more tranquil in a busy square. So I actually said something to the effect that I thought that moving the Baronian statue could work well. My reservations are if you have to access it through that ludicrously silly new gateway with bunting, which would create a jarring effect when combined with the concept of reflection on a serious subject, and if it's near that fatuous sculpture-thing overlooking the traffic lights.

The centenary window display which was permitted for November 11th was so amateur, atrocious, uninformed and lazy that comment in social media was unequivocally horrified (if you didn't see the thing I'll email it to you), so I'm not at all convinced that those who have appointed themselves in charge of commemoration can be trusted to get it right. And before anyone says, well, if you can do it better..., I tried, very seriously and had discussions but my ideas to open the centenary to a wider audience (with generous advice from a friend who is a professional) were unwelcome.

Anyway, now you know what Haron Baronian looked like! It's a nice piece of its era and deserves to be more widely seen.

Gwyn

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