War Memorial

[eskimo]

Hi Pals,

Find myself with a bit of a problem. For the last 6 months or so I have been researching the men on my local war memorial, main reason I did this is because no one else on the web was doing it and I thought they deserved more than just a name on a plague, but low and behold my local parish booklet for October says it is starting a local history club and one of the topics is.... You've guessed it....... a talk by a local historian on the names on the war memorial, also saying he is a bit of an expert on WW1.

Have I trod on his toes?

Do I go to the lecture and introduce myself?

Do I find out his phone number and introduce myself beforehand?

Do I take notes if I do go.(there are a few names I am struggling with).

I know there is no reason why we both cannot do it but I feel a bit uncomfortable.

Any ideas which way I should go?

Regards eskimo

[Chris_Baker]

eskimo - who is giving the talk? As you are fairly local to me (Leamington), I might know him.

[eskimo]

Hi Chris,

Bob Marshall.

eskimo

[Chris_Baker]

Never heard of him!

[auchonvillerssomme]

I know the feeling...our 'local expert' wrote a book on the men named on the local war memorial, it was well publicised, and i was a bit disapointed because i was in the process of writing my own...so i stopped and eventually purchased a copy..all he had done was cut and paste SDGW and CWGC information, no other research at all. what is worse is the fact that several of the details relate to the wrong men.

I have only just calmed down ( after 3 years ) to revisit my work.

Mick

[eskimo]

Chris,

Here is the advert. Perhaps he's a big fish in a small pond!

BIDFORD AND DISTRICT HISTORY SOCIETY

Friday 27 October 2006 at 7.30pm

in the Church Hall, Church Street, Bidford-on-Avon.

'We shall remember them - the people behind the names on the Bidford War Memorial, 1914-1918'.

Speaker: Bob Marshall (Bidford resident known to many for his extensive research on the First World War)

Wine and soft drinks will be available at the end of the meeting.

eskimo.

[Chris_Baker]

Go and ask him a difficult question!

[auchonvillerssomme]

Will be worth the visit if only for the wine!

[eskimo]

No such thing as a free lunch £2.50p to get in!

Good idea Chris time to delve into the books.

eskimo

[John_Hartley]

Go and check out the extent of his research.

It may be damn good - and he's about to publish a book. In which case, find something new to do with your time.

Alternatively, it may not be damn good. In which, carry on with your project.

I have not yet fallen foul of the authors of the two books about a couple of Stockport war memorials (although there's plenty of time). Both are good but have flaws, IMO. The first was written about 10 years back and the development of the internet allows me to add quite a bit of new stuff to the men's stories. The other is more recent and concentrates veru much on the "what happened the day they died" - allowing me to add family/personal stuff about the men.

John

[eskimo]

John.

Good advise thanks, know your enemy so to speak, and keep your powder dry.

Dennis

[Terry_Reeves]

Give him a ring and tell him of your interest. You may be able to compare notes which will be of benefit to you both.

Terry Reeves

[Steve Newman]

Hi Eskimo,

In my humble opinion there is no monopoly on history, so you really shouldn't feel in anyway 'that he was there first'. If he is as interested as his billing states, a) he will see some of the posts here, or he will be delighted to hear of your interest. If its neither of the two then I would wonder why he advertises his interest and then wants to keep a monopoly on it?

I to am working on my local memorial. I have written around 90% of the book which will be out around the end of the year. All the monies raised are going to help restore our local memorial which really hasn't stood the test of time to well. There is a long time resident here who has done much to remember many of the men on the memorial and was planning a book when I first contacted him. The initial response was hugely defensive in that 'I was nicking his info?') but the longer time has gone the more time he has had to see that I am serious baout doing it and for the right reasons. We now are planning a meet to go through each of the men and see how we can collaborate and I welcome his input that has a long time resident he has had direct from people that I now have no longer any opportunity to speak to.

I personally wouldn't try to catch him out with info, its not a competition or quiz. If he doesn't know his subject as well as you would hope for someone giving a talk, you will realise it in minutes and can then decide how you want to either involve or not him further?

You may be surprised that you find someone on the same wavelength who welcomes your input and can help fill in some gaps for you and vice versa. Alternatively, it could be a complete waste of time with someone who knows less than you have forgotten!! Either way definitely go, don't be intimidated and report back here after the event!!

Cheers

Steve

I have no idea why the smiley appeared!!

[Clive Maier]

War memorials are public property. That is the very essence of them, so those of us who are ‘doing’ one have to resist the proprietorial urge. I have been working on ‘mine’ for a long time and making slow progress because I don’t live on the spot any more. Recently I became aware that someone else was working on the same memorial, and with the advantage of living in the town. We met the other day to compare notes. She is minded to write a book. I have always envisaged a website. She is better at face-to-face interviews. I am better at desk research. We both knew things the other did not know.

Now I will give her my material for the book; she will give me her material for the website. Material from each medium will be re-used in the other. Together we realised that we could research for ever in the quest for perfection and that the point comes when it is better to publish, then add more later.

It is no longer ‘my’ memorial but ‘ours’ and I think the cooperation will work out very well.

[Guest geoff501]

Hello Eskimo,

Wonder if he is a member of this forum - not posted yet!

There is always a danger that someone somewhere is repeating one's own work - must get my stuff published quick! I visited Bidford burial ground a few months back (don't worry, I'm not treading on toes!!! just paying my respects and looking for a RAMC photo for Chris Harley). I found it hard to locate some of the graves but there was a fellow there who gave me a guided tour of the cemetery. (you may know him his parents and wife are buried to the left of the entrance, furthest away from the river?, think parents died when he was young and he is an ex Guardsman) Had known the ground since he was in the choir as a boy and seemed to know something about most of the occupants. I mentioned that there was a local fellow researching the memorial, but I did not know who he was, he did not know about this but did mention a lecture later in the year - thought it may be by you at the time, but obviously not. You may learn things from each other so go and meet him is my advice. There are many more memorials than researchers, I'm surprised how many get little attention so there will always be work to do. Presume like most this is something you cannot give up and there are only so many names on a village memorial so its not the end of the world if things don't work too well. Good luck!

Geoff

[Liam]

Hi Eskimo,

Surely the aim of both of you is the same ie to tell the story of the men on the memorial and ensure that they are not forgotten.

I say go with an open mind and drink as much wine as you can to get your £2.50's worth!

Enjoy the evening

Liam

[Desmond7]

Get together - offer knowledge - pool resources.

It works.

[eskimo]

Hi Pals,

Thank you all for your kind answers, I know some of the answers were tongue in cheek mine included.

I think the thing to remember is we are all like minded and care for the men we research and want them to be remembered for their sacrifice. I am sure when I meet Bob he will be as pleased someone cares in the village as much as he does, and we will have a lot to talk about.

Ironically if the person I have found in the phone book is him he only lives 100 metres away, 4 doors from my daughters house. In the old days we would have probably struck up a conversation on our way to catch a bus somewhere, nowadays it's out the back door into the car A to B back out the car and in the house, friendly with near neighbours only! or do I live a sheltered live... A topic for another day I think...

Anyway I will keep you posted.

eskimo.

[shaymen]

Eskimo

I can understand your concerns.

I always had a worry that someone might be doing similar research on my local memorial as I plan to publish a book next year. I met a guy who had done a bit of research many years ago and he was more than happy to give me all he had and there were one or two things I hadn't got. Not come across anyone else and I recently gave a talk to my local history society and the feedback was excellent - so I think I am alone in my extensive research.

If I had come across someone planning to do the same as myself (book) then I had already got a plan 'B' which was to do a Website instead.

Good luck - go and find out how extensive his research has been.

Glyn

[Bernard_Lewis]

If he's well advanced, seems a good standard of research and looking to publish you may be - sadly - wasting your time.

If he's not well advanced or his stuff seems poor, unresearched or he's planning to complete it in 2026 its a topic that is up for grabs - first come first served.

My teacher on the local history course told us: when researching a topic always have a plan to publish sometime; preferably before you die. Good advice I think...

Bernard

[Uplandsboy49]

Hello lads, I am a new boy on this site and this only my second posting.I wondered when you are writing about namres on memorials to bring them back to life so to speak,what sort of detail do you research?

Is it purely military or do you include pre-service life too?

I have found a lot of missing data about my single hero and the C.W.G.C. have put these right for me after providing good proof of this. I have just obtained a 1989 reprint of the 1921 "Soldiers Died In The Great War 1914-1919 of his Regiment and have found his service number correct Name OK but he has been confused and merged with a similar named soldier from the same regiment but buried in France not Germany as my man this gives him the wrong place of birth and enlistment place. Would this reference book be the source of the CD set I see about in Archive centres and on sale for around £250? I hate to think what other errors occurred in 1921.If these were simply copied over without checking some of your research could be compromised if you use the data on these disks.

[Willywombat]

Wecome to the forum!

You're right that there are errors that sometimes need correcting - a trawl through the posts here will reveal a large number of them encountered by forum members. Sorting these out is, however, one of the fascinating (if frustrating!) sides to the research.

As to not taking these sources at face value, you're quite correct. How deep an individual wishes to research is entirely up to them. As has been mentioned here, some people are satisfied with simply the "Soldiers Died" and CWGC information. Others delve deeper by looking at local newspaper reports and the various records in the National Archives and other document repositories. These can include service records (where they still exist) and war diaries completed by the units. The deeper you go, of course, the more likely you are to uncover any errors. Although WW1 was a long time ago, some researchers even manage to contact relatives and discover not only the family history, but often some useful military-related material such as letters etc.

My own research into my school memorial has been going on for the last fifteen years (on and off), although I'm one of those rather mad types who doesn't know where to stop. The thing is, never to give up - usually the information is there somewhere. As an example (WW2, but never mind!) I couldn't for the life of me find out what had happened to a paratrooper who is buried in the UK. Only two days ago I discovered the story; a parachuting accident during training.

To link this to the subject of this thread, I would also add that pooling resources is nothing to be ashamed of, and two heads are very often better than one in solving problems - hence the existance of the forum! I've now linked up with the history teacher at the school and his work on the school lives of the men on the memorial has added greatly to the overall picture. When (if) I do publish, it doesn't worry me two hoots that the credit will be shared. As someone once said, "It's amazing what can be achieved if you don't mind who gets the credit"!

The parent site of this forum (The Long, Long Trail) has a lot of very useful information regarding this type of research and is an excellent place to start. A word of warning - I was told fifteen years ago that I'd get bitten by the research bug and it was true. The same thing will happen to you if you're not careful!