Halsall War Memorial
Halsall War Memorial is a Grade II Listed monument.
The War Memorial was created in 1920 from an ancient stone base with a new pillar and cross as documented in
‘Halsall – The Village Built on a Rock’, John Cotterall.
The Memorial has 3 stone tablets;
First World War
Second World War
Additional WW1 names added in 2010.
First World War
It is difficult to find Census records for the servicemen killed in WWI. Many young men were killed in WWI and anyone under the age of 20 is likely to only have one Census record which may not be in the parish.
The Commonwealth Graves records for WWI rarely have a dedication from the family e.g “son of Mr & Mrs…of Halsall”. Family dedications are more frequent for WW2 records.
There can be several possible candidates for a “Private John Smith” so without a family dedication it is difficult to assign a death to a specific family.
Richard Houghton (see below) when researching the “‘Missing men” verified all the original details of the WW1 dead.
David Oswald , son of Mr D Oswald, a farm bailiff for Mr C Blundell was killed in France ( reported in Ormskirk Advertiser in 1916).
The Oswald family lived at Glebe Farm
David Bretherton is a mystery. There is no record of David Bretherton of Halsall enlisting with the Kings Liverpool Regiment. There were six Brethertons enlisted, 4 from Liverpool, 1 from Southport and the 6th was a Sergeant. So it is not possible to identify which of these family trees ( 1 of 5 or 6 possibilities) was closely linked to Halsall at the time.
Robert Townsend was also known as Edward Townsend, son of James and Margaret Townsend of Haskayne.
Charles Charles was also known as George Charles. Son of John & Mary Charles of Round Lodge, Southport New Road, Scarisrick, Buried in St Cuthbert’s Church.
Richard Collins Gibbons was also known as Richard Colin Gibbons and other variations. In 1901 his father Peter and grandfather Richard Gibbons were boatmen at Summerwood Lane. In 1911 Richard was a farm labourer on James Pilkington’s Watson House Farm.
Charles Mather was baptised Alfred Lushington Mather. He enlisted using his mother’s maiden name. He was the son of Edward Lushington, a former Vicar of Halsall, and Rose Eleanor Mather.
He has a gravestone in St Cuthbert’s churchyard and a plaque in the bell tower commemorating the recasting of the bells in Easter 1933 in his honour.
Private Chris Longton, second son of Mr John Longton of Bridge Farm, Halsall was killed on 13th August 1916 in France. He was 21 years old and attached to the King’s Liverpool Regiment.
John J Knowles connections to Halsall are unknown. The most likely person with this name was born and buried in Leigh, possibly there is an error in the name or regiment.
Peter Sharrock was killed in 1918. He had a brother Ernest who was wounded in WW1 and then enlisted again for WW2 and is listed on the WW2 dedication.
A 3rd brother Giles Sharrock was the Licensee of the King’s Arms in Haskayne and there is an Ormskirk Advertiser story from 1916 about him applying for a medical exemption. He later became the postmaster at Haskayne post office according to 1939 Register.
Second World War
Two interesting stories from the 10 Halsall residents on the WW2 commemoration.
Dorothy Shaw nee Lissimore was a Section Officer in the Women’s Auxillary Air Force. She married John Thomas Shaw in 1939 who was the son of Thomas Shaw, the Stationmaster at Shirdley Hill.
Sergeant Thomas Spencer, son of Robert and Mary Spencer of Halsall was only 19 years old when he was killed in Dieppe region of France while serving in Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve.
| First Name | Surname | Birth | Death | Link to Family Tree | 1921 | 1939 | CWG | D-Day Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wilfred | Brookes | 1914 | 1942 | GKH2-XQG | Sergeant Wilfred Brookes | 1069578 | ||
| Thomas | Fletcher | 1914 | 1944 | GKHF-LYG | Corporal Thomas John Fletcher | 3769250 | ||
| Richard | Gibbons | 1920 | 1943 | GKHF-J59 | * | * | Rifleman Richard Gibbons | 3533020 |
| John | Halsall | 1916 | 1943 | GKHW-3BR | * | Driver John Halsall | 2010621 | |
| Joseph | Hesketh | 1925 | 1944 | GX2D-17M | Private Joseph Kershaw Hesketh | 14408534 | ||
| Thomas | Jenkinson | 1925 | 1944 | GKHC-XQH | * | Private Thomas Jenkinson | 14429835 | |
| Alfred | Mather | 1919 | 1942 | GKH8-CTG | Lieutenant Alfred Leigh Mather | 117351 | ||
| Ernest | Sharrock | 1896 | 1942 | GDLX-PX3 | * | Private Ernest Sharrock | 7598225 | |
| Dorothy | Shaw | 1919 | 1945 | GKHD-6WF | Section Officer Dorothy Shaw | 5994 | ||
| Thomas | Spencer | 1925 | 1944 | G5HT-R7N | Sergeant Thomas Spencer | 2209623 |
Additional WW1 Names Added in 2010
In 2000 local historian, Roger Houghton, presented Halsall Parish Council with information on 11 Halsall residents whose names were not included on the original WW1 tablet.
These individuals were born, lived in, or were buried in Halsall.
It is believed that in 1920 a decision was made not to include any names that had already been put forward by other parishes for their monuments. Any Halsall residents with connections to other parishes like Scarisbrick or residents who had moved out of the parish before WW1 were therefore not included on the Halsall monument.
These omissions were corrected in 2010 after consultation with the War Memorial Trust regarding duplicate dedications and the receipt of a grant towards the cost of a new stone tablet.
| First Name | Surname | Birth | Death | Link to Family Tree | 1891 | 1901 | 1911 | CWG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John | Culshaw | 1881 | 1915 | KJG9-MWB | * | * | * | Private John Culshaw |
| William | German | 1897 | 1917 | GV1Y-1MR | * | * | Private William German | |
| William | Hesketh | 1889 | 1918 | G3M4-YNZ | * | * | * | Private William Hesketh |
| John | Hyland | 1884 | 1918 | GV11-QHS | * | Driver John Hyland | ||
| Albert | Keating | 1899 | 1918 | GN8B-1NB | * | * | Private Albert Keating | |
| Thomas | Knowles | 1889 | 1917 | KJ2J-C8Z | * | * | * | Private Thomas Knowles |
| Joseph | Prescott | 1897 | 1918 | GDVD-TX2 | * | * | Private Joseph James Prescott | |
| Charles | Prescott | 1898 | 1917 | GDVD-R1W | * | Private Charles Stanley Prescott | ||
| James | Threfall | 1897 | 1918 | GJQW-JD5 | * | * | Labour Corp | |
| Thomas | Todd | 1891 | 1917 | GKMC-7WC | * | Private Thomas Todd | ||
| Anderson | Nixson | 1898 | 1917 | L42C-NRD | * | * | Private Anderson Nixson |
80th Anniversary of D-Day
On 6th June 2024 there was a national event to organise local celebrations of the 80th Anniversary of D-Day.
A local event was organised on Shirdley Hill Village Green and Halsall History Society displayed further information about the 10 servicemen and woman who were killed in WW2.
Richard Houghton's Additional Research
