Here, Now and Looking Back - St Helens 1914-1918 (proof)

Remembrance is not just the act of remembering, for me it is a catalyst to reflect on ideas of

family, mortality and the legacy of war.

Image: Last known photograph of William White, Dover 1914

Here Now and Looking Back: St Helens 1914-1918

Copyright © Benedict Phillips and John Oxley 2015

All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by photocopying or mechanical means, including information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the

copyright holders and the publisher of this book.

ISBN:

First Imprint 2015

An edition of 100 copies

A PO Production

Published by PO Publications

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Printed in Great Britain by Berforts

Here Now & Looking Back

Benedict Phillips

St Helens 1914-1918

0. Introduction

Research & meeting points:1. Rainford2. Billinge

3. Garswood4. Haydock5. Central

6. Eccleston7. Moss Bank

8. Essay by John Oxley

9. Index of artifacts and images

10. The Final Work

11. Credits and thanks

1. Rainford 2. Billinge

3. Garswood

4. Haydock

5. Central

7. Moss Bank

6. Eccleston

0. Introduction: Here, Now and Looking BackBenedict PhillipsHere, Now and Looking Back is a project that exists because of the camera. Images from the past allow us to look into the faces of our ancestors within a process of looking back in time. For people in the future to understand the here and now, I documented this process, itself a landscape that will continue to change and shift as all things do.

This book represents a journey across St Helens, looking for people with stories and objects relating to their families’ experience of World War One. The journey started when I was com-missioned as AIR North, digital artist in residence by St Helens Arts in Library Services in mid 2014. The plan was to work with seven libraries, which would become meeting points, and my staging posts in an exploration of the St Helens today and of one hundred years ago. To understand how I could approach this, a journey towards the creation of a digital piece of art connected with World War One, I began by asking myself the questions that I would be asking the people I hoped to meet in St Helens. Namely: who and what objects do you have in your family with a link to World War One.

It was at this point that I discovered my grate uncle William. There is no one left in my family who can recall him, we are just left with the photographs of him as a boy and as a soldier. Additionally, there are some cards from the front in 1915-1916, but then there is nothing. His sister (my grate grandmother Rose) lived until 1972, at which point, all memories of William ended.

Remembrance is not just the act of remembering, for me it is a catalyst for us to reflect on ideas of family, mortality and the war’s legacy. These specific histories of the people I have met are extensive and, as such, this project only provides a scratching of the surface of their stories. Of the things that have stayed with me, during all of my meetings with people, the two most striking are that we always speak of family first and in all my conversations there was always what I can only describe as a ‘cool quiet moment’. To me these moments repre-sented a certain point where none of us knows how to describe in words what happened to us as a nation and as families one hundred years ago.

I am also fascinated with the manner in which photographic images influence the ways in which we view the past, as well as the ways in which photographic technologies have rapidly changed. This project reminds us that as little as one hundred years ago, photographic imag-es were still a rare and evocative thing. By applying the photographic and print technologies of 1914 within my digital artwork, they can be widely distributed across a range of platforms; I feel, from this position we can clearly reflect upon technological shifts and societal change.

I am fascinated by the retention of information in objects such as Photographs, as I dis-cussed when introducing my project to the arts and libraries team at St Helens. I asked them to look at a floppy disk from 15 years ago and then at this Photo of my great uncle William from 100 years ago. When I turn the photo over I can see who took it; I take an informed guess of when and discover where by looking at what is printed on the back. I believe the qualities of such an object are beyond personal meaning and make us want to preserve them and their representation of humanity. Now, what do we do with this 15 year old floppy disc?

Nothing about it says ‘save me’ or what I contain is of ‘great value’. In fact you might feel it is probably just full of corrupt data that could not even be read if you happened to have an old computer to hand!

By keeping this in mind this book came into being, because we know paper will last 100 years or more. The digital world has a lot to prove before we trust it and care for its artifacts, in the same way as we do with our artifacts from our more distant past.

As a way of seeing into the past I started thinking about how images from the First World War were made! This is when I discovered the vest pocket camera (6”by 2.5” by 1/3”). This camera was made from 1913-1926 as was also sold as “the soldiers camera” during the first world war. It fits snugly into the hand smaller than many smart phones today and, of course, into a vest pocket! It comes with a stylus very much like the one in the back of my smart phone (7” by 3.5” by ¼”). It made me think about how unfamiliar this thing would be to the eyes of the men who fought in the war and how so many changes have occurred in the intervening hundred years.

The final artwork came out of this sense of fragility surrounding the objects I was working with, and the intimacy demanded of them by their owners. When I think of it, all the wars I have seen have been lived through the technology of television and the internet, but for many of the people I have met in St Helens, their experience is also from living through and even fighting in wars themselves. Many of the people I have met have heard first hand from fathers and grandfathers about the experience of WW1, of the dirt, hunger and boredom and that it was once know as ‘the war to end all wars’.

Though the St. Helens war memorial is a reminder of the past, it continues to change with the times and even as I research my work in 2014, new names from the past were being carved into the surface of the stone (see page 60). When I look at the war memorial with St Helens Central Library in the distance it seems like it is standing to attention.

I was commissioned to make a digital artwork in response to WW1, one hundred years on. It seems appropriate that the final work, (The Micro-Digi Interactive Reader) which includes contemporary images of some of the ww1 soldiers from St Helens, will find itself on display in St Helens Central Library - the same location were so many men signed up to fight in 1914.

As part of my project for St Helens libraries I have photographed the war memorial using a Vest Pocket Camera. This type of Camera was also called ‘the soldier’s camera’ and despite photography being banned on the font in 1915, it was used widely between 1914-1918.


3. Garswood

4. Haydock

5. Central

7. Moss Bank

6. Eccleston

Latitude: 53.497799 / Longitude: -2.784774



3. Garswood

4. Haydock

5. Central

7. Moss Bank

6. Eccleston

8.Objects of Memory

John Oxley

Richard Waring being interviewed, Eccleston Library

Objects of Memory: St Helens 1914-1918, an archaeological reflection

Once upon a time, archaeology and the First World War would have seemed incon-gruous companions. However, archaeological investigations of 20th century sites and landscapes have now become common. Today, the association of archaeology and the First World War and even with World War Two or the Cold War is not unexpected. This association is normally expressed through archaeological surveys and excavations of battlefields and in this country of airfields, crash sites and defences against invasion. Recently, this has extended to in-depth studies of the content, setting and architectural expression of war memorials. These approaches all fall within what is now a fairly standard definition of archaeology.

The term Contemporary Archaeology has developed over the past 20 years to cover a relatively new area within archaeological research. Benedict Phillips’ project St Helens 1914-1918 is an artistic response to objects and memories of World War One shared by residents of St Helens within the context of a series of events and conversations within libraries in St Helens. Phillips’ project actively engages in re-presenting and re-contextualising objects and narratives of “the past” in the present. Through this project in St Helens, he has engaged in a creative process that has mediated “the past” and its objects in order to create a series of contemporary events.

Archaeological interventions most frequently take the form of an excavation: the physical act of unearthing objects, identifying their contexts and creating a series of narratives from these observations. Excavation is a process of controlled destruction. Layers of earth are removed by machine, mattock or shovel, and are carefully troweled away. The archaeologist is left with a series of records that he or she has chosen to make (drawings, text descriptions, photographs) and such physical parts of the site he or she has chosen to retain (stone, ceramic, organic objects, soil samples, etc).

However, archaeological interventions do not have to be intrusive. We are all fa-miliar through Time Team of the importance of geophysical survey. Careful meas-urement of magnetic or electrical properties of the soil enables the geophysicist to produce an image of what may lie unseen below the surface. Patterns of high and low resistance denote sub-surface structures and features. These techniques are be-coming so sophisticated and precise that on certain sites it is possible to generate 3D images.

Archaeologists also use photography as a form of archaeological intervention. Aerial photography is used to record the appearance of crop marks (patterns of differential growth in crops caused by variations in soil moisture levels. For instance

stronger, greener growth can be observed over archaeological features which have higher moisture levels than the surrounding drier undisturbed soils) or of earthworks revealed by low sunlight or differential melting of light snow. Sophisticated imaging techniques such as LIDAR (“light radar”) can produce highly accurate images on scales ranging from landscapes down to buildings and objects (where it is called “laser scanning”).

Photography is central to all these different types of archaeological interventions. It has become central to the archaeological process of creating a record of a site, of a feature, of a context, or of an object. It is central to the process of communicating archaeological narratives of landscapes, sites, structures and objects.

This project does not fall within any of the preceding categories of archaeological intervention. However, it utilises photography to create a record of places and of the objects introduced into those places by the people who participated in the events that Phillips orchestrated. In this context, it is legitimate to regard this artistic project as a contemporary archaeological intervention, and it goes some way to explaining the active involvement of an archaeologist.

This project also engages with another critical archaeological concept: that of the archive. In general terms, an archaeologist normally engages the creation of a new archive. In this context, the archive consists of all the materials that are generated through an archaeological intervention. However, archaeologists also interrogate existing archives. Through this process, they generate material that will either augment an existing archive or that will form part of a new archive. Frequently, interrogation of an existing archive results in both of these outcomes. In this project, Phillips is engaged in both augmenting existing archives and in creating a new archive. The objects which are central to this project are drawn from existing personal archives accumulated either consciously or subconsciously by the participants. The personal archive is a significant phenomenon that has emerged in the late 20th century. These personal archives are often the product of research into family histories. They often incorporate both tangible elements - objects, photographs or documents that have been either inherited or collected - and intangible elements - memories, family stories passed down one generation to the next. They are often closely associated with and follow on from the concept of the family album, the organised display of family photographs.

These archives are the result of a series of choices influenced by personal interests and perceptions of value over the past one hundred years. The objects brought forward by the participants in this project represent a sample of this larger archive selected by the holder. This selection process highlights some of the values that are held by the curators and creators of these archives. It will become apparent from

the photographs in this book that the evidential, social, communal and historic value of these objects is far outweighed by the emotional value that these objects hold for their owners. They represent a material link to people, frequently relatives, who are now long dead. Emotional value is something that is for the most part almost totally absent from the traditional archaeological record. However, contemporary archaeology must confront and engage with emotional value.

The objects consist of both fragile and robust materials. In normal archaeological contexts, fragile, organic materials decay and do not usually survive. Robust materials, metals etc are more likely to survive in archaeological contexts. In the conditions provided by contemporary archaeological contexts, both fragile and robust materials will survive. Survival, however, is often more down to the attitudes and values placed on these objects by their owners than to the actual environmental conditions. For instance, the objects brought by Mr A Carroll to St Helens Central Library, illustrate these points.

The Carroll objects in this book consist of a World War One Next-of-Kin Memorial plaque (including the original envelope and card holder) and Scroll, and a postcard photograph of William Carroll. The Memorial Plaque is a bronze plaque approximately 110mm in diameter with the name of the person who died serving with the British and Empire forces in World War One. The next-of-kin would have received the Memorial Plaque together with the scroll. The plaque and scroll were normally posted out separately. A message from the king (the King’s Message) would have been enclosed with both plaque and scroll. The message from the king was not brought in with the Carroll objects, and it is not clear if these survive within the Carroll archive (a King’s Message is illustrated in the Haydock section of this book). The plaque and scroll were issued after the end of the war, with most being posted to next of kin in either 1919 and 1920. Accompanying the Carroll Memorial Plaque and Scroll is a photograph of Private William Carroll in uniform. He would have been entitled to two campaign medals: the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. Again it is unclear if these survive within the Carroll archive.

The photograph of William Carroll is a portrait studio photograph. He is in uni-form, seated on a simple bentwood chair in front of a studio backdrop depicting a wooded landscape garden scene with, in the middle distance, steps leading up to a terrace with a decorative stone balustrade. The photographer has positioned his subject so that there is an area of light over his right shoulder while dark clouds loom above his left shoulder. William Carroll is looking straight into the camera, right hand resting on his left hand, right leg crossed over left leg. There is no emo-tion visible in his face.

The photograph came to Mr A Carroll via a friend some 25 years ago. The Memo-rial Plaque and Scroll were passed to him by his father. William Carroll was Mr A Carroll’s great-uncle.

21334 Private William Carroll, son of John and Alice Louisa Carroll, entered the war on 6th November 1915. He was killed in action on 23rd March 1918, aged 21 years. His name is inscribed on the Poziéres Memorial, which records the names of officers and men of the Fifth and Fourth Armies who fought on the Somme battlefields be-tween 21st March and 7th August 1918. He has no known grave.

The objects illustrate two moments in the life and death of William Carroll. The pho-tograph would in all probability have been taken in St Helens before he departed to France. The Memorial Plaque and Scroll represent the official response to his death: “He died for Freedom and Honour”. They are loaded with emotional value, a value that is embodied in Mr Carroll’s intention to “hand them on to the family”.

The design of the Memorial Plaque was the result of a competition held in 1917. A Committee had been established in 1916 to look at how a memorial plaque could be produced and distributed to the relatives of men and women who died as a re-sult of World War One. The winning design, by Mr E Carter Preston, was announced in March 1918. In excess of 1 million were produced and issued, though the precise number is not known.

The Memorial Plaque and Scroll are not rare objects. However, survival of a set of a Next-of-Kin Memorial Plaque complete with its outer envelope, inner card envelope and covering letter with a memorial scroll and cardboard tube commemorating the same casualty of war is rare. The fragile, less immediately meaningful packaging frequently fails to survive..

The objects belonging to David Mannion in the Rainford section amplify these points. The objects belonged to David Mannion’s grandfather, John Large. Private John Large, along with his two brothers, fought in and survived World War One. The objects consist of a medal in its original packaging, a postcard photograph and a pewter windmill. The medal is the British War Medal. It was presented to officers and men of the British and Imperial Forces who either entered a theatre of war or entered service overseas between 5th August 1914 and 11th November 1918 inclusive. Around 6.5 million British War Medals were issued. The front of the medal depicts the head of George V, and the recipient’s service number, rank, name and unit are impressed on the rim.

The medal is accompanied by its original cardboard box. Two different texts print-ed on the box lid. Printed in red is the phrase “B. WAR and VICTORY”, indicating that when despatched the box contained both the British War Medal and the Vic-tory Medal. Typed in black ink are: “3916 / 240963 / PTE. J. LARGE. / S. Lan. R.”. These represent the page number (3916) on the Roll of Honour that recorded the award of those medals; Private Large’s name and service number (240963); and his regiment (the South Lancashire Regiment). The box is stained and has mould marks on it. However, this medal and box are incomplete survivals.

As the printed lid reveals, the box would originally have contained two medals: the British War Medal and the Victory Medal (irreverently referred to as “Mutt” and “Jeff”). The medals would also have been accompanied in the box by two folded coloured ribbons. The box would also have been delivered in an official envelope upon which the recipient’s address would have been written by hand. The photo-graph is a portrait of Private Large. He is standing at a slight angle to the camera. He is holding a short baton in both hands. He is looking slightly to his left and not directly at the camera. His face has an almost questioning expression. He is standing in an external rural setting on a grassy bank with a tree, undergrowth and a small gabled building behind him. The back of the photograph has a standard postcard printed layout but has been left blank. David Mannion also brought in a very small handbell cast in the shape windmill. The windmill/handbell is made out of brass and is approximately 25mm tall. A small clapper hans inside the windmill/handbell. The windmill is circular in plan, two stories high with a domed cap and 4 sails. The walls of the windmill are depicted so as to suggest regular masonry courses. There is a single arched doorway with three steps and a small arched window on both sides of the door. It was probably made in Holland or Belgium and probably represents a souvenir brought back from the western front by Private Large.

These three objects represent a different set of values and consequent depositional history. A medal and both ribbons have been lost. The silver medal has been allowed to tarnish. The box has been compressed and the lid has been flattened. At some point it has been placed in a damp environment leading to the staining and mould growth. It might be inferred that his was an unhappy experience that he had no wish to remember and that the medals carried little value for him. In the photograph, John Large presents a tense, uneasy presence. Only the windmill hints at a different experience of being in France, at a memory of the place as, perhaps, he wanted to remember it: a complete, working countryside, one not torn apart by the ballistics and engineering of a terrible war.

The objects brought to the project by Barbara Prescott and Sue McCauley speak of a highly detailed account of Prescott’s grandfather, Sapper John Smith. Reproduced here are photographs of a photograph of the three Smith brothers, a letter from Captain HBB Towse, VC, and a postcard image of a cemetery. John was a brick setter at Pilkington’s Plate Glass Works, St Helens. He enlisted in St Helens on 16th February 1915. The photograph of the three brothers is believed to have been taken either whilst the brothers where at home on leave or maybe just after enlistment and before they joined their regiments. The photograph is a studio portrait of the three brothers with their hands behind them standing in front of a simple decorative background. The three men look directly into the camera. John Smith is on the left; Joseph Smith, his taller, older brother is in the middle; and Edward Smith is on the right. Joseph was killed by a sniper on 11th March 1916. John died in a hospital at Wimereux, north of Boulogne, on 29th October 1916. Edward was killed on 7th June

1917. (A fourth brother, Albert, enlisted and was sent to Mesopotamia where he was wounded. Albert survived the war and emigrated to Australia). The typed letter and postcard from Captain HBB Towse to Mrs Jane Smith, John Smith’s wife, tells of an unusual and poignant encounter between Towse and Jane Smith.

John Smith was a Royal Engineer attached to the 1/1st West Lancs Field Company. In October 1916 his unit was in the Ypres area working on rebuilding trenches. He was wounded in the left leg on 15th October 1916 and was eventually transferred to the 32nd Stationary Hospital at Wimereux, north of Boulogne, where he died of blood-poisoning. Before he died, a message had been sent to his wife Jane. Together with Henry Smith, John’s father, she travelled to Boulogne to visit him. When they arrived in France they gave a lift to a Captain Towse who was travel-ling from Boulogne to the Hospital. Towse asked who they had come to visit. When they told him they intended to visit John Smith, the Captain realised that he had already died but he couldn’t bring himself to tell them this news. He clearly felt that he should write and apologise for having failed to tell them that John was already dead. He included with his letter a postcard, reproduced here, of the cemetery at Wimereux. Towse is an interesting individual. He was blinded during a battle at Mount Thaba in the Boer War and his heroics that day earned him the Victoria Cross. After leaving the army he worked for charities promoting the well-being and welfare of the blind. In 1915 he was recalled to the army and given the rank of honorary Captain (without pay and allowances) to serve in hospitals, and in particular at the one in Wimereux, where he worked to support and encourage soldiers blinded in action. Due to his complete blindness Captain Towse had mastered braille and used a braille typewriter and therefore the letter is typed.

These objects represent part of a very well curated personal archive. The objects were first in the possession of Jane Smith. They then passed through the hands of her daughter Lily Dillon (née Smith). She in turn passed them on to her daughter Barbara Prescot who brought the objects to the project event in Haydock Library. Of all the objects discussed here, these represent the most coherent group. They relate to an unusual set of circumstances where family members made their way to France to visit their wounded relative. During this visit an even more unusual encounter took place between Captain Towse and Jane Smith. Her husband was already dead, but Captain Towse considered it inappropriate to tell her this fact. He subsequently wrote and apologised for this action.

This direct and personal connection between the family and the theatre of war has bestowed on these objects an intense emotional value and narrative. This narrative has passed through four generations of women (Jane Smith, Lily Dillon, Barbara Prescott and Sue McCauley) and will continue to be passed on. This has ensured that a range of both robust and fragile objects have been prized at each stage of their journey and so they survive today in remarkably good condition.

Archaeologists have borrowed the term taphonomy from palaeontology to describe the “journey” an object makes as it moves from usage to deposition, to what hap-pens to an object once it is in the ground thorugh to excavation and recovery by an archaeologist. From a traditional archaeological perspective, the objects that we see in this project are still in use. However, within a contemporary archaeological approach we can see that the original objects have already been in a range of different depositional contexts and are in various stages of decay. They have lost their initial coherence. In some cases, the packaging has disappeared altogether. Photographs have been torn, folded; typing and ink is fading. The objects already have had a number of depositional contexts, from being forgotten in the back of a drawer to being framed and proudly placed on show. The condition of these objects and their degree of completeness begin to tell us a story about how they have been valued differently by the various people that have possessed them.

What roles do these personal archives play within the wider heritage context? These archives, though made up of tangible objects, also contribute to the generation and propagation of an intangible heritage. They become the locus of memory and the starting point for narrative. As such, they feed into a deeper meaning of heritage such as exists in other languages, the French patrimoine for example. In the UK, heritage, and archaeology in particular, is bound up with the object, the thing itself. Value is closely, sometimes solely, related to economic considerations. Social, communal, evidential values have only recently assumed importance in assessing the significances of heritage. In this project, we can see that emotional value plays a significant role. Much of this contemporary discussion about the value of heritage also revolves around the role heritage plays in creating or contributing to a sense of place. This project takes objects from a series of personal archives and places them in the public realm. The act of sharing the objects and their stories at the events, of placing them in this publication and of exhibiting them in the interactive installation created by Phillips for display in St Helens libraries ensure that they are part of the wider appreciation and definition of St Helens as a place. At the level of the individual, they begin to touch on issues of identity and self, and of what a place such as St Helens means to the individual inhabitant.

This project has been discussed here as a contemporary archaeological project where photography represents the primary form of intervention. This project represents both an artistic and archaeological intervention which has resulted in two concrete outcomes: this publication and the interactive installation exhibited in St Helens Libraries. We have identified, recorded, researched and engaged with a series of narratives around the objects and individuals we have encountered. We have placed the dead and their “pasts” firmly in the present through engagement with the personal archives of the participants in this project. I think we have gone some way to responding to the demand: “Let those who come after see to it/ that his name be not forgotten” (Memorial Scroll, William Carroll).

John Oxley, FSA, City Archaeologist, City of York

09. The IDV Artwork (Interactive Digital Reader)

The final IDV artwork at first appears to be a film, made up of a sequence of old postcards, documents and photographs from WW1 slowly floating upwards against a jet black background framed in a wooden cabernet. But if you reach towards the screen, a small sensor activates the work reveling a few lines of text in the darkness that tell you about the object you are looking at; then everything parses, turning this archive into an interactive photo book. Just place your hand over the sensor wave your hand from side to side to rotate an image, flick up and the image goes up, flick your finger out and the image zooms in, then you move your hand the image invisibly looked onto you fingertips move with it – take your hand away from the sensor and in a few second all returns to how it was slowly floating up in the darkness.

The IDV Artwork was partly inspired by the microfiche machine, used for over 100 years for storing large volumes of document in a small space and often to be found in libraries for the past 100 years. Unlike a traditional microfiche, my artwork has bean constructed from a mix of computer hardware and games tech, the artwork was built using WebGL (Web Graphics Library) a JavaScript API for rendering interactive 3D computer graphics and 2D graphics within a web browser without the need for plug-ins.

During the process of scanning the artifacts I found I had to edit the images as I looked through them as there where so many objects. It was only after this process that the ordering of the images came about. The sequencing in the book and in the IDV Artwork follows a simple pattern in the main, first introducing you to the person and then following this with related documents which often revealing the fate of the individual, i.e. a pristine scroll from the king or prince the of Wales revel death as clearly as a battered folded old discharge papers revel a man’s survival of war.

Many of these artefacts would never have been seen publicly as they are mostly from the personal archives of families from St Helens. These objects are often far too delicate to be handled so this artwork gives you access to and an experience of these hundred-year-old photographs and documents without the danger of ever degrading them.

There is also a portable version of the artwork made for touch screen Phones and tables, view it at the website.

WWW.sthelens1914-1918.co.uk

10. Chapter NotesAs a way of contextualising the main image-based part of the book, this section lists the origins and gives simplified histories of the objects and images contained within. My intention is to give names to the faces where I can and to let you know who holds the artifacts represented within.

It is part of the intention of this publication to be a small archive and I am acutely aware that unlike the many digital images I have produced over the course of this project, this publication stand good chance of still being hear as designed it, in another 100 years.

As a way of framing these family artifacts I have described them under four headings The first heading lists the artifacts and includes all objects images and documents that have been shown to me and that might have been used in ether the final ‘Interactive Digital Reader’ (see chapter 09) and/or used in this book.

Page 1: Inside cover Image, William White, Dover 1914

Page 7: Intro with image “my Family past and present” showing Benedict Phillips holding his daughter and a photo of his great uncle William White.

Page 8: Image of Vest Pocket camera (VPC) “the soldier’s camera”

Page 9: An image made using VPC of St Helens war memorial in 2014.

Chapter 1: Rainford

Page 11: Images of the back of Rainford Library taken from the site of an archaeological dig.

Pages12 &13: Image of John Oxley researching family histories

Pages 14 – 17:

Artifacts Photographs, papers, book, medals and WW1 souvenir ‘a windmill’ Held by David Brian Large MannionOrigins John Large - Grandfather to David History Inherited from Elaine large, David’s mother after passing on in 1996.

Chapter 2: Billinge

Pages 19: Billinge Library side view

Page 20 & 21: Billinge Cemetery, contains four WW1 soldiers graves.

Pages 22 & 23: Local Girl being interviewed about her understanding of what WW1 might have been.

Pages 24 & 25: Billinge local memorial park. Not represented in the photographs is a nearby plaque that reads:

“ To commemorate the local people whose lives have been lost in conflict and individuals who have contributed positively to village life”.

Pages 26 & 27: ‘The mystery woman’

I was photographing the memorial garden in Billinge when a woman came up to me and said she was in a hurry, but would like to tell me about her family and WW1. We made our way to the library where we photocopied the documents she had with her. I put my details on her copy and her details on my copy. We said goodbye and the woman rushed off. It was only then that I realised she must have picked up both copies of the documents and all contact information. So now all I have is the photo of mystery woman’s arms holding a photo of her ancestor that I had taken when we met outside the Library.

Chapter 3: Garswood

Page 29: Garswood Library from the back

Page 30: Recording setup

Page 31: Inside Garswood library

Pages 32 &33: Local hall having new roof put on

Pages 34 &35: Details from inside of local hall. Things being quiet in the library, I went to investigate St Andrews mission Hall, just round the corner. Inside I found a lively group playing indoor bowls. A member of the group helpfully offered to take me to meet Rosalyn Un-sworth who they thought mite know more about local war marorial. Rosalyn took me to Holy Trinity church, Downall Green, where she is a Lay reader to show me their white marble WW1 plaque. Rosalyn also introduced me to Anne Hart who she knew had personal artefacts from WW1.

Pages 36 – 39: Inside Ann Hart’s Home

Artifacts Photographs, documents war books and wallet Held by Ann HartOrigins Joseph Arthur Leicester - (Cheshire Regiment) father to Ann Hart History Inherited from family.

Kept inside Anne’s fathers wallet is a photograph of his father and mother and an inscription in Gold leaf reading “The residents of Colwyn Bay, Colwyn, and District, desire to record their high appreciation of the loyal services rendered to King and Country by you, during the Great War 1914-1919. “

Pages 40 & 41: View from inside of Holy Trinity church.

Chapter 4: Haydock

Pages 43: Haydock Library from the side

Pages 44 & 45: View of front of library and adjoining street.

Page 46: Glenn Boulter researching artifacts.

Page 47:Artifacts Friend prier card from ww1Held by Jean Hurst Origins Discarded in an abandon house in France History Found or collected

Rerouted on a driving holiday of France Led to a airfield and an old house. Seeing paper scattered and wet with rain in a derelict building picked up two dry cards, both are WW1 French prayer cards.

Pages 48 &49

Artifacts Photographs (Rosina May (Halsey) and husband William Wellman and photo postcard Gorge Dan iel Halsey -sent to rose (sister) Held by David HalseyOrigins Gorge Daniel Halsey, Grandfather Of David HalseyHistory Inherited from family

George Daniel Halsey, was the first cadet in the salvation army to be trained as an officer, and is recorded as No 1 in their records.

Pages 50 – 55:

Artifacts Letters, Photographs and post cardHeld by Barbara Prescott & Sue McCauleyOrigins Smith Brothers -John Smith is the maternal Grandparent of Barbara Prescott.History Inherited from family

Jane Smith widow of John Smith gave the items to her daughter Lily Dillon nee Smith, Lily passed them on to her daughter Barbara Prescott, Barbara is Sue McCauley Aunt.

Page 56 & 57: Photo of Haydock memorial and LibraryUsed as Art Dept of Haydock Sports College (High School)Benedict talked to the class about art, WW1 and the Vest Pocket Camera.

Chapter 5: Central

Page 59: Images of the war maorial and main entrance to St Helens central Library

Pages 60: Name being added to WW1 listings on memorial

Page 61: People looking on as the name is carved

Pages 62 – 65:

Artifacts Bronze plaque, Photographic Postcard & scroll of commemorationHeld by Austin Carroll Origins William Carroll, great uncle to Austin Carroll History Inherited from family

Page 66: Photo of Sergeants stripesArtifacts Sergeants stripes Held by Geoff Mather Origins John Molyneux (VC)History Inherited from family

Page 67 – 69:

Artifacts Medals, cap, Rugby shirt 1915.Held by James FlanaganOrigins James Flanagan, grandfather to James FlanaganHistory Inherited from family

The shirt was worn by James Flanagan who was a member of the Saints V Huddersfield team which was defeated in the 1915 Challenge Cup Final played at

Watersheddins (Oldham). He then joined the 11th South Lancs and died of wounds 14/5/1918.

Medals 1915 Star, Victory and British War Medal Rugby.The shirt is actually The Lancashire County Shirt as James played for them (and the cap). The badge says NRU which stands for Northern Rugby Union and not yet NRL (Northern Rugby League)

This shirt (jersey) is one of the earliest on record for a Lancs. County won by a St Helens player.No-one has ever worn the cap as they always say only the person who won it should wear it.

Page 70: Postcard of group of solders at a training camp in 1918

Artifacts Photographic post card Held by Bill Parr Origins Thomas Parr (Bill’s farther) History Inherited from family

Pages 71 & 72:

Artifacts Post cards sent home from the war Held by Anthony, Brian and Catherine SheaOrigins Anthony Shea, Grandfather to Anthony, Brian and Catherine History Inherited from family

Anthony Shea sent the postcards home during the First World War to his mum and some to Ethel, whom he later married. His son, Albert, kept the postcards after his mum and dad died. Our dad Albert kept the postcards after his mum and dad died and when he died in 1985, my mum kept them, and when Monica died in 2013 we came across the postcards in her wardrobe.

Pages 73: Artifacts Post cards of kissing / romantic couples Held by St Helens LibrariesOrigins Unknown History Given to Libraries

Chapter 6: Eccleston

Page 74: main door to Eccleston Library

Pages 75 &76: Image of the street in front of the library at the end of the day.

Pages 77 & 78: Richard Waring with a box of his father’s medals what to be interviewed.

Artifacts Medals Held by Richard WaringOrigins George Waring Father of Richard WaringHistory Inherited from family

Notes 19172 Sergeant George Waring of the 15th Cheshire Reg. MM. Victory and British War. Only served from 1916 Also in the case is a Boy’s Scout VC and 2 Liverpool Humane Medals for saving lives in civilian life

The YMCA in St Helens had one of the earliest Scout Groups in the country, together with Liverpool and Birken-head As a boy scout in 1911 George saved a boy from drowning in the canal. This was recognised by the scout VC and also one of the Liverpool Humane medals. The deed is documented in the YMCA journals in the Archive Library. Later in 1926 he saved a woman from drowning in the canal and was awarded the second medal

Pages 79 & 80:

Artifacts Photographs and documents Held by Peter HarveyOrigins In the photos the woman and man standing tried to get married but did not happen, and he was killed.History Received as gift

Given to peter by a builder who Found them in a cellar, in dial street! (Liverpool) in an old solicitors that was being knocked down?

Photos found in building in Dale Street Liverpool when it was being knocked down in about 1960. These artefacts are a small section of large number of letters and photographs between two people, one a graduate of Bangor University and the other a serving officer who was one of the earliest people to volunteer for the RAF as a pilot. There is mystery and intrigue about whether they actually married, his life/death and maybe her role as a spy/secretary in Ireland in the early 1920’s.I do not know who they belonged to as they were de-posited in a Solicitor’s vault and saved by the contractor (who is a friend of mine)

Pages 81 & 82: Images of building and its reflection behind the library

Chapter 7: Moss Bank

Page 84: View of Moss Bank from the end of the building.

Artefacts “ACTIVE SERVICE” TESTAMENT 1917 (Book)

Held by Sonja ThomasOrigins Austin and Mary Ann Winstanley (Grate Grandpar ents to Sonja)History Inherited from family. On the inside cover it reads:

LORD ROBERTS’S MESSAGE TO THE TROOPS25th Aug 1914, I ask you to put your trust in God. He will watch over you and strengthen you. You will find in this little Book guidance when you are in health, comfort when you are in sickness, and strength when you are in adversity. Roberts.

Pages 85 & 86: Photographs of the staff secretly make preparations for a kids holiday activity and story time at library.

Page 87: Street view outside library

Page 88: Recording of poem “Two Paths” by Brian Campbell Hart.

Pages 89 & 90 Recording space at Moss Bank Artifacts Typescript Poem, “Two Paths”Held by BSA Campbell-Hart Origins Osborne Gardener Wright, [Great, grate Uncle to BSA Campbell-Hart]History Corporal Osborne Gardener Wright 301907, Tank Corps, killed 25th April 1918. Osborne was born at Schuylkill Pennsylvania, USA, in 1898 after his parents moved there to work in the coalmines. They had returned to St Helens by 1901. The poem “Two Paths” is a response to all the lives that were lost in World War One.

Chapter 8: Objects of Memory

Page 92: Richard Waring with a box of his father’s medals wating to be interviewed. Objects of Memory: St Helens 1914-1918, an archaeological reflectionBy John Oxley, FSA

Chapter 09: The IDV Artwork(Interactive Digital Reader)

An overview of the final artwork commissioned by St Helens Arts in libraries

Chapter 10: Chapter Notes

Charting the contents of the book, to enlighten the reader to the origins of the photographs, images of objects, post cards, letters and documents contained within this volume of ‘Here, Now and Looking back’.

Chapter 11: Contributors, Credits and Thanks

Image: Recording space at Moss Bank

11. Contributors, Credits and Thanks

This project was made possible through a commission as part St.HelensCouncil Cultural Hubs programme which is supported by National Lotterymoney, distributed through Arts Council England’s Grant for The Arts(Libraries) fund.

Cultural Hubs - is St.Helens Council’s arts in libraries project whichenables the council to animate St.Helens’ network of 13 libraries with highquality performances, commissions, residencies, plays, gigs, workshops,courses, events and exhibitions.

To find out more about what is happening as part of Cultural Hubs and booktickets visit www.culturalhubs.eventbrite.co.uk or follow the arts serviceon twitter @sthelensarts

Thanks to all that have taken part, Andrei, John, Glenn, \= small portriats

Biog: Ben: rlghdkrhgkjdfrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgk-jdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgk-jdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjd

Biog: John: rlghdkrhgkjdfrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgk-jdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgk-jdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjd

Biog: Glenn: rlghdkrhgkjdfrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgk-jdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgk-jdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjd

Biog: Andrei: rlghdkrhgkjdfrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgk-jdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgk-jdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjdrlghdkrhgkjd

GB Design

Credits

This project was made possible through a commission as part St.HelensCouncil Cultural Hubs programme which is supported by National Lotterymoney, distributed through Arts Council England’s Grant for The Arts(Libraries) fund.

Cultural Hubs - is St.Helens Council’s arts in libraries project whichenables the council to animate St.Helens’ network of 13 libraries with highquality performances, commissions, residencies, plays, gigs, workshops,courses, events and exhibitions.

To find out more about what is happening as part of Cultural Hubs and book tickets visit www.culturalhubs.eventbrite.co.uk or follow the arts ser-vice on twitter @sthelensarts

Here, Now and Looking Back - St Helens 1914-1918 (proof)

Documents

Transcript of Here, Now and Looking Back - St Helens 1914-1918 (proof)