WAR MEMORIAL

*All Dalton Heritage Trail artworks** including the logo, leaflet, map, signage art, films and photographs are copyrighted to the artist Rachel Capovila and Barrowfull. Permissions are granted for the use of the Dalton Heritage Trail and educational resources relating to the trail ONLY under the administration of DACH. Any other use or reproduction must have permissions from the artist.

**Except where stated and the copyright remains with the named eg photographer or writer.

Dalton lost 168 men and 2 women in World War One and another 46 [plus one woman] in WW2, so a memorial to them was considered essential. In the years after the first war a public subscription was set up to pay for the memorial made of Portland stone, a square column with diagonal buttresses and a carved eternal flame on top, plus the Sword of Sacrifice on its front face. The names of those killed were inscribed on two bronze plaques to the left and right and those killed in the second war were added after that conflict.

The Dedication on the cenotaph reads: “Erected in grateful and unfailing memory of the men of Dalton who gave their lives in the Great War.”

There is much confusion about the precise dates of the unveiling of the memorial. The official order of service is dated June 19th 1921 mentioning the unveiling of the tablet, but various reports in the papers of the time give dates over a year later, either November 27th or December 2nd 1922. To add to the confusion, Jim Walton in his iconic histories of the town say it was on May 25th 1922. It appears that the service was for the plaques before the stone memorial was completed and a second ceremony a year later.

 

Details of those who died in World War One are available on the Town Council website – https://daltoncouncil.org.uk/world-war-1-commemoration/

In 2018 for the centenary of the Armistice ending the First War, a new project was started by the town council. Led by Councillor Ann Thurlow, research was carried out into where the men who were killed in the “War to End All Wars” lived. With a Heritage Lottery grant pottery plaques of poppies were made and fixed to the walls of the houses and these were treasured by the present householders. It is hoped a parallel project will soon be undertaken for World War Two with a different design.