Wigston Council Roll of Honour

As we reported in October’s Last Post, the magnificent Roll of Honour from the old council offices in Wigston is now safely installed at All Saints. It is truly a most impressive memorial to those from the Parish of Wigston who lost their lives in two world Wars.

However, the Roll of Honour poses a number of questions. The most obvious is the date of its creation. The memorial was housed in the council chamber of the Oadby and Wigston Borough (a product of the 1974 local government reforms) and clearly was either part of the wood panelling of the room, or carefully incorporated into it. However, it relates solely to the ‘Parish of Wigston’ and therefore presumably considerably predates 1974.

As our photograph shows, the memorial is a splendid piece of work, recording Wigston’s Roll of Honour in gold lettering on seven wood panels, held in a wooden framework, topped with a lengthways board which states clearly what it is (‘Roll of Honour for the Parish of Wigston’) above the well-known Latin tag that it is “sweet and fitting to die for one’s country”; originally from Horace but better known now thanks to Wilfred Owen’s poem. The outer four panels are shorter and seem to have been added later, though conforming to the original design.

The outer two panels record deaths from 1939-1945 and although it seems great care was taken to ‘match’ the original lettering, the regiments and corps are no longer under-lined. The panels next to those of the Second World War (panels 2 and 6) also seem to be additions, as they duplicate several of the regiments from the central three panels. There are, in fact, two distinct sets of names from the Leicestershire Regiment, the Royal Garrison and Royal Field Artillery and the Northumberland Fusiliers on the central and outer panels respectively.

Those panels clearly also record names from the Great War however, as they include the Tank Corps which had become the Royal Tank Regiment in 1939, and the Royal Naval Division which was disbanded in 1919. In fact, although research into those commemorated has only just begun, it seems that most names in panels 2 and 6 are those of soldiers who died in 1917 or 1918. A few, however, are from the first years of the war, suggesting that the outer columns are additional to those from, say, 1914-1916 but also include names submitted too late for the first phase of the memorial.

This, of course, begs the questions just how was the memorial put together and what does it represent? It seems almost incredible that the fresh gold paint and almost unblemished panelling could be more than a century old. Could it perhaps be a recreation or restoration of an older memorial, which preserved exactly the form and order of the original and did not attempt any amalgamation or combination in the case of the Great War panels?

It is known, for example that Wigston did have a temporary war memorial and the Midland Mail of 31 August 1917 reported the unveiling of “a temporary memorial, consisting of a “Roll of Honour”, in an oaken frame” which, apparently, listed 129 Wigston men. Sadly, the central panels of our memorial list 143 but this story does, at least, prove that Wigston’s Roll of Honour slowly evolved and that the monument we have today reflects some of those stages of development.

We should be delighted, of course, to hear any memories of the Roll of Honour’s earlier days; or suggestions which offer alternative ideas of its creation and evolution. Like all the memorials in our care, Wigston’s has a story to tell.

As we reported in October’s Last Post, the magnificent Roll of Honour from the old council offices in Wigston is now safely installed at All Saints. It is truly a most impressive memorial to those from the Parish of Wigston who lost their lives in two world Wars.

However, the Roll of Honour poses a number of questions. The most obvious is the date of its creation. The memorial was housed in the council chamber of the Oadby and Wigston Borough (a product of the 1974 local government reforms) and clearly was either part of the wood panelling of the room, or carefully incorporated into it. However, it relates solely to the ‘Parish of Wigston’ and therefore presumably considerably predates 1974.

As our photograph shows, the memorial is a splendid piece of work, recording Wigston’s Roll of Honour in gold lettering on seven wood panels, held in a wooden framework, topped with a lengthways board which states clearly what it is (‘Roll of Honour for the Parish of Wigston’) above the well-known Latin tag that it is “sweet and fitting to die for one’s country”; originally from Horace but better known now thanks to Wilfred Owen’s poem. The outer four panels are shorter and seem to have been added later, though conforming to the original design.

The outer two panels record deaths from 1939-1945 and although it seems great care was taken to ‘match’ the original lettering, the regiments and corps are no longer under-lined. The panels next to those of the Second World War (panels 2 and 6) also seem to be additions, as they duplicate several of the regiments from the central three panels. There are, in fact, two distinct sets of names from the Leicestershire Regiment, the Royal Garrison and Royal Field Artillery and the Northumberland Fusiliers on the central and outer panels respectively.

Those panels clearly also record names from the Great War however, as they include the Tank Corps which had become the Royal Tank Regiment in 1939, and the Royal Naval Division which was disbanded in 1919. In fact, although research into those commemorated has only just begun, it seems that most names in panels 2 and 6 are those of soldiers who died in 1917 or 1918. A few, however, are from the first years of the war, suggesting that the outer columns are additional to those from, say, 1914-1916 but also include names submitted too late for the first phase of the memorial.

This, of course, begs the questions just how was the memorial put together and what does it represent? It seems almost incredible that the fresh gold paint and almost unblemished panelling could be more than a century old. Could it perhaps be a recreation or restoration of an older memorial, which preserved exactly the form and order of the original and did not attempt any amalgamation or combination in the case of the Great War panels?

It is known, for example that Wigston did have a temporary war memorial and the Midland Mail of 31 August 1917 reported the unveiling of “a temporary memorial, consisting of a “Roll of Honour”, in an oaken frame” which, apparently, listed 129 Wigston men. Sadly, the central panels of our memorial list 143 but this story does, at least, prove that Wigston’s Roll of Honour slowly evolved and that the monument we have today reflects some of those stages of development.

We should be delighted, of course, to hear any memories of the Roll of Honour’s earlier days; or suggestions which offer alternative ideas of its creation and evolution. Like all the memorials in our care, Wigston’s has a story to tell.

You can find out more about the men listed on this memorial here:

24-2-3 WW2 details Wigston Council WM – JR.

Research kindly undertaken by our friend and supporter, Joan Rowbottom.