Your Heritage
The former borough of Tynemouth marked their loss from the First World War with a Roll of Honour published in 1923 containing very brief details of some 1,700 local residents known to have lost their lives. It has been estimated that Tynemouth had twice the national average mortality rate of the UK as a whole.
The new Roll of Honour database, which is freely accessible online, aims to provide the fullest picture of those ordinary local men who lost their lives. Information includes family background, military career, cause of death and where they might have some kind of memorial, such as at the Somme. Pictures, documents and memorabilia are also included to complete a moving testimony.
Alan Fidler, Project Coordinator, explained: “Living relatives are coming forward all the time, and the information being gathered, gives an important picture too of the socio-economic impact of war on the town.”
The project included a play based on the collated archive material, a public exhibition, oral history projects, presentations to schools and a commemoration day to note the ultimate sacrifice made by so many local men.