Shropshire Routes to Roots

4. Studying memorials

Memorials appear all over the country and the world. There is probably a memorial near where you live. Memorials sometimes look different. But some things are the same on every one. Memorials can provide us with evidence about the war.

Case study of Oswestry memorial

Look at the picture of Oswestry War Memorial.

Oswestry memorial gates, on Church Street.

This is a picture of Oswestry War Memorial. Oswestry War Memorial does not look like a cross or a gravestone. But these gates have several important things which are found on every memorial.

Map of Oswestry showing location of War Memorial gates, courtesy of Streetmap.co.uk

Tasks

(Teacher's note: the small thumbnail images on this page link to pages, in a new browser window, with larger images and tasks. These can be printed off and distributed to the class.)

Study this picture. This picture shows the left side of the war memorial. Find out the following things: In what year did World War One start? What is the date on the pillar? What does the inscription say? What town did the people the memorial remembers come from?

Top-left of pillar Close-up view, in a new window, with tasks [66kb]

Study this picture. This picture shows the right side of the war memorial. Find out these things: In what year did World War One end? What is the date on the pillar? Are these two dates the same? What does the writing say? Why might the date the war ended be different to the date on the memorial?

Top-right of pillar Close-up view, in a new window, with tasks [74kb]

List of names. Left pillar, top. Larger image, in a new window, with tasks [50kb]

List of names. Left pillar, bottom. Larger image, in a new window, with tasks [50kb]

List of names. Right pillar, top. Larger image, in a new window, with tasks [50kb]

List of names. Right pillar, bottom. Larger image, in a new window, with tasks [50kb]

Choose one of the four lists of names. You might like to divide into four groups and choose one list each.

• Colour in names which are there more than once.
• How many times does each surname appear?
• Find the name Frank E. Jordan. Now try searching for that person using the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (Opens in a new window). Tip: Frank E. Jordan served in the King's Shropshire Light Infantry.
• Ask your family if anyone related to you died in World War One. Try searching for this name on the site.

Summary

By looking at a war memorial we can learn that:

• Memorials remember people who died in a particular town or village
• The dates on the memorial show what war the memorial remembers
• The dates may not be exactly the same as the war, because some injured people died after the war finished
• The lists of names show who died in the war or because of it
• There are often lots of names from the same family

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