Town Hall War Memorial

Site:

At the top of the staircase leading to the public hall in Hyde Town Hall, Market Street, Hyde.

Description:

The memorial consists of five wall-mounted oak panels bearing the names of the men who died in the Great War.

Interestingly, although the Werneth Low Memorial states that 710 men lost their lives, only 707 names were recorded on the panels.

All the panels bear the town coat of arms and. At the top, the words: "In memory of the men of this borough who gave their lives for our country.” At the bottom is "Make them to be numbered with thy saints in glory everlasting.”

The panels are marked, respectively: "August 1914 to August 1915”  "August 1915 to August 1916”.  "August 1916 to August 1917”, "August 1918 to the end of the war”, and "Names too late for inclusion on previous panels”.

Attached to the fifth panel is a glass case containing a model of Werneth Low Memorial.

The final panel is in bronze, and bears a likeness of Mrs Evelyn Rose Welch and the inscription: "Evelyn Rose Welch , Mayoress of Hyde 1914-1915, 1915-1916. Founder and president Tipperary league 1915-1933." In very small letters at the bottom is the name of the sculptor "Gilbert Bayes 1934."

Completing the memorial is a glass stand containing the book of Remembrance. Above it, mounted on the wall, is a copy of the Annigoni painting of Queen Elizabeth the second.

History:

The panels bearing the names of the dead were presented by Councillor Stanley Welch, Mayor of Hyde 1914-1916, and his partner in the Hyde stationery firm of Jacobsen and Welch, Mr T. Owen Jacobsen. They were erected annually for the duration of the great war, and the final one was unveiled by Mrs Evelyn Welch on "peace day”, 3rd August, 1919, following a united memorial service.

The plaque in memory of Mrs Welch was unveiled by her sister, Mrs Maud Drew, on April 9, 1934. A thousand people attended the service led by Canon Richmond and the Rev. H. Howson, 800 of them being members of the Tipperary league.

A book, endorsed in Mrs Welch’s honour and containing the names of 600 people who contributed towards the costs, was placed in a recess at the foot of the plaque. It is now missing.