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Wearmouth Colliery Welfare Ground, Thompson Road, Southwick, Sunderland

YOUR HELP NEEDED

FOR THE RESTORATION OF MEMORIAL STONE

 
In a quiet part of Southwick, away from the hustle and bustle of daily life, lies a memorial stone commemorating the sacrifice made by some of the men who enlisted in the armed forces in the First World War. Unfortunately, in recent times, the memorial stone has been broken and a fund raising initiative is now in progress to replace the memorial stone.

The memorial names some 174 men from Wearmouth Colliery and, as can be read from the inscriptions, they gave exemplary service and some were highly decorated for their valiant efforts. Several men served in higher ranks, with two of them being Commissioned Officers. Whilst most of the men served in the Army, the Royal Navy was the chosen service of at least one of the men.

It should be appreciated that the list contains the names of the men who lost their lives in that war, and does not include the other men from the Colliery who served in the armed forces during that conflict.

Whilst Wearmouth Colliery was not within the district of Southwick, many of the men who worked there lived in Southwick and the names of many Southwick families can be seen on the memorial stone. Consequently, Southwick History And Preservation Society fully supports the appeal to raise the necessary funds to make good the damage. People wishing to donate to the Memorial Fund should send donations to Mr Michael Murphy, c/o Wearmouth Colliery Social Welfare Club, Thompson Road, Southwick, Sunderland, SR5 1SF.

The inscription on the memorial stone reads:

The column headers, such as Rank, Inits, Surname, are not included on the stone but have been added here for ease of identification. Also, due to the crack across the stone, the initial of SPR URWIN is presumed to be D, and efforts are being made to authenticate that is the case (if you are a relative and can verify the information, please contact us and this page will be corrected).

The actual damage to the memorial stone can be seen in this photograph:

We hope that you can support this worthy cause.

The Table below contains the names of some of the men listed on the memorial stone.

By clicking on the name, a link has been established to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site.

The key to the colour coding of the names is that those who's name is in Black have a likely link, but not necessarily the right link. Those in Green have a high probability of being the right link, whereas the two names in Red are both Southwick men and, as yet, the link to the exact person is still unclear.