The Missing Roll of Honour of WW1

A means to Commemorate Wivenhoe's War Heroes but what happened to it?

Research by Barry Smith

According to a Minute of Wivenhoe Urban District Council dated 5 July 1916, one of the Council members offered to compile a Roll of Honour listing all men who had served in the forces during the First World War. In addition the Council agreed to provide a case in which the final Roll could be displayed in the Council Offices. No one at the present Town Council Offices knows anything about this.

Does anyone know a). was the Roll of Honour ever completed, and b). if so, where it might be now? I find it difficult to think that such an important record for many people in the town, could just have been hidden away in the back of some cupboard.

In a later Minute of a meeting held on 8 Feb 1917:

Mr Wright having reported that the Roll of Honor (sic) prepared by him was now ready for installing in the Council’s Garden and the desirability of a public ceremony at such an installation having been considered. It was resolved that no public ceremony take place.

The Wivenhoe Urban District Council used to meet at Little Wick on the junction of Alma Street and High Street in those days. So it would seem that the Roll of Honour ended up being a board that was mounted outside the offices. Does anyone have any recollection what it looked like? It must have been large as the number of Wivenhoe men who signed up was a huge number. Please get in touch with us if you have any memories or indeed any photographs of Little Wick in the early 1900s.

Click here to read how this research by Barry Smith lead to the publication of a book in 2016 called Wivenhoe’s Roll of Honour dedicated to the memory of all those people who served in World War One and especially to the 70 lives which were lost in this conflict.

This page was added on 27/03/2015.

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