Memorial details

Memorial type
Cross
District
Wigan
Town
Wigan
County
Greater Manchester
Country
England
Commemoration
Second World War (1939-1945), First World War (1914-1918), Falklands Conflict (1982), Afghanistan (2001-2014), Non-Combat Deaths
Ceremony
  • Unveiled
    Date: 17/10/1925
    Attended by: General the Hon. Sir Herbert Alexander Lawrence, KCB, Clergy, including the Bishop of Liverpool and the Rector of Wigan, Local Councillors and Officers, Military and family representatives.
  • Dedicated
    Date: 17/10/1925
    Attended by: The Bishop of Liverpool &c.
  • Show More (1)
Lost
Not lost
WM Reference
3236

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Current location

All Saints Church
Bishopsgate
Wigan
Wigan
Greater Manchester
WN1 1BZ
England

OS Grid Ref: SD 58185 05643
Denomination: Church of England

View location on Google Maps
Description
Clipsham limestone 'Eleanor' Market Cross, octagonal in plan with cast bronze panels listing the dead by unit around the plinth. The forty WW1 panels are arranged around the lower section, with the twenty-four WW2 panels being set on two extensions to the original structure above them. To the North and the South, between the two newer sections are recesses within which are set rectangular dedication panels. Addendum plaques for WW1 are set beside the Northern dedication, while plaques for more recent conflicts, together with a non-conflict memorial, are set around the main dedication on the South face. An angel bearing a wreath adorns the top of the pinnacles at the eight angles of the Cross. The memorial is set within a small garden with a low stone wall topped with ornate iron fencing, and gas-lamp style lamps each side of the four entrances. The names were originally inscribed on Hopton wood stone panels but they soon eroded in the smokey Wigan atmosphere, and an appeal was launched in 1929 to replace them with bronze plaques.
Inscription
South face: Remember the Men of Wigan who gave/ their lives to the Great War 1914 - 1918 / And the Second World War 1939 - 1945. Beneath the above: Falklands War 1982 / (Units, Names). Within the South recess: Two undated plaques bearing the names and units of two men killed in Afghanistan and an undated plaque to a Naval Officer Killed in Service. North face: A good life hath but a few days/ but a good name liveth for ever Within the North recess: Two undated plaques bearing the names and units of men omitted from the original WW1 memorial. On the plaques: The names of the units, followed by the names of the fallen. In a break with protocol, the names of the fallen of the main local Regiment, the Manchesters, beginning with the local Territorial Battalion, the 5th, precede those of the Senior Service.
Inscription legible?
yes
Names on memorial
Abbott, Edward
Abbott, Henry
Abbott, Thomas
Ackers, Walter
Adamson, Leonard C
Adamson, Robert
Adamson, William V
Adcock, James
Ainscough, Celestine W
Ainscough, Harry
See details for all 2333 names
Commemorations
  • Second World War (1939-1945)
    Total names on memorial: 478
    Served and returned: 0
    Died: 478
    Exact count: yes
    Information shown: Forename(s)/ Initial(s), Surname
    Order of information: Alphabetically, by Unit, with Addendum
  • First World War (1914-1918)
    Total names on memorial: 1848
    Served and returned: 0
    Died: 1848
    Exact count: yes
    Information shown: Forename, surname
    Order of information: By unit, alphabetically, plus Unknown Regiments, and Addenda
  • Falklands Conflict (1982)
    Total names on memorial: 2
    Served and returned: 0
    Died: 2
    Exact count: yes
    Information shown: Unit, initial, surname
    Order of information: As above
  • Afghanistan (2001-2014)
    Total names on memorial: 2
    Served and returned: 0
    Died: 2
    Exact count: yes
    Information shown: Unit, forename, surname
    Order of information: Undefined
  • Non-Combat Deaths
    Total names on memorial: 1
    Served and returned: 0
    Died: 1
    Exact count: yes
    Information shown: Unit, rank, forenames, surname
    Order of information: As above
Components
  • Cross
    Measurements: depth 2050mm, height 13370mm, width 2050mm
    Materials: Stone - Clipsham
  • Plaques
    Measurements: Undefined
    Materials: Bronze
Listing information
  • WAR MEMORIAL SOUTH OF CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS WITH ENCIRCLING RAILINGS
  • Grade II*
  • This memorial is protected, and listed on the National Heritage List for England maintained by Historic England. View list entry
  • More about listing and the protection of historic places can be found on the Historic England website
  • Historic England
Condition
History
The original stone tablets bearing the names were replaced with cast bronze plaques in 1930. Two of these were stolen in 2006, and were replaced.
Trust fund/Scholarship
No
Purpose: Unknown or N/A
Responsibility
Wigan Council
Reference
  • Carter Postcard Collection
  • Wigan Observer, 21/12/1929: Announcement by the Town Clerk of the donation of £8, the cost of one of the required 40 bronze tablets to replace the present stone tablets, and an appeal for others to contribute to the total cost of £320 of the work.
  • Wigan Observer, 23/05/1929: Report by All. FJ Pagett, Chairman of the Markets and Parks Committee of Wigan Corporation: Concern having been expressed that the Memorial lettering may need to be improved or renewed, states, 'in view of the exposed position of the War Memorial, some other method (such as Bronze Tablets, with raised lettering) will ultimately have to be substituted for the present Tablets.' He also mentions the original suggestion that the names should not be inscribed on the Memorial, but 'engrossed on vellum in the Public Library.'
  • Wigan Observer, 24/10/1925: Further report of the Unveiling and Dedication of the Memorial, with photographs, and with a full list, by unit, of the 1,800 commemorated.
  • Wigan Observer, 20/10/1925: Report of the Unveiling and Dedication of the Memorial. Includes list of the dignitaries and officials present.
  • Wigan Observer, 17/10/1925: Announcement of the arrangements for the Unveiling of the Memorial by General the Hon. Sir Herbert Alexander Lawrence, KCB, at 3.30pm that day. Details of the arrangements for relatives and orphans of those commemorated, of the order of procession etc..
  • Wigan Observer, 12/09/1925: Appeal by the new Mayor, T Holland, for a further £700 required to meet the final £4,000+ cost of the Memorial.
  • Wigan Observer, 12/05/1925: Report of the works for the Memorial having commenced, with hoardings being erected as the foundations were excavated, to 'shield the proceedings from the eyes of the curious' as bodies were relocated. The bodies were reinterred in concrete boxes at the corners of the excavations, and a ceremony took place, led by the Rector, as they were laid once more to rest. The report includes a passage on speculation that some of the bodies may have been from the Civil War, which was 'fought strenuously hereabouts', resulting in prominent Cavaliers being known to have been buried somewhere in the churchyard.
  • Wigan Observer: January 1925: Notice of Application for a faculty for the erection of the Memorial in All Saints' churchyard, followed by a report of the granting of the faculty by the Liverpool Diocesan Consistory Court. Provision was made for the 'reverent' treatment of any existing graves within the area of the Memorial's site. These included the graves of members of the Rector of Wigan's own Thicknesse family. The plans approved now included that the 1,700 names of the fallen would be displayed on stone tablets incorporated into the design.
  • Wigan Observer, 02/08/1924: Drawing of a 'Perspective View of Sir Giles C Scott's Design' for the Memorial - showing that its position has been changed, so that it will sit within the churchyard of the Parish Church, in All Saints Gardens, rather than on Wallgate itself. The drawing shows the Memorial without any provision for the display of the names of the fallen - the proposition at the time being that the names should be inscribed on vellum and bound in a book to be on display in the Town Hall.
  • Wigan Observer, 06/10/1923: Scheme proposed by the War Memorial Committee for the Memorial to be placed on Wallgate itself, in front of the Post Office and the Dog and Partridge Hotel. Three-month Appeal to be launched to raise 'at least £2,500' for the Memorial. Eminent architects to be invited to submit designs ' most suitable to the position and surroundings'. Letter from the Mayor, JM Ainscough, announcing the Appeal, against the background that it has 'been too long delayed', and that 'few towns and villages ... do not already possess a Memorial...'. It was followed by a 'First List of Subscriptions', and similar lists would appear in subsequent editions of the newspaper, along with further appeals, urged on by the promise of £500 extra being made available if the £2,500 were to be reached by the end of November.
  • Wigan Observer, 11/02/1922: Report of the meeting to launch the memorial appeal fund. The Mayor gave the history of the project so far - including of alternative proposals made. The planned cross was costed at £1700 a year ago - it would be more now. Discussion followed - with more alternatives being proposed. Additional members of the War Memorial Committee were elected to take the project forward, amid criticism of the delay thus far.
  • Wigan Observer, 28/01/1922: Announcement by the Mayor, Cllr. FJ Pagett, of a meeting the next Thursday in the Town Hall to launch the appeal for subscriptions 'from all classes' to the memorial fund.
  • Wigan Observer, 04/06/1921: Report of a discussion by the Council of the next of the War Memorial Committee on the siting of the memorial. The sites considered are given, with the reasons for rejecting them. The proposal put forward is that the site of the fountain in Mesnes Park be chosen. Votes were taken on two alternatives - the Infirmary site, and the churchyard (of All Saints) - both rejected, and the original proposal was carried. A discussion on funding the memorial followed - whether it should be paid for out of the rates, or by public subscription. The latter was chosen.
  • Wigan Observer, 05/05/1921: Discussion by the Council of the Report of the War Memorial Committee on the siting of the memorial in Mesnes Park. The suggestion was that it be placed near the fountain. However, other Councillors suggested that a site which was more highly visible should be chosen, 'rather than burying it away in the park'.
  • The Wigan Observer, 14/10/1920: Report from Wigan War Memorial Committee: Proposal for an obelisk or cross to be erected in Mesnes Park on the site of the Temporary War Shrine which had been erected to mark the signing of the Peace Treaty in June, 1919.

This record comprises all information held by IWM’s War Memorials Register for this memorial. Where we hold a names list for the memorial, this information will be displayed on the memorial record. Please check back as we are adding more names to the database.

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