Welcome to the Pudsey Cenotaph virtual Remembrance page, in association with the Pudsey & Farsley Royal British Legion Branch. The British Legion are recognised as the Nation's custodians of Remembrance.
This website is here for you to explore the history behind and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
For your tomorrow they gave their today, we will not break faith with them.
This website is here for you to explore the history behind and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
For your tomorrow they gave their today, we will not break faith with them.
About the Cenotaph:
The Cenotaph was subscribed for and erected by Pudsey residents and the unveiling ceremony was held on the 10th September 1922. It was dedicated by the Lord Bishop of Bradford The Right Reverend Arthur Perowne, D. D. After the unveiling ceremony, the Cenotaph was handed over to the town by the Vicar of Pudsey, the Reverend C. Owen French, M.A., on behalf of the subscribers. The Cenotaph is a square pedestal of Portland Stone and supports the bronze figure of a private soldier of the West Yorkshire Regiment in full kit with rifle slung, and was designed by Messrs. Brierley & Rutherford, Architects, of York. The bronze figure of the soldier was created by Mr. Henry Poole of London. At a cost of £5000 it was sited on the consecrated grounds of the old Chapel of Ease of All Saints. The chapel had ancient origins predating its rebuilding in 1793, later to be demolished in 1879. Pudsey Cenotaph is now a Grade II listed public monument. A Cenotaph - which literally means Empty Tomb in Greek - is a tomb or monument erected to honour a person or group of persons whose remains are elsewhere. Many of the men commemorated here lie in Commonwealth War Grave Commission burial grounds in France and Belgium. Some who were lost completely are remembered on monuments such as the Menin Gate. |
About the commemorated:
The memorial carries the names of 341 servicemen who died in World War I and 79 servicemen and one servicewoman from the Second World War. Of those whose date of death is known, the most tragic day was the first day of the battle of the Somme. At least thirty seven men from the district are known to have lost their lives that day. The Battle of the Somme went on to claim more lives from Pudsey than the whole of the Second World War. Also included on this site are the names from War Graves in Pudsey Cemetery and Memorial Plaques in Pudsey institutions and Churches. Many of these people due to either dying at home or only having a basic association with Pudsey were not included on the original Cenotaph inscriptions. They are all now included here together for the first time. Information about casualties is supplied as researched, errors or omissions will be rectified after notification. No responsibility can be taken for inaccuracies. |