Pulman Street and Evans Square Roll of Honour, Streetlife Museum of Transport, Hull, 29/11/14.

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British Army, Coldstream Guards, East Yorkshire Regiment, Hull, Hull City of Culture 2017, memorial, Military History, Military Medal, Museums, Northumberland Fusiliers, Pulman Street Hull, Roll of Honour, Street Shrine, Streetlife Museum of Transport, Streetlife Museum of Transport Hull, World War One

This is one of three memorials now displayed at the Streetlife Museum of Transport. The two other Rolls of Honour or Street Shrines are rather large, Gothic, dark, wooden affairs, so this one stands out considerably in comparison, with its names clearly displayed in black and white. I became curious to know if I could find out anything about these men and their service in World War One, so I took this photograph on Saturday morning and I have spent my Sunday evening researching; largely with the aid of www.ww1hull.org.uk. 

Sergeant Albert Arksey MM and Bar (33399) gave his address as 23 Pulman Street when he joined the 11th (Service) Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment on the 1st November 1917. By the 28th June 1918 he had won his Military Medal and was promoted to the rank of Sergeant. On the 6th September 1918 he was killed by a German sniper after only 10 months service. Arksey also appears on a list of railway employees, published by the National Railway Museum, who lost their lives in World War One, so we know that he worked as porter with the North Eastern Railway and that his death was reported in the North Eastern Railway Staff Magazine for November 1918 (page 208).

Corporal Gilbert Lupton (10453) served with the 4th Battalion of the Coldstream Guards and died on the 20th January 1918.

George Alfred Harman (7753) joined the 8th (Service) Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment, one of the eight Kitchenner battalions raised in the August of 1914, and George William Yarrow joined the 11th (Service) Battalion known as the “Hull Tradesmen“.

Three of the men joined the Northumberland Fusiliers. George Holmes Ellis (5498) served in the 19th (Service) Battalion, the 2nd Tyneside Pioneers, raised in Newcastle on the 6th November 1914. George Borman (3881) and Harry Wright (242265) both served in the 4th Battalion, which was a Territorial unit originally based in Hexham. Harry Wright’s brother, Lance Corporal John Henry Wright (21725), died serving with the 7th Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment.

The other names seem to have been lost to history, apart from C Smith, whose initial and surname are so common that my research discovered 607 possible Smiths.

Photo Archive: Wreath, The Guards Memorial, Horseguards Parade, London, 21/11/10.

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British Army, Coldstream, Coldstream Guards, Horseguards Parade, London, memorial, Military History, Poppies, Poppy Day, Remembrance Sunday, The Guards Memorial, World War One

“Honi soit qui mal y pense” (Shame on him who thinks evil of it).

This memorial wreath takes the form of The Star of The Order of The Garter, with poppies forming the Cross of St. George at its centre. The Star, as well as being the heraldic symbol of Britain’s highest order of chivalry, is the regimental insignia of the Coldstream Guards. The losses of all five Regiments of Foot Guards are commemorated as part of The Guards Memorial, alongside those of the units that made up the The Guards Division, who lost their lives in World War One and “in the Service of their Country since 1918″. The memorial faces Horseguards Parade, the large parade ground in Whitehall, where The Guards troop their colours to mark The Monarch’s official birthday every year.

My maternal grandfather was from Coldstream, the ancestral home of the Coldstream Guards, so I have always had a bias towards the Regiment (and that’s why you’re not looking at a wreath shaped like the cap badge of The Grenadier Guards). I’ve written about the Coldstream Guards memorial in Henderson Park in Coldstream before [Photo Archive: Henderson Park, Coldstream, April 2012] and this insignia has appeared in more unexpected places on my travels [Coldstream Guards Hassock, St. Mary’s Church, Beverley, 14/05/14].

Coldstream Guards Hassock, St. Mary’s Church, Beverley, 14/05/14.

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Beverley, Coldstream Guards, cross stitch, Hassock, HM Queen Elizabeth II, Order of the Garter, St Mary's Church Beverley

Dedicated to the Coldstream Guards.

It was the “annual procession of Knights of the Garter… through the grounds of Windsor Castle” yesterday [or so The Times informs me; there’s a lovely photograph of Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh on page 13] and it remembered me of this hassock from St. Mary’s Church in Beverley. This Star of the Order of the Garter (shown here upside down) is not only worn by members of Britain’s oldest and most senior order of chivalry, but is also the cap badge of The Coldstream Guards who stand “second to none” in the British Army. This hassock must have been stitched by an old Guardsman or, more likely, the wife of one.

Photo Archive: Henderson Park, Coldstream, April 2012.

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Boarders, Coldstream, Coldstream Guards, Henderson Park, Parks, River Tweed, Scottish Boarder, View

Henderson Park.

Like everything from my childhood, I remember Henderson Park being bigger. Coldstream was a regular family holiday destination and stopping off point on our way further North to Edinburgh and the Highlands, because I have a family connection to this Scottish Boarder town, but due to changes in circumstance I had more than a ten year break between this visit and the one before. My sister and I walked from our Aunties’ house at the end of the Town and we walked down the High Street subconsciously heading towards Henderson Park.

Coldstream Guards monument.

The Scottish Boarders Council website informs me that the park was formally the tennis court of a Dr. Henderson, which I didn’t know until today, so that should give you an idea of the size of it. Much like most gardens in the UK it has its well tended lawn in the centre with flower beds around it and monumental stone on end as a focal point. The thing that indicates is a public park is the path that allows you to walk around without ruining the precious turf (I’m not sure if you’re allowed to walk on the grass, but we never have).

The stone monument at the far end of the park celebrates Coldstreams connection with the Coldstream Guards, one of the finest regiments in the British Army (although I am incredibly biased; Her Majesty The Queen does have four other Foot Guard regiments whose member might have something to say about that). It was from Coldstream that General George Monck marched the first Coldstreamers across the boarder into England in 1660 in order to restore the Stuart monarchy.

But the highlight of Henderson Park is the view from behind the monument:

That isthe River Tweed and Northumberland on the far bank. Beautiful isn’t it?