West Allotment World War One Memorial
This year 2025, marks 100 years since our war memorial was erected and officially dedicated, so it seems apt to mark that major event with some sort of recognition. If anyone has any ideas on what might be appropriate then please drop us a message at admin@johnsmancave.org. The memorial is very special to the village and anything we contemplate doing has to be respectful and dignified to all those people who made sacrifices for us in World War One and the many conflicts since.
A booklet, produced by the West Allotment Local History Group, lists all of the names on the war memorial. With thanks for the support from the Northumbria World War One Commemoration Project team for allowing us to use their source material. The link to the booklet is below.
War Memorial Names
West Allotment World War One Memorial – The People
We compiled this booklet with as much of the background information on the people named on our war memorial as we known at present. A few people named have no known history, this is not unusual, if a serviceman died sometimes his distant relatives could put his name forward to the local committee which would include his name. These committees were not official bodies connected to either the local council or government. They had no access to military records to check any background. This is why you see some servicemens names on more than one war memorial, their families could live anywhere and no cross checks were made. This is the only way that the memorial committees could have dealt with trying to record as many of the war dead as possible, and in a dignified and sensitive way, officialdom would not have been welcomed.
A few of those named did not die during the actual war, thy came home and died in later years from injuries attributed to their military service.
The war memorial was erected by public subscription, the Allotment memorial costs approx £450 in 1927, people organised everts, football matches and raffles to raise funds, to name a few. The fund was around £100 short at the end, some unknown local benefactors stepped forward and made up the shortfall.
Additional names not recorded on the West Allotment Memorial
The information on the background to the names of the people on our war memorial have been checked and verified by the northumbriaworldwarone project team, as a local history group we also decided to add a further section, which are the names of local people who either died serving in World War One or came back home, and were not included on the official list in 1927. In the case of our first entry, John Henry Sykes was fortunate to have came home, we have included his name as it is part of our village local history, a record of one of our many heroes.
If you have information on any other servicemen and women, including the emergency services, who have lost their lives in any conflicts from World War One up to today we will be glad to record them in this document.
We do not have the resources to cross check all the facts, and to do so would not be apt, any new names will be recorded as part of our local history group.
The local history group covering West Allotment can be contacted at admin@johnsmancave.org.
Additional Names
John Henry Sykes
John Henry Sykes born 1883 and living at No 7 Cooperative Terrace in 1921. A coal hewer, aged 37, working for the Backworth Coal Company at the Eccles Pit. Johns’ wife was Lucinda, who was a weaver. John served in the 26th Battalion of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers “A” Company. He enlisted as a Private and was discharged as an acting WO2 and was awarded the Military Medal on the 16th August 1917. He was discharged to the Class “Z” Army Reserve. Service Number 26/645
26th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers History
26th (Service) Battalion (3rd Tyneside Irish) was formed at Newcastle, November 1914, by the Lord Mayor and City. In June 1915 it came under orders of 103rd Brigade, 34th Division. Landed in France in January 1916. 3 February 1918. The Battalion was disbanded in France.
The Military Medal was awarded to Warrant Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and Non-Commissioned Members for individual or associated acts of bravery on the recommendation of a Commander-in-Chief in the field.
Class “Z” Army Reserve – This was authorised by an Army Order of 3rd December 1918. There were fears that Germany would not accept the terms of any peace treaty, and therefore the British Government decided it would be wise to be able to quickly recall trained men in the eventuality of the resumption of hostilities.
Image from the Northumberland Fusiliers website @ Northumberlandfusiliers.org.uk
Northumberland Fusiliers Battalion List – A PDF file which has some information on the numerous Northumberland Battalions. Their history has been well documented by others, this edited list does not even scratch the surface of the bravery and hardship these men had to endure.
The Remembrance Ceremony – The Memorial in 1925
Details of the 2025 Remembrance Sunday Service
A special day for the village of West Allotment in 2025, the memorial was erected and dedicated 100 years ago. The Rev Rae Caro rededicated the memorial as part of the service.
This year was made ven more special by the attendance of the childrens groups from St Marks Church, Shiremoor. Seeing the young children place wooden crosses on the memorial was very moving for everyone.
The service commenced at 10:45 Sunday the 9th of November at the West Allotment Memorial Benton Road.
The Service was conducted by our Vicar
The Rev. Dr. Rae Caro
Vicar of the Parish of St Mark, Shiremoor. in the Diocese of Newcastle
The Exhortation and Kohima Epitaph was read by Mr Keith Page
After the Service everyone was welcome to tea / coffee at the West Allotment Community Centre, generously hosted by Kelly & Steve Woods.
The Service is organised by the community, a small group of volunteers. As times move on we need new members to help out, and if someone is willing, take over the actual organisation. A fairly simple task, given everything is in place from previous years. If you would like to join the team please email this site admin. We aso organise the “Poppies on the Lamp Posts” each year, kindly funded by donations from the community. Out of dignity for the ceremony, we do not name individual donors on each poppy, the one nearest your house is “yours”.
Some photos of Remberance Day 2025
Remembrance Day 2025 (1) © WALHG 2025
Remembrance Day 2025 (2) © WALHG 2025
Over the years the Remembrance Ceremony period of “Silence” had been reduced from two minutes to one minute. Enough of us thought that although minor, this did make a change to the dignity and purpose of the Ceremony.
We opted to go back to two minutes, the original purpose was that the first minute was remembering those that did come home and their families, the second minute is remembering those that made the ultimate sacrifice and never came home. The ceremony is not “owned” by anyone, and if people feel strongly about it then the one minute can be brought back at anytime. It just feels right to spend a few minutes in silence when we look at the hustle and bustle of life today.
Unveiling Ceremony 1925
The memorial stood on its own, metal railings on all four sides. Erected by public subscription of approx £450 at the time.
We Care
The small team who try to keep the memorial spick & span
Remembrance Sunday 2023
2023 – The day before – Dressed with flags. The poster on the railing is by the local nursery children, they pop in a few times each year.
May 2025 – VE Day
The war memorial today7th May 2025. The Second World War is not recorded on our memorial, we added some bunting today to mark Victory in Europe (VE Day) 1945, the names of the WW2 individuals might not be there, but we still remember them. Not forgotten.
A close up, she is showing the passage of time, it adds to the dignity of the memorial
A view you cannot normally see. The design was by a schoolboy from the Royal Grammar School, the prize was £10, no evidence exists to say he actually received the prize?
Why Does the Memorial Say 1919 and not 1918?
It does not matter really, but an interesting point. 1918 was only an armistice, a tempoary cessation of hostiles, the actual war did not end until 1919 when the Treaty of Versailles was signed. 1919 was the end of the war on the Western Front, conflicts continued in other places around the work, 7,000 died in in Iraq, over 2,000 in Egypt, over 1,100 in Iran plus almost 600 in Greece and 500 in Turkey. Just under 400 men are commemorated in what is now the Russian Federation. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records over 59,000 men that died between 1918 and 1921, most at home of war wounds, there was never a tidy “end date” to the country for World War One.
The date on the memorial is correct, World War One was from 1915 to 1919, Germany had signed an armistice, but had not surrendered. Britain retained a large army reserve for years after the Treaty Of Versailles in 1919, there was a very strong suspicion that Germany might not honour the Treaty
Memorial 10th November 2024
Shortly after the Service. Over 100 people and 20 children from St Marks Church Brownies & Rainbows attended the service
2025 will mark 100 years passing since the dedication of the Memorial in 1925, it would be a community decision, but it does seem apt to mark this passage of time by including a few elements of the original 1925 ceremony, such as a few white lillies around the base. We would not want to put anything on the actual monument itself, the bare and stark lists of names displayed are simple and dignified, to cover them would be missing the point of the monument.
Post recovered from our original local history group on Facebook – that was hacked and is no longe accessable to post or use. A thank you to Barbara for the original post and a unique insight to Charles Riddles life. More than just names carved on a stone monument.
18th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers
Died at The Somme, 1st July 1916
Lived at 7 North Terrace, West Allotment
Engaged to my Nanna, Anne Stobbs Gregory – they were to marry when he came home on leave. If he’d lived I would not be alive and writing this!!
His name is on West Allotment Cenotaph – RIP Charlie – we will never forget 
