A single white rose is to be left at the Scott statue in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard to mark the centenary of Scott’s ill fated expedition to the South Pole on the 17th January 1912.

Adjacent to Porter’s Lodge in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, the statue of Robert Falcon Scott stands along with one of his trusty dogs.

Scott memorial - Portsmouth. Pic Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

It was sculpted by his widow, Lady Kathleen Scott, in 1915.

The statue came to be in Portsmouth following its commission by the then Commanding Officer of HMS Vernon as a tribute to the great explorer, with all the ship’s officers helping to fund the project.

The Grade II-listed bronze sculpture is inscribed with a moving extract found in his journal on his return from the South Pole

…the gale is howling about us, we are weak, writing is difficult but for my own sake I do not regret this journey, which has shown that Englishmen can endure hardships, help one another and meet death with as great a fortitude as ever in the past.

We took risks, we knew we took them.

Things have come out against us and therefore we have no cause for complaint but bow to the will of providence determined to do our best to the end.

The statue has been moved a number of times due to the changing nature of the naval base.

It originally stood in The Parade before being moved to outside Storehouse 11, now the National Museum of the Royal Navy.

One more move sees it now between the Mary Rose Museum and Porter’s Lodge, allowing the public to freely visit it.

Norwegian Flag

When the party of five, led by Scott, reached the Pole they found a Norwegian flag and a note from Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen stating that his party had reached the area a few days earlier on 14th December 1911.

Non of the Scott’s party returned.

A tent and bodies, along with the diaries and last letters of Scott, were found eight months later by a search party led by Dr. Atkinson.

Scott was posthumously awarded a Knight Commander of the Bath and Kathleen retained the rights and privileges of the rank. A campaign was launched to raise a memorial fund to continue with the scientific work Scott had been actively involved with and the Scott Polar Research Institute was founded.

More information

About the man - Robert Falcon Scott 

Major T.P. Gray is buried in the graveyard of Dalston Church in North Cumbria. His grave is marked by a single, slightly damaged white stone with his name, rank and regimental insignia carved into it.

Major T.P Gray is remembered in Dalston Church, Cumbria

Surrounded by dark coloured headstones the bright white Commonwealth War Grave memorial stands as a beacon in the graveyard, just like the Major possibly did for the men under his command.

Little is known about Major Thomas Patrick Gray and why he is buried in the church in north Cumbria. Except that he died on the 12 September 1946 and that he was a major in the Royal Artillery.

He is buried in ward 5, sec. C, grave number 60.

His service number, according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, was 94441.

It is thought that he may have been the Judge Advocate General for a time. However, at this stage this is not proven.

More information

Do you know any more about Major Gray ?  Let us know via the comments area below or via the contact us page.

Moses Carpenter died in 1889 and is buried in Linthorpe Cemetery, Middlesbrough in the north east of England.

On the face of it this seems an unremarkable story, until you go behind the name and realise he was a Native American Indian and has become part of local history.

Moses Carpenter - The Middlesbrough Mowhawk

Ska-Run-Ya-Te,  his real name, was born in a Tuscarora, Ontario, Canada in 1854, as a member of the Mohawk tribe.

He came to Middlesborough in 1889 as part of a travelling medicine show.

Moses and a few colleagues provided entertainment for the crowds as teeth were extracted and potions applied by showman Sequah, the leader of the show.

Sequah was however an Englishman, whose real name was William Hannaway Rowe.

Reports from the day indicate that the arrival of the painted caravan and associated show was quite a spectacle attracting large crowds wherever it set up camp.

Sadly for Moses he developed a fever shortly after the show arrived in Middlesbrough in the August of 1889. He died soon after, on the 15 August in the North Riding Infirmary in the town.

Three days later a funeral took place at St Pauls Church. Lining the route from the church to the cemetery was an estimated 15,000 people, thought to be one of the largest gatherings for a funeral in the town.

The poem inscribed on his gravestone was written by a local girl called Mary Charlotta Parvin.

Recent restoration work has been carried out on the gravestone following decay and vandalism.

A campaign is ongoing to get the body of Moses Carpenter repatriated.

Our thanks to the Friends of Linthorpe Cemetery for their help with this article.

Can you add to the story of the Mohawk in Middlesbrough?  Let us know via the comments area below or via the contact us page.

Further information

The Quack Doctor - Sequah – a Victorian Celebrity Quack

Up to 4 million pages of historical newspapers now searchable online at the British Newspaper Archive.

This valuable and fascinating facility will provide unparalleled access to a treasure trove of stories covering up to 4 million pages from the British Library’s newspaper collections and is set to transform family history research.

The British Library and online publisher Brightsolid  have launched a website that will transform the way that people use historical newspapers to find out about the past.

The British Newspaper Archive website will offer access to up to 4 million fully searchable pages, featuring more than 200 newspaper titles from every part of the UK and Ireland.

The newspapers, which mainly date from the 19th century, but which include runs dating back to the first half of the 18th century, cover every aspect of local, regional and national news.

Highlights include

Exhaustive coverage of crime and punishment, from infamous murder trials to heart-rending stories of men, women and children transported to Australia for the most minor thefts (in one case, seven years transportation for the theft of seven cups and five saucers).

Eyewitness accounts of social transformation – newspaper reports, commentary and letters to the editor on topics ranging from the railway mania of the mid-19th century to the extraordinary expansion of the temperance movement.

Illustrations and advertisements – the aspirations and anxieties of the time laid bare in searchable ads and classifieds, peddling everything from the latest fashion to miracle cures for baldness and venereal disease.

Alongside first-hand accounts of historic events such as the wedding of Victoria and Albert and the Charge of the Light Brigade, these newspapers also provide countless vivid details of how our ancestors lived and died, how they went up and down in the world and how they fed, clothed and entertained themselves.

Historical newspapers provide a fresh perspective on the history we think we know: contemporary reporting of notable individuals and milestone events yield a host of surprising details and social history often absent from conventional accounts.

The website offers a wealth of material for people researching family history, including family notices, announcements and obituaries, while the ability to search by name, location, date and newspaper title means that people can search across hundreds of thousands of pages at a time as they track down that elusive ancestor.

Searching the website generates free preview snippets of results found – to download full articles and images, users have a range of payment options including pay-per-view access for 48 hours or 30 days, and a subscription package for a year. The website is free to use in the British Library’s reading rooms.

Pricing information

The British Newspaper Archive is free to search. To view the content in a newspaper page image, there is a choice of two pay per view or subscription packages lasting 48 hours or 30 days. The subscription package is priced £79.95 for one year.

The British Newspaper Archive can be used for free on-site at the British Library’s Reading Rooms in St Pancras, Colindale and Boston Spa.

For more information visit The British Newspaper Archive website.

A powerful and moving tribute to all the animals that served, suffered and died alongside the British, Commonwealth and Allied forces in the wars and conflicts of the 20th century, stands on the edge of Hyde Park in London.

The trustees of The Animals in War Memorial Fund erected the memorial at Brook Gate, Park Lane, London in 2004. It was unveiled by HRH The Princess Royal in November of the same year on the 90th anniversary of the start of World War I.

The £2 million needed to build the monument on such a superb Central London site came from a national appeal and the generosity of many individual donors, charities and companies.

Created by renowned sculptor David Backhouse FRBS, RWA, FRSA. The monument is constructed in Portland stone and cast bronze.

Standing 17.68m wide and 16.76m deep, the memorial has a strong visual impact, both from distant and close views.

The sculptor has designed the monument in order to involve visitors and to attract people to enter it and become personally informed about the subject.

The Symbolism of the Design

There are three principal elements in the design; two different levels and a dominating and powerful wall between them.

On the lower level, two heavily laden bronze mules struggle through an arena, enclosed by the dominant wall symbolising the war experience. The mules approach a flight of steps that leads through the wall.

Beyond the wall, on the upper level, a bronze horse and dog stand facing north into the gardens, bearing witness to the loss of their comrades and representing hope for the future.

The Wall

Images of the many different animals used in 20th century conflicts are depicted in bas-relief on the inside of the longer section of wall. On the outside of this wall a line of ghostly silhouettes is carved, representing the animals lost in the conflicts.

Inscriptions

There are inscriptions on both sides of the shorter section of wall, including the name of the monument and information about theatres of war and the numbers of animals lost.

The names of major donors are carved on the outside of the longer section of wall.

Animals in war

Many millions of animals served and often died alongside the British, Commonwealth and Allied forces during both world wars and they continue to play an important role to this day.

These animals were chosen for a variety of natural instincts and tenacity.

Horses, Mules and Donkeys

Eight million horses and countless mules and donkeys died in the First World War where they were used to transport ammunition and supplies to the front and many died, not only from the horrors of shellfire but also in terrible weather and appalling conditions.

Mules were found to have tremendous stamina in extreme climates and over the most difficult terrain, serving courageously in the freezing mud on the Western Front and later at Monte Cassino in World War II.

Equally they toiled unflinchingly in the oppressive heat of Burma, Eritrea and Tunisia. There are many inspiring and often tragic stories of the great devotion and loyalty shown between horses, mules and donkeys and their masters during some of the bloodiest conflicts of the 20th century, as can be read in Jilly Cooper’s moving book Animals in War, published by Corgi.

Dogs

The dog’s innate qualities of intelligence and devotion have been valued and used by the forces in conflicts throughout the century.

Among their many duties, these faithful animals ran messages, laid telegraph wires, detected mines and IED’s, dug out bomb victims and acted as guard or patrol dogs.

Many battled on despite horrific wounds and in terrifying circumstances to the limit of their endurance, showing indomitable courage and supreme loyalty to their handlers.

Pigeons

More than 100,000 pigeons served Britain in the First World War and 200,000 in World War II. They performed heroically and saved thousands of lives by carrying vital messages, sometimes over long distances, when other methods of communication were impossible.

Flying at the rate of a mile a minute from the front line, from behind enemy lines or from ships or aeroplanes, these gallant birds would struggle on through all weathers, even when severely wounded and exhausted, in order to carry their vital messages home.

Other Animals

Elephants, camels, oxen, bullocks, cats, canaries, even glow worms — all these creatures, great and small, contributed their strength, their energy and their lives in times of war and conflict to the British, Commonwealth and Allied forces during the 20th century.

This Memorial is a fitting and lasting tribute to them all.

More information

Animals in war website

Wesley Square on the quayside in Newcastle upon Tyne  includes a memorial obelisk to John Wesley, who first preached on Tyneside in May 1742.

Newcastle was a very important centre for Wesley, on a par with Bristol and London.

John and his brother Charles were the founders of  the Methodist religious movement.

From the 1730′s until his death in London on 3rd March 1791, John Wesley travelled some many thousands of miles around Britain, on horseback and by carriage; he preached several times each day and wrote or edited around 400 publications.

He left behind a movement of about 70,000 members.

Wesley Memorial

A slim obelisk of polished pink granite rises above a grey marble pedestal on which an organic pattern is carved in contrasting black paint.

There is a water trough at the base of the east face and a drinking trough attached to the west face, above which is attached a separately carved lion’s head.

The memorial obelisk was commissioned on the centenary of Wesley’s death by local Methodists and sited on ground given by the Town Improvement Committee.

Unveiled by Utrick Ritson on the 29 October 1891 the monument is English Heritage Grade II listed. The designer is not known.

Mr Ritson, said that the drinking fountain was a fitting memorial to one of the most remarkable characters of the eighteenth century.

The Tyne bridge can be seen in the distance

The obelisk was cleaned and re-sited by Eura Conservation in 1992 as part of Tyne and Wear Development Corporation’s regeneration of the river frontage. However, it is no longer connected to a water supply.

John Wesley

Wesley recorded his first visit to Newcastle in his Journal.

The entry for Sunday 30th May 1742 reads: ‘At seven in the morning I walked down to Sandgate, the poorest and most contemptible part of the town, and standing at the end of the street with John Taylor, began to sing the hundredth psalm’.

It was a remarkable occurrence because people were not used to outdoor evangelical sermons.

He preached again that evening to a large crowd and subsequently visited Tyneside another 50 times over the course of his life, taking a personal interest in the religious and moral lives of its inhabitants.

Further information

Wesley Memorial Fountain - Public Monument and Sculpture Association

Methodist Heritage

Listing every Scots serviceman and woman killed since 1914, the Scottish National War Memorial is a unique and hugely impressive building, housed within Edinburgh Castle.

Opened in 1927, the memorial is one of the most impressive physical commemorations built following The Great War.

Though not a memorial owned by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the aims of the two institutions are very similar – that the names of each person killed from a specific locality during the First World War – should be remembered forever.

Filmed on the day of the annual service of commemoration at the Memorial, this film explains why the Scottish National War Memorial remains relevant in the 21st century.

Members of the public who are related to Commonwealth war casualties buried in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin are being urged to help in a project to mark their graves.

Glasnevin is Ireland’s largest cemetery and resting place for some of the country’s most important figures, including Eamon de Valera, Michael Collins and Daniel O’Connell.

It is also where the graves of 208 men and women who died whilst serving with British forces in the two world wars are to be found.

As part of an ongoing project to locate and mark these graves, people who are related to these men and women are being urged to contact The Glasnevin Trust and help finish this important piece of work.

A special Remembrance Day service will be held at the cemetery at 15:00 GMT on 11 November 2011.

A full list of the 208 casualties can be found here: www.glasnevintrust.ie

In the sleepy agricultural village of Ireby in Cumbria, is the Parish church dedicated to St James.

A monument to the fallen in World War I and II reads:

In memory of the men

Ireby, Cumbria - War Memorial

of this parish who
gave their lives
in the war

1914- 1918

William Carlisle
John Graham
George Lawman
William Lawman
Ben Pattinson
j Dixon Pearson
Joseph Smithson

and in the war

1939 – 1945

Harry Stephens
Joseph Strong
Frank Vipond
Tom Watson

St Jame's church, Ireby

This new church replaced the earlier 12th century building about 1 mile further away and itself is built on the remnants of an old medieval church, especially noticeable in the build of the north wall.  However, most of the structure dates back to it’s early 18th century construction.

The font, which is thought to date from the 18th century sits on an earlier medieval base brought from the original church.

Internal memorials are dedicated to Thomas Thomlinson 1803 and in the chancel, to the Gillbanks family of Whitfield house, who’s vault is in the church.

In the small cemetery, most gravestones are dated around the 18th and 19th centuries.  Any older burials will be sited at the old church but most of these gravestones have now gone.

CA7 1HA
OS Grid Reference: NY2401137930
OS Grid Coordinates: 324011, 537930
Latitude/Longitude: 54.7306, -3.1815

To date, we have been unable to find any transcription records for St. Jame’s church burials in Ireby or for the older Norman church, but if anybody knows different, please do contact us via the comments section at the end of this article.

One of our readers has kindly provided us with a document detailing the burials at Ettleton Cemetery in Newcastleton.

The monument to William Armstrong of Sorbitrees towers above those of others in the small cemetery

Newcastleton sits on the Scottish border in, Roxburghshire and Ettleton cemetery is dominated by Border Reiver names such as Armstrong, Beattie, Crozier and Elliot, of which the largest monument in the cemetery belongs to William Armstrong of Sorbytrees.

The hand typed list provides detailed grave inscriptions for over 250 gravestones and monuments and is a great resource for anybody researching border reiver family history.

It is not known when this list was compiled, but dates on the stones range from early 18th century to mid 20th century.

The provenance and completeness of this list is unknown and was thought to have been collated by somebody researching family genealogy.  However, it is obvious that he or she applied many hours to this enterprise.

Grave stone inscription records such as this are usually collected for private family history research but they play an incredibly important role for others around the world.

We cannot be responsible for the accuracy of the list, and as far as we are aware there are no copyright issues, but please do contact us if you have other information.

Many thanks to the person who took the time to collect this information and to our kind reader, who after using it to research her own family genealogy, has allowed us to publish it for the benefit of others.