Newspaper

Stanley News, 12 December 1929:

War Memorial passed every day

Mr Wardle Robinson, of 75 Wear Road, Stanley, has the extraordinary experience of passing every day when going to the William Pit, South Moor, where he is employed as a fitter, a memorial tablet upon which his name is engraved as one of the fallen in the Great War.

Mr Robinson and two other brothers served in the war and one of these, Mr Charlton Robinson was killed. His name appears upon the memorial and immediately below is that of Mr Wardle Robinson.

Mr Wardle Robinson was under military age when war broke out but he enlisted in July, 1917, when 19 years of age, and had three months’ service abroad before the signing of the Armistice. He served in the 12th/13th Northumberland Fusilisers. He was never wounded nor missing, but in some way the news was circulated that he was dead, and his name was duly inscribed upon South Moor’s Roll of Honour at the entrance to the Memorial Hall.

Not a “dead” man.

Mr Robinson’s astonishment at finding his name so inscribed was intense. He was walking along the road when he met a deputy overman, who greeted him with the remark, “Hello, killed man? It is funny to see a dead man walking about.”

Mr Robinson asked what he meant and war referred to the memorial tablet. He went to examine it, and found a man engaged in cleaning the tablet. He asked the man, pointing to his name, if he was aware that that was his name, and asked him the address of the supposed fallen solider. The workman, after examining a list, gave him the address as 40 Fourth Street, Quaking Houses, South Moor. This finally established his identity for it was the address Mr Robinson was living at when he enlisted.

Mr Robinson says that it is a pleasant thing to walk past the memorial daily and know that he is still able to get about. He at first thought of asking that his name should be expunged, but, thinking that in doing so would deface the memorial, decided to take no action in the matter.

From the Falkirk Herald, 10 October 1934

“Dead” no longer

For 15 years three miners living within a mile of each other have been officially dead according to war memorials. The Stanley Council have now removed their names from the tablets. The men, who have had to pass the memorials to and from their work all these years, are Wardle Robinson of Wear Road; Matthew Dargue, of New Kyo; and Thomas Parkin, of High Street. Robinson complained that it was unnerving to pass the memorial upon which his name was inscribed.

Author: Stanley News and Falkirk Herald

Reference: http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

Where to find this: Stanley News can be found at Durham County Record Office. Falkirk Herald is on British Newspaper Archive.

Contributed by Durham County Record Office