Historians to create war heroes Roll of Honour

Thursday, 13 September 2012

REMEMBERING: John Edmeads, Jo Cullen and Ken Porter from Barildon Heritage Group collecting facts for its Roll of Honour. Picture by Mark Cleveland

By Pat Jones

A GROUP of dedicated local historians is digging for facts about local First World War heroes.
They plan to produce a leather bound of Roll of Honour for every parish in the borough in time for the 100th anniversary of the start of the ‘war to end all wars’ in September 2014.
Ken Porter and his colleagues from Basildon Heritage Group are battling to finish their project on time.
“It is a monumental task,” he said.
It involves searching graveyards, photographing stones and monuments, searching parish records and trying to get facts from younger surviving family members.
They spend a lot of time in churches and at war memorials.
“The trouble is a lot of records for World War One were destroyed during the Second World War.
“We find a name of a soldier but have no way of tracing him – that’s when we have to rely on local knowledge,” Ken added.
A case in point is a grave they discovered in St Nicholas Churchyard, Laindon, which belongs to H.J.W I. Larkin, who was with the Royal Fusiliers and was killed on November 25, 1918 – just days after the end of the war.
“We have not been able to find any other details about him, but we hope someone will be able to help,” Ken said.
The group will produce loose-leaf volumes so they can add any more of the fallen they find during their research.
“Once we have finished the First World War, we will move onto the Second World War, and the hopefully we will be able to commemorate the brave men and women who have laid down their lives for their country in the conflict since.” Ken said.

THE GROUP is also looking for help with details about these other fallen heroes:-
• Basildon - P J Bates, A McMahon, E G Strong.
• Bowers Gifford - J Harrison.
• Laindon - B Bruce, W E Jarrod, G Sniggers.
• Langdon Hills - B Bruce, H R Clayton, G C Denton, G Faux
T W Roberson, H C Stratton.
• Envenom - Sydney Reginald Thorpe Wright, Harry Masters of Envenom Hall died 06/04/1915.
• Pitsea - W Brown, F Campbell, B Gray, William Henry Turner, Thomas Frederick Wood.
• Vange -T Derrick, A Grey, W T Harlow, A Hull.
If anyone can help please contact Ken at kenporter@basildonheritagegroup.org.uk

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