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WAR MEMORIAL They shall not grow old, as we who are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
We will remember them.
Dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori. | |
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The memorial monument is a stone cross mounted on a stepped, circular pedestal, on an octagonal base, located on sloping ground in a garden to the east of the main door of St. Peter's Parish Church. The cross overlooks Colley Lane (formerly High Street) by its junction with Butchers Lane.
 |  | | | The Cradley War Memorial monument, with St. Peter's in the background | |
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The unveiling and dedication of this War Memorial and also declaring open the Band Stand in the nearby Recreation Ground were commemorated in ceremonies held on Saturday January 28th 1928, conducted by the Viscount Lord Cobham (Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire). Both memorials were committed to the care of the Halesowen Urban District Council, and were accepted by J. B. Downing, Esq. C.C. (Chairman of the U.D.C.). The War Memorial ceremony included the Last Post Reveille by Bugler Slater and the Band Stand ceremony was accompanied by a musical selection played by the Cradley X.L.C.R. Band.
The war dead of Cradley were also commemorated by the planting of 60 trees in the Avenue of Remembrance, in the New Churchyard of the Parish Church, on Saturday December 16th 1922.
Near the top of the Memorial cross is inscribed:
"REMEMBRANCE" on one side and
"1914-1918"
on the other. Lower down the cross are inscribed the words of John 15:13 :
"GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS, THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS"
below which are four stone plaques with the Roll of Honour. Below two of these are two more plaques of names for the 1939-1945 War, both of which also include added names relating to the 1914-1918 War.
 | | | | Detail - Cradley War Memorial (1) | |
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|  | | | | Detail - Cradley War Memorial (2) | |
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|  | | | | Detail - Cradley War Memorial (3) | |
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|  | | | | Detail - Cradley War Memorial (4) | |
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A second Memorial is a wooden plaque on a wall in the assembly hall of the Church of England Primary School nearby (Ordnance Survey reference: SO 942 850).
 | | | | Plaque in the assembly hall of the Church of England Primary School, Cradley. | |
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At the top of the plaque is inscribed:
"CRADLEY C. OF E. SCHOOL
1914 FORMER SCHOLARS WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR 1918".
Below the list of names is inscribed:
"AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN
THE MORNING WE WILL REMEMBER THEM".
Many of the persons named on the School plaque are also on the War Memorial monument and are included in both lists below.
Original spellings have been used throughout.
WAR MEMORIAL: 1939-1945
- BILLS, J.C.
- BRADNEY, W.H.
- BRIDGEWATER, T.
- BUTLER, J.
- CARPENTER, V.A.C.
- CARTWRIGHT, J.
- COOKE, H.
- COX, S.
- COX, C.
- COX, D.
- DAVIES, W.H.
- GILLIAM, H.
- GRAINGER, C.T.
- GRAZIER, W.
- HEATH, W.
- HOARES, A.
- KIRTON,S.
- MILLWARD, C.
- MOORE, A.
- MORETON, A.F.
- NORTH, H.
- NEALE, T.H.
- NORTH, W.
- OAKLEY, B.J.
- OWEN, F.
- POWELL, H.
- PRIEST, A.
- RAYBOULD, B.
- RAYBOULD, C.
- REECE, T.
- ROBINSON, R.
- RUDGE, T.
- SIDAWAY, L.
- SOUTHWICK, D.
- STEVENS, B.
- TAYLOR, A.
- TAYLOR, V.
- TROMANS, J. H.
- TURLEY, S.G.
- WATTERS, F.E.
- WEAVER, H.
- WILLETTS, J.
- LITTLEWOOD, J.S.J.
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CRADLEY C. OF E. SCHOOL: 1914-1918
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The words in the heading of this article are from For the Fallen, written on the 21st of September, 1914 by Laurence Binyon (1869-1943).
The full text is:
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.
Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is a music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.
They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncountered:
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables at home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.
But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;
As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end they remain.
The Latin quotation ‘dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori’ is from Horace, Odes, iii ii 13 and means ‘it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country’. It is also the title of a famous poem by Wilfred Owens describing the death of a young soldier by gas in the first world war. |
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