Killed in Action – World War I
There are two memorials, with names, to men from Bowburn who lost their lives in World War I. One is in Bowburn Community Centre (formerly Bowburn Miners’ Welfare & Social Hall, aka the ’Tute – the Institute). That Centre was built in 1961, when the memorial was transferred from its original location, the Miners’ Welfare & Institute that had been built, on the other side of Durham Road, in 1921.
The other memorial is in Christ the King Church and has three lists of names, in memory of men from Bowburn, Cassop and Quarrington [Hill] – all in the same ecclesiastical parish. It was originally erected in St. Paul’s Church, at Quarrington Hill, which was the Parish Church from when it was first consecrated, in 1868, till it closed in 1991. It then moved to the St. Paul’s Worship Centre, also in Quarrington Hill; then to Quarrington Hill Community Centre, and finally to Christ the King Church, Bowburn. This memorial has three lists of names.
This page lists the names on these two memorials.
For detailed information about each of the men, see Local men who died in WWI
The following men are remembered on the 1921 memorial at Bowburn Community Centre.
Thomas Allison
James Barker
Robert Bell
Harold Blackburn
Richard Blenkinsop
William Blenkinsop
Thomas Brunskill
Christopher Walker Carling
John Gilligan
John Thomas Griffiths
William Hall
William John Harrington
John Joseph Johnson
David Kellie
George Herbert Latue
Robert Lawson
James Lindsay
Michael Joseph Lowery
James McKeown
Thomas Mitchell
Henry Moore
Robert Morland
Joseph S. Morley
Thomas Euen Nesham
Andrew Pearson
John George Purvis
Thomas Ramshaw
Ernest Robinson
Albert John Scott
Jesse Smith
William Snook
Joseph Pyke Wake
Christopher Waugh
John Welsh
James William Wood
An additional plaque was erected at the Community Centre in memory of four men who, it was felt deserved commemoration in Bowburn but did not appear on either of the existing memorials, nor of any in nearby settlements. These were:
Horace Davies
William Foster
Joseph John Laidler
Walter Salisbury
The following men are remembered on the memorial at Christ the King Church:
Bowburn
T. Allison
W. Baker
R. Bell
H. Blackburn
R. Blenkinsopp
W. Blenkinsopp
T. Brunskill
C. Carling
E. Cooper
J. Glazier
J. Gillighan
J. T. Griffiths
J. Hall
W. Hall
W. J. Harrington
J. Hunter
R. Lawson
J. Lindsay
R. W. Lindsay
M. Lowery
J. McKeown
T. Mitchell
H. Moore
J. Morley
R. Moreland
A. Pearson
W. Ramsay
T. Ramshaw
T. H. Pragnell
J. G. Purvis
A. Scott
J. Smith
W. Snooks
J. P. Wake
C. Waugh
Cassop
R. Bestford
R. Carter
H. Chipchase
W. Galloway
J. Gray
S. Jones
W. Lawson
D. Mackey
F. Newby
R. W. Raine
J. C. Taylor
W. H. L. Taylor
R. W. Todd
R. Walton
G. Wilson
W. Wilson
Quarrington
R. Applegarth
J. Bestford
R. Dobinson
J. Eslick
T. Graham
J. F. Hodgson
F. Hurton
J. Hutchinson
R. W. Jones
L. Kell
P. Kitchingman
G. Lamb
M. Lawson
R. Lloyd
T. Mangle
T. H. Moyle
A. Perryman
T. Price
H. Race
R. Seaton
J. Smith
W. Taylor
J. Tunstall
W. Walker
E. B. Williams
J. W. Wood
J. Wynwood
The first detailed information about the above men was made available thanks to the pioneering research of John Davison. His book, “Durham Men in the Great War”, published in 2000, is mainly about men from Bowburn who died in WWI. It was published by the History of Education Project, School of Education, Durham.
Since then, research has been done by Bowburn Local History Society, made possible by more recent internet resources, and benefitting especially from the publication of the 1911 Census. A summary of this can be found in the subpage, “Local men who died in WWI”, using the link at the bottom of this page.
For information covering a much wider area, see the North East War Memorials Project’s excellent website: www.newmp.org.uk