The Southampton Cenotaph ‘Roll of Honour’

Dr Paul Everill, Southampton City Council Archaeology Unit, February 2008

Compiled from information in files relating to the Southampton War Memorial Committee (1919-1922) held at the Civic Centre Archives, REF: SC2/4/11/1-3. With thanks to Jo Smith and Sue Hill for their assistance. 

Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and constructed in Portland stone, the Cenotaph in Watts’ (West) Park was paid for entirely through donations made by local businesses and private individuals. It was unveiled and dedicated on 6th November 1920 and was described in the pamphlet produced for the dedication ceremony as “the Great War Stone of Remembrance, a monolith, an altar in form, identical to those which lie in each of our War Cemeteries throughout the War area, with the words chosen by Mr. Rudyard Kipling – ‘Their name liveth for evermore’ – cut on its west face.  Behind this stone, on a plinth, standing on a platform of steps, rises a great pylon.”

The names of those from the Borough of Southampton who fell in the Great War were initially inscribed onto the north and south recessed faces of the central pylon of the monument. Although the pamphlet for the dedication ceremony claimed there to be 1,800 names of the men of Southampton who died in the war, there were actually 1,793 and included a number of women who had worked in the Merchant Navy or with the Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps. However, in the months following the dedication a number of families came forward asking that their loved ones also be included, but their requests were initially refused.  

The mother of Arthur Ernest Hayball, who had died when the Merchant Navy vessel SS Antonio was torpedoed, wrote to the Town Clerk only to be told that it was not possible to add any further names. Mrs Hayball then contacted Norton Catchpole, Secretary of the Hants Division of the “Comrades of the Great War”, who took up the case and advertised in the ‘Echo’ for more families to come forward. By 26th April 1921 Catchpole had a list of a further 148 names, which he sent to Alderman S.G. Kimber who headed the War Memorial Committee. As a result of Catchpole’s letters in the ‘Echo’ he was contacted by P.F. Morant, of the long-established Morant Bros stonemasons on Malmesbury Road, Southampton. Morant offered to cut the extra names free of charge, on the understanding that it would be done anonymously. He did not want a “cheap advertisement” and wrote to Catchpole that “I am offering to do this as I am an ex-service man myself and thankful my own name hasn’t to go on there”. He signed the letter, “P.F. Morant, Late Sapper 26th Field Coy. RE, 1st Division, BEF”. 

Despite this offer, when the decision was taken to add the missing names, by then standing at 203, Garret and Haysom were commissioned. Their invoice for £26-16-0 shows that the work was completed by 15th November 1921. However, this was not quite the final act and, in February 1922, Garret and Haysom were hired again to add the 1,997th and final name, William Henry Thomas Deem. The following list is separated into three parts- the original roll of honour as published in the pamphlet produced for the dedication ceremony (1793 names); followed by the supplemental roll of honour added in 1921 (203 names), then 1922 (1 name). The 1921 and 1922 names were inscribed at the shoulder of the pylon, below the recessed panels that contain the original list on the north and south sides.      

ROLL OF HONOUR - 1920 

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Aaron, John Joseph	Abbott, William Henry	Abery, Ernest Sidney F.
Abraham, Alfred L.P	Abraham, Felix	Adams, Ernest Geo.
Adams, Leonard	Adams, William George	Adderley, Walter J.
Ahier, Clarence John	Aitken, Alexander Y.B.	Akerman, Arthur W.
Aldis, Owen Basil	Alexander, Leonard G.	Allan, Thomas
Allcock Horatio	Allen, Albert. F.	Allen, Frank Albert
Allen, George Grieg	Allen, Henry Albert	Allen, William
Allen, William James	Ames, Frank	Anderson, Albert Mark
Anderson, James	Anderson, John Aitken	Anderson, William
Anderson, William Christian	Andrews, Arthur Charles	Andrews, George Arthur
Andrews, Harold Edward	Andrews, Leonard Gordon	Andrews, Reuben
Andrews, William Joseph	Angel, James William	Annett, George Leo.
Anscombe, Fred	Applin, Richard	Argyle, William Frederick
Armstrong, Albert H.	Armstrong, Leonard	Arney, Ernest William
Arnold, Ernest Albert	Arrondeau, George	Arthur, Albert Edward
Arthur, Harry	Ashby, Raymond	Asher, Henry Albert
Ashford, Sidney John	Ashlett, Charles James	Ashton, William Charles
Atkinson, Harry	Attwater, Keith Falconer	Attwood, George Henry
Attwood, Harold A.	Austin, Frank	Aveson, Walter
Ayles, John	Ayles ,John Henry	Bacon, Francis Hugh
Baggott, Thomas	Bagshaw, Frank Vivian	Bailey, Ernest
Bailey, Frank Alfred	Bailey, George Ernest	Bailey, Herbert
Bailey, William G.	Bailey, William James Percy	Baines, Ernest James
Baines, Lawrence	Baird, Joseph	Baker, Frederick
Bake,r Frederick Charles	Baker. Godfrey Ernest	Baker, John James
Baker, Percy	Baker, Walter	Baker, William
Ball, Albert Victor	Ball, Frank Aylward	Ball, Henry Leslie
Balls, Ernest	Bampton, Henry	Banger, Alfred William
Banks, Alfred Charles	Banks, George	Banks, William Francis
Barber, George	Barclay, John Oliver Wallace	Barker, Phillip John
Barling, Alfred	Barlow, William Stegar	Barnes. Albert Edward
Barnes, Edward John	Barnes, Ernest James	Barnes, Francis Frederick
Barnes, George Henry	Barnes, Reginald John	Barnes, Richard
Barnes, William Joseph	Barnes, William Robert	Barrow, Hector H.
Barrow, Joseph Bernard	Barry, John	Barter, Arthur Sydney James
Barter, Harry	Bartholomew, Bertie	Bartholomew, Harold
Bartholomew, Henry James	Bartholomew, William J. H.	Bartlett, Archibald Frank
Bartlett, Herbert George	Bartley, Arthur C.	Bartley, Thomas
Barton, George	Barton, Victor	Bassett, Thomas Arthur
Bastable, Cecil James	Batchelor, Maurice David	Bath, Harold F.
Batt, C. Edward Ernest	Batten, Fred	Beadle, George Whitmore
Beale, Albert Edward	Beasant, William Edward	Beavis, Edward
Beazley, Sidney	Beckley, Arthur	Bedford, Percy Ashton
Beecher, William John	Bell, George	Bell, George Alford
Beller, Lucien Charles	Bench, James George	Benlow, Frederick Henry
Benner, Edward	Bennet,t George Ernest	Bennett, Percy
Bennion, Edwin	Benson, Henry Walker	Berry, Frank Thomas
Berry, Godfery C.	Betts, Cecil Albert	Bickers, Edward Coulson
Biddlecombe, Edward	Biddlecombe, Frank	Biddlecombe, George T.
Biggs, H. C. W.	Biles, John C.	Biles, Samuel
Biles, William Frederick	Binney, Albert Henry	Binney, Alfred Edward
Bishop, Arthur Edward	Bishop, James Alfred	Bisson, Harold Charles
Blachford, Arthur	Black, Bryce	Black, William Hugh
Blair, L.	Blake, Albert Henry	Blake, Charles Edmund
Blake, Ernest Frederick	Blake, George Henry	Blake, Percival Leonard
Blanford, James Herbert	Blanford, Thomas	Bone, Albert
Bone, George	Bone, Thomas J.	Boniface, Arthur Sparshott
Bonk, Frederick	Bonk, Robert Ernest	Bornet, Jules
Boss, Albert Edward	Bosworthick, Francis	Bosworthick, William Ernest
Botterill, Stuart	Boulter, Charles H.	Bourne, Albert Edward
Bowditch, Athur R.	Bowers, Frederick	Bowers, Henry James
Bowles, John	Bowles, Percy Reginald	Bowyer, Seymour
Boyce, Cresswell Edward	Boyce, George Edwin	Boyes, William Henry
Braham, Paull	Brannon, Bertram R. U.	Bray, Samuel George
Braye, Bertram	Brett, George Ernest	Brewer, Bert
Brewer, Frederick George	Bridgen, Walter Sidney	Bridger, Ernest Edward
Brierley, George Henry	Bright, Howard	Brine, Frederick
Brisland, James	Brixey, Fred	Brixley, Albert
Brookman, James	Broom, Thomas	Broomfield, Alfred. H
Broomfield, Bertram Douglas	Broomfield, George H.	Broomfield, Henry
Brown Albert	Brown, Alexander Henry	Brown, Benjamin A.
Brown, Cecil Leslie	Brown, Charles	Brown, Frederick Hyde
Brown, George	Brown, Hugh	Brown, James Edward
Brown, James Frederick Walter	Brown, John B.	Brown, Joseph
Brown, Norman William	Brown, Reginald Thomas	Brown, William
Brown, William James	Brown, William Norman	Browne, Sidney John
Brownrigg, Thomas	Brundritt, Norman	Buckett, Edgar L.
Buckle, G.	Buckle, George W.	Buckle, John (Jack)
Bucknill, John Charles	Bucknill, Llewellyn Morris	Budd, Thomas
Budden, Frank F.	Budden, Frederick John	Budden, Reginald
Buley, Edward	Bull, Arthur Henry	Bullock, William
Bulpett, Bertram	Bulpitt, Joseph Henry	Bulstrode, George Frank Robert Oliver
Bundy, Albert Arthur	Bundy, Alfred William	Bungay, Albert Frank
Bunn, Albert Victor	Bunney, William Augustus	Burden, Charles Edward
Burley, William Ernest