 |
War
Memorials Elsewhere, - Barnsley Somme Centenary Artwork |
|
Barnsley
Somme Centenary Artwork by the Peace Park, Barnsley
Photo : Google Earth
The artwork, which was created by local artists consists of 30 perspex panels divided into 5 vertical strips which each bear the names of two men. A total of 300 men are named who supposedly fell on the First Day of the Battle of the Somme.
For around half the names a photograph of the man has been reproduced, otherwise a generic silhouette has been used. The panels are laid out along the pavement edge of the gardens in front of Barnsley Peace Park with small gaps between each large panel. At night the panels are illuminated by white led lights and the light is refracted along the edges of the panels and boundaries of the strips. Below each two names and images is a disc shaped brown object, this is a piece of local children's clay artwork, cast in resin and attached to the plaques.
Of the 300 names commemorated as having died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 2 were soldiers of the Yorkshire Regiment.
A transcription of the names is on the Imperial War Museum's Register of War Memorials website.
Private Willis Barker, 3/9437. Served as Private John Lee.
2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Son of Willis and Mary Ann Barker; husband
of Alice Barker, of 20, Harvey St., Racecommon Rd., Barnsley. Born at Sheffield.
Killed 1 July 1916. Aged 35.
Born Barnsley, Enlisted Pontefract, Resided Barnsley.
Buried DANTZIG ALLEY BRITISH CEMETERY.
2nd Lieutenant James Henry Fisher Clarke . 7th Battalion Yorkshire
Regiment. Died 1 July 1916.
Buried DANTZIG ALLEY BRITISH CEMETERY.
The following biographical notes are provided by Robert Coulson in his Biographies
of Officers of the Yorkshire Regiment;-
"James Clarke was born in 1894 and was a scholar at Worksop College and
King Edward VII school in Sheffield.
When he enlisted he was studying at Edinburgh University with a view to embarking
on a career in medicine.
He arrived at Boulogne with the 7th Battalion on 14 July 1915 and was wounded
in action at the end of the month whilst in the La Clytte area.
He served in the Ypres salient in late 1915, spending time in the Voormezeele
area and Christmas Day of that year billeted in the ramparts of Ypres town.
Spring 1916 saw the battalion involved in the Actions of the Bluff just outside
Ypres, and in June they moved down to the Somme.
On 1 July 1916 2nd Lt Clarke attacked with the battalion towards the village
of Fricourt at 2-30 p.m. where “officers and men were literally mown
down”. He was killed in this action at the age of 21."
The Panel on which 2nd Lieutenant James Henry Fisher Clarke is
commemorated (Top Right Panel)
Photo : Waybe Bywater (<waynetyke123@aol.com>)
Barnsley
Somme Centenary Artwork seen from across Peace Park (St. Mary's Church,
on the right)
Photo : Waybe Bywater (<waynetyke123@aol.com>)
-----------------> Return to top of the page