Pair spend decade finding Derbyshire war memorials

Posted by AK Lander | On August 11, 2015 00:00

An innovative project in Derby has set out to record all the war memorials in the town, with the actual amount believed to be into their thousands.

An innovative project in Derby has set out to record all the war memorials in the town, with the actual amount believed to be into their thousands.

Devised by Chris Preston and Richard Clarke, they have dedicated the last decade trawling villages and graveyards to record war memorials. While the original figure stood at around 700, their hard work means that the overall figure has now risen to well over 3,000.

When speaking about their tireless efforts, Chris said that the project not only aims to record and preserve war memorials in the county but also find out more about the great stories behind the names etched onto the gravestones. The pair are also said to be working very closely with the Imperial War Museum, with all details they come across being contributed to the national war memorials archive.

As part of the work, Chris and Richard record all details they find on a memorial, before photographing and checking online to see if any further information about a person is available; the total number of photos they have taken during the period is estimated to be around 41,000. To view all of their findings so far, click here to visit Derbyshire War Memorials.

Started as a personal project

While it is now a county-wide project, it first began as a personal endeavour for both Chris and Richard to find out more about their own family histories. From this, Chris discovered that his grandfather was at Passchendaele in Belgium and had been wounded three times. Richard also uncovered that one of his relatives was killed in 1915.

These personal stories act as a fantastic example of the project’s aim to preserve war memorials in the local area, ensuring that the soldiers’ efforts in battle will not be forgotten and can be commemorated for generations to come. 

 

 

Image Credit: Pavels Hotulevs (Shutterstock.com)