This post will provide details of those men from Evenwood, Ramshaw and Lands who lost their lives in this conflict. Those commemorated on EVENWOOD WAR MEMORIAL located in the cemetery are listed below.  Click on the name to see further information:

• Applegarth T. W.
• Arkless J. W.
• Atkinson A. K.
• Baister D.
• Bryant G.
• Carrick W.
• Conlin R. W.
• Cox G. T. 
• Davis T.
• Dixon H.
• Dowson G.
• Dunn T. H.
• Earl W. E.
• Ellerker J.
• Graves J. C.
• Gray W.
• Heaviside R.
• Heseltine J.
• Hewitt J.
• Howlett W.
• Hutchinson J. 
• Lynas A.
• Maughan J.
• Maughan J.
• Middlemas M. G.
• Million J.
• Morley W.
• Moses W.
• Parmley G. 
• Purvis F.
• Raine J. H.
• Raine M. T.
• Richardson J. J.
• Rushford O.
• Rutter S. R. 
• Simpson M.
• Simpson T. W.
• Skelhorn J.
• Snowball W.
• Spence J. W. 
• Storey W.R.
• Towers E. 
• Walling J.
• Walton J. J.
• Wardle H.
• Wardle R.
• Wilson R.
• Wren J. W.

Monday 20 June 1921: the memorial to the men of Evenwood, Ramshaw and Lands was unveiled by Colonel Dowling.  Mr. T. Heslop, former manager of Randolph Colliery and agent to the North Bitchburn Coal Company, was chairman of the organising committee.  Designed, executed and erected by William Allison & Sons sculptors, Bishop Auckland.  Proceedings commenced with a procession which was formed at the top end of Evenwood village consisting of ex-soldiers and sailors, Girl Guides and Boy Scouts headed by the Village Band.  A vast crowd assembled and heard the Evenwood Band performing an appropriate selection of hymns and anthems.  The Last Post was sounded.

The wording is as follows:

“To the glory of God and in thankful remembrance of the men of Evenwood, Ramshaw and Lands who made the supreme sacrifice during the Great War 1914 – 1918”

WHY REMEMBERING IS IMPORTANT:  A PERSONAL VIEW

About 25 years ago I visited the battlefields of France and Belgium for the first time.  Up until the covid restrictions, I together with other lads from Evenwood, were regular visitors, paying our respects to the fallen of both World Wars.  When standing at the grave side of a young man from Evenwood, we realised that we may well have been the only people to have visited his grave.  If nothing else, we had honoured his life. 

For 25 years or so, I have immersed myself in WW1 and WW2, researching and then publishing two books about the First World War and one about the Second, remembering the trauma of the fallen men and the grief of their families.  There are moments when I wonder what’s to be gained from being consumed by the past. But then I recall Marcus Garvey’s quote:

“A people without knowledge of their past, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots.”

Never forgotten.

Kevin Richardson 17/12/2023