Meet the volunteer historian who has researched the lives of over 1,000 Yorkshire men and women who fell in wars

Carved into stone, etched into Harrogate’s history, are the names of those fallen in war. One, perhaps, might catch the eye of a passer-by.
Ruby Kitchen
By Ruby Kitchen
Published 1st Aug 2023, 06:00 BST
Updated 1st Sep 2023, 07:11 BST

They might wonder, briefly, what happened to a young Alfred Dalby. There are too many stories though, almost too much sadness, in that long list of 1,163 names.

Until now, as something incredible is finally unveiled. As today marks 100 years of Harrogate’s war memorial, exhibitions and projects shine a light on its human truth.

Of those 1,163 people, 26 died on the same day. Some 37 died flying Lancaster Bombers. The youngest was just 15. And one didn’t die at all, or at least not until 30 years later.

Local historian Graham Roberts marks 100 years since Harrogate's cenotaph war memorial was unveiled. Graham has uncovered the stories behind each of the 1,163 names. 15 died as prisoners of war, building the Bridge over the River Kwai. 37 died flying Lancaster bombers. The youngest, Pte Alfred Dalby, was just 15.Local historian Graham Roberts marks 100 years since Harrogate's cenotaph war memorial was unveiled. Graham has uncovered the stories behind each of the 1,163 names. 15 died as prisoners of war, building the Bridge over the River Kwai. 37 died flying Lancaster bombers. The youngest, Pte Alfred Dalby, was just 15.
Local historian Graham Roberts marks 100 years since Harrogate's cenotaph war memorial was unveiled. Graham has uncovered the stories behind each of the 1,163 names. 15 died as prisoners of war, building the Bridge over the River Kwai. 37 died flying Lancaster bombers. The youngest, Pte Alfred Dalby, was just 15.

More Than a Name on a Memorial has seen historian Graham Roberts track each name, meticulously through history. And what comes to light is poignant and real.

There are the stories of fathers and brothers, lost in grimly fought battles but in different wars. A new groom, married just two days, and the young girl killed in a factory explosion.

This vast project and with a full programme of events, talks and special documentary showings, ensures Harrogate’s war dead are never forgotten.

Mr Roberts is a volunteer with the War Memorial Centenary Project Group. Every family has lost a relative in war, he reflected. For him, it was an uncle, whose flying logbook he still has.

Local historian Graham Roberts marks 100 years since Harrogate's cenotaph war memorial was unveiledLocal historian Graham Roberts marks 100 years since Harrogate's cenotaph war memorial was unveiled
Local historian Graham Roberts marks 100 years since Harrogate's cenotaph war memorial was unveiled

“He is still on patrol somewhere over the Atlantic,” said Mr Roberts. “He took off at 5am on a February morning and never came back.

“If it’s your relative how would you want them to be commemorated? There are all these names but for each one there is a story behind them.”

Harrogate’s war memorial was unveiled September 1, 1923 by Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood. The watching crowd was 10,000 strong.

There are 800 names from the First World War. Later, the plaques were redone in smaller font, to make room for 300 more. Mr Roberts has been able to identify all but around 40.

Pte Alfred Dalby was Harrogate’s youngest to be killed. The 15-year-old, from Coronation Grove, died in Thiepval Wood in February 1916. He had lied about his age.

Olive Yeates, at just 17, died in an explosion at the Barnbow munitions factory in Leeds. She had been on shift for only 27 minutes.

Then newlywed Leslie Richmond, who left a pregnant wife at home on Cornwall Road. Their son, born five months after his father’s death, was to later die at Dunkirk.

And Flying Officer Alfred Laurence Heath, 36, who lived on Wharfedale Avenue with his wife Annie. He is buried with his crew in Poland, the last Dambusters to die in the war.

Mr Roberts said once he began work on the project, it struck him how huge it was.

“I started.. and then I thought ‘oh my’,” he said. Research began with the War Graves Commission, and trawling through the library archives of local papers. One of the biggest issues was spelling mistakes, or missing initials. And there was a chaos to inclusion.

“There are instances when one brother is named and one is not, but there’s nothing in the records as to why,” he said. “There are others where the link to the town is very tenuous.

“There is one who didn’t actually die. He died 30 years later, in Canada in 1947. Reports of his death at least, were greatly exaggerated.”

One man died when he was kicked by a mule. Another’s only known link to the town was winning a silver tea service from Ogdens in an air race some years prior.

But then there are those killed in torturous circumstances. A number were aboard RMS Lancastria, sunk on June 17, 1940, in the largest loss of life in British maritime history.

And 15 Harrogate men who died as Japanese Prisoners of War, building the infamous bridge over the River Kwai.

There are many instances of brothers, said Mr Roberts, and then fathers named in one war only to be followed by their sons in another.

He believes there may be more than 100 names missing from the memorial. One family were so stricken at their loss they couldn’t bear it.

“There was a family from Starbeck, called Bowser,” he said. “They had 10 sons in uniform in the First World War. Three of them didn’t make it back.

“Is that any worse than losing your only son? Or your husband and son?”

The exhibition draws on the creative skills of another local historian, curator Terry-Mike Williams, fresh from his recent exhibition exploring 160 years of Harrogate Station.

Emotionally charged yet “immensely interesting”, he said, the project takes a glimpse into the lives of those who should never be forgotten.

There are photographs, letters and vintage film footage. Their stories explore who they were and where they lived, as well as who they left behind.

It opens today at West Park United Reformed Church.

Second World War veteran Sheila Pantin, at a service to mark the launch, will reveal a full programme of events which runs until Remembrance Sunday, November 12.

Ms Pantin, who will mark her 100th birthday in October, was the first British Forces woman to enter the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen and will share her story in an upcoming event.

This wider programme is vast, with events, talks and film showings including three new documentaries filmed and narrated by Harry Satloka of Harrogate Free Walking Tours.

As part of the programme, Harrogate Film Society and the Odeon are hosting a screening of Bridge on the River Kwai on September 6, with profits to go to SSAFA North Yorkshire.