Libby unveils the Roll of Honour Book, assisted by Deputy Mayor Chris Herd.

The Unveiling Ceremony on 9th November 2024

We held a special event on Saturday 9th November 2024 at Keighley Local Studies Library, to unveil the addition of 103 new names to the Borough of Keighley 1914-1918 Roll of Honour, a public record of local people who died in the First World War.

The event was attended by relatives of those honoured, The Lord Mayor of Bradford Cllr Bev Mullaney, Deputy Town Mayor Cllr Chris Herd, Bradford Council Leader Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe, MP Robbie Moore, local district and town councillors and standard bearers.

The book was unveiled by three-year-old Libby Griffiths, a descendant of Private Jowett Coulton who was born and lived in Keighley before emigrating to Canada, enlisting in the Canadian Army, before being killed in action in France. She was supported by her cousins Ryan and Liam Firth and family members. Libby lifted away a Union Flag which was covering the roll of honour and she was helped by Deputy Mayor Chris Herd.

Irene Lofthouse portraying the life of Frances Hildred Mitchell

The event also included cultural historian Irene Lofthouse re-enacting the story of Frances Hildred Mitchell, the only woman named on the Roll of Honour and one of the 103 new names. Frances, who was a Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps worker died of influenza and pneumonia a year after the war ended while nursing in military hospitals.

Over the last 23 years, the Men of Worth Project, directed by Andy Wade, has carried out extensive research to discover 103 names with a connection to Keighley. A panel of local people went through each of the 103 names to ensure they had a strong link to Keighley.

These were then sent to Hilton Studio, a bookbinding and calligraphy studio, which expertly scribed the new pages and integrated them into the Supplementary Volume of the Roll of Honour, which was originally created in 1998, bringing the number of people commemorated to 1,011. The project to add these names has been funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Keighley Town Council, with support from Keighley Library staff and Bradford Council.

Lord Mayor Cllr Bev Mullaney said: “This was a very moving event, marking the sacrifices of those in the World Wars and ensuring their names are on public record. The Men of Worth Project and Roll of Honour are important historical records for today and for generations to come.”

Cllr Caroline Firth, who was on the review panel, said: “It was such a poignant unveiling, linking the past to the present through the involvement of relatives of the fallen and Irene’s performance of Frances Hildred Mitchell’s life. Keighley owes so much to the brave people on this list, and our gratitude goes to Andy and his team for making sure they will always be remembered.”

Keighley Library has held the Roll of Honour since December 1924, when it was presented with it during a memorial service.

After the second world war the library was again chosen as the place for the names of those who had given their lives. A brass plaque with 295 names is located next to the main entrance of the library.

The Roll of Honour is displayed in its cabinet on the second floor, which was previously the Reference Library but is now the Local Studies Library and Archives. Over the years the pages have been turned regularly; to keep light exposure even. The book can also be turned to a particular page if anyone requests to see a certain name.

A Supplementary Volume to the Roll of Honour was commissioned by Bradford Council in 1997, and the names of Private Harry MacDonald and Private George Bowes were added in a ceremony at the War Memorial.

The review panellists who reviewed the 103 new names and their stories were: town councillors Claire Abberton and Andrea Walker, Jar Bancroft, district councillor Caroline Firth, Peter Karkoszka and Paul Skinner.

L-R calligrapher Stephen Foley, MP Robbie Moore, Christine Day, deputy town mayor Cllr Chris Herd, Irene Lofthouse, Lord Mayor Cllr Bev Mullaney, leader Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe, Cllr Caroline Firth, Andy Wade.

A further event is planned for 12 noon to 3 pm, on Saturday, 7th December, in Keighley’s Town Hall Square, when a short service will be held to remember the people of Keighley who died in the Great War. It will include the unveiling of a new interpretation panel by Keighley Mayor Cllr Gulfraz Hussain, explaining why the fallen names are in the Roll of Honour and not on the cenotaph.

On Saturday 9th November the new names were unveiled for us by three year old Libby Griffiths.
The ceremony was attended by distinguished guests such as the Keighley Deputy Mayor Councillor Chris Herd who helped Libby with the unveiling. Watching the event were The Lord Mayor of Bradford Councillor Beverley Mullaney, Robbie Moore MP for Keighley and Ilkley, over twenty relatives of the new names and members of local organisations such as the West Riding Volunteers who provided three standard bearers, Royal British Legion members, Councillors from Bradford and Keighley Councils, the Review Panel members and staff of Bradford Library Services. Many other members of the poublic also attended and we estimate over 120 people were there on the day, which was a full house for the Local Studies Room.
The ceremony was accompanied by the playing of The Last Post by Judith Hales and we held a minute’s silence for the war dead and prayers were spoken by Keighley Vicar the Reverend Alastair Kirk.

The ceremony was followed by a special performance by local author, historian and actor Irene Lofthouse. She portrayed the life of Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps Worker Frances Hildred Mitchell who died of influenza whilst working at Brocton Army Camp in early 1919. Frances has a Commonwealth War Grave at Utley Cemetery in Keighley and is the only woman now named in the Keighley Roll of Honour.

Speeches were given and afterwards many of the visitors came forward to view the newly unveiled names in the Roll of Honour Book, We had also made available a display of all the page images in an exhibit for viewing by visitors who preferred to remain at the back of the room.
The ceremony ended with a relaxed atmosphere of people enjoying the refreshments and talking about the addition of the new names and visitors were invited to sign our guestbooks. Their comments and later ones on social media, have been placed on our Testimonials page.

Source information:

Pictures and original text supplied by Caroline Firth.