BICC Memorial - Prescot Roll of Honour
BICC Memorial
The BICC Memorials were originally mounted on the wall inside the main factory gates in Station Road opposite The Imperial pub. The picture below shows the original dedication service in April 1922.
After the Second World War, a plaque listing men who had died in that conflict was added, as shown below.
When the factory was demolished in 1991, the war memorials were moved and re-sited in the Rod Rollers (Pirelli) plant in Carr Lane, where they stood until 2007.
The picture below shows the plaque of Great War names on the wall whilst located at the Pirelli plant.
The plaques were then taken down by Knowsley Council and placed in storage. A project was initiated by the council to relocate the memorial plaques in the grounds of St Mary's Churchyard on a purpose built wall. This project also includes substantial work on improving some of the more run-down areas of the Churchyard.
The wall built and awaiting the erection of the plaques
Picture (c) Liverpool Daily Post, Thursday 13/10/2011
The Liverpool Daily Post reported on Thursday 13th October, "A Memorial to fallen heroes of World Wars I and II was unveiled on a new cenotaph.Two bronze plaques from an old war memorial were installed at the monument at St Mary's Churchyard, Prescot. Dignitaries and church leaders gathered for a dedication ceremony in the restored grounds, which had become overgrown and a target for flytippers and anti-social behaviour. Cllr Graham Morgan, Knowsley council's cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said: 'We are proud to have led the project to transform the churchyard and rescue these plaques. We have worked in partnership with the church and community to create a lasting memorial to those who lost their lives in the World Wars, which will be here for generations to come.'
For the First World War, the large wall plaque contains the following inscription above the list of 117 names:-
1914 1919
British Insulated & Helsby Cables Ltd
Employees Of The Prescot Works
Who Died For Their Country In
The Great War
Below the list of names is inscribed:-
Erected in 1921
By Their Proud And Grateful Fellow Workers
Victory Liberty
The plaque has a figure of a sailor on the left and a soldier on the right, both facing inwards towards the three columns of names. The company crest is at the top of the plaque
The dedication ceremony for the memorial was reported in the BI & HC's "Link" magazine of April 1922 as follows:-
'If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by the suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.'
So sang Rupert Brooke, one of our soldier poets, and all who took part in the unveiling of the memorial, erected in grateful memory of fallen comrades, by the employees of the Prescot Works, felt that they who had fallen, somewhere - somehow, were giving 'back the thoughts of England given,' and we, by their sacrifice, were again finding possible 'laughter learnt of friends,' dreams happy as her day, gentleness and hearts at peace.
It was fitting that the memorial should be dedicated and unveiled at such a time - in the Springtime - when once again the flowers bloom and the Spring sunshine and English air breathe thoughts of England and 'peace, under an English heaven.'
The ceremony which took place on Thursday 20th April, opened with the singing of the hymn 'For all the saints, who from their labours rest', led by the B. I. & H. C. Ltd., Silver Band, and after a prayer of invocation by the Revd. T. C.Legge, Prescot, the Bronze Tablet, containing the names of the fallen, on a background of white stone, was unveiled by James Taylor, Esq., Chairman of Directors, who was asked by Mr. Simon Hannah, on behalf of all the employees, to take over the Memorial Tablet into the keeping of the firm. The Memorial was then dedicated by the Revd. J. P. W. Lovett, Prescot, the Last Post and Reveille were sounded by the Boys Brigade Buglers from Liverpool, and the Revd. F. Goodman, Prescot, prayed. Then they all joined in singing Kipling's Recessional, 'God of our fathers, known of old.'
A number of beautiful floral tributes were placed on the Memorial; Lieut. E. J. Flanagan placing one for the Navy, Lieut.-Col. D. Bates, T.D., J.P., D.L., one for the Army, Capt. F. J.Smethurst, one for the Air Force, W. Kerfoot, Esq., one for the Company, James Taylor, Esq., on behalf of Mrs. Taylor and himself, and a number by relatives of the fallen men.
The National Anthem concluded the ceremony, and standing with bared heads, the words of another of our Soldier Poets, Herbert Asquith, came to mind:-
'His lance is broken, but he lies content,
With that high honour which he lived and died.
And falling thus, he wants no recompense
Who found his battle in the last resort;
Nor needs he any hearse to bear him hence,
Who goes to join the men of Agincourt.'
The panel for the First World War contains the following list of names, all of which can be found on this website. Whilst most have been researched in detail, there are one or two that are proving elusive and I would be grateful for any help in identifying these men.
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