This memorial was
originally sited in Merridale Road Presbyterian Church which stood
on the corner of Merridale Road and Lord Street, Chapel Ash. The
idea of a memorial to commemorate those who lost their lives in the
Great War was first mooted in the church council on 11th
December 1918 and it was subsequently decided that appeals would be
made from the pulpit and that every member of the congregation would
be approached personally and asked if they would make a donation.
The design was approved by the church council just before Christmas
1921 and the cost agreed at ‘about’ £130. Originally promised by the
end of March 1922, there seems to have been a number of delays, much
to the frustration of the church council, the memorial finally being
unveiled by the Mayor of Wolverhampton at the end of July that year.
Although the memorial clearly indicates that those commemorated once
worshiped at the church, none of the men who died in the Great War
are recorded in the church communion records, several had relatives
who were church members but curiously five of them have surnames
which are not mentioned in these records. It maybe that they were
related to members on their mother’s side but perhaps stranger still
is the fact that Captain Percy Rogers who was killed on 27th
May 1918 is not on the memorial yet the church elders saw fit to
issue a letter of condolence to his parents who were members.
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