The stories behind the names of World War One
World War One was a turning point in world history. It claimed the lives of almost 17 million people across the globe and had an impact on the lives of everyone, whether they were stationed on the front lines or at home.
Sefton lost around 4,000 men and women from 1914–1918 during The Great War, their names are inscribed on the 11 memorials throughout the borough. However not all casualties were included, some families asked for names to be added at a later date, some Service men and women were completely missed. This website has been created to not only commemorate the war ending 100 years ago this year, but also to tell the stories behind the names of the brave men and women who gave their lives.
The Civic memorials of Sefton have inscribed on them the names of approximately four thousand Service men and nine women, who hailed from the area and gave their lives in World War One. The Service men fought the war on land, at sea, and in the air; across all the armed services. The women served in the nursing services both abroad and at home, or at sea as part of the crews of large ships.
The common factor they shared though is that they all did their duty and made the ultimate sacrifice, in the most brutal of conflicts, of which today we cannot begin to comprehend either the conditions or the slaughter. One on day alone in July 1916, the army suffered a staggering 60,000 casualties and during the same year, the Royal Navy lost around 6,000 men killed, in a single sea-battle.
Until now these once-vibrant, living men and women have remained with us simply as names chiselled in cold stone on the faces of the civic memorials.
This website aims in some way to give them their identities back and therefore help to perpetuate their memory.
“At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we WILL remember them”
