St Anne’s Church war memorial, Keighley
St Anne’s is the Roman Catholic Church on North Street, Keighley.
Their beautiful memorial is on permanent display in the entrance to the church. It is made from salmon pink alabaster and light grey bath stone with the lettering picked out in gold. It was dedicated on 15th July 1919 by RC Canon Russell.
Keighley’s local newspaper reported the details of a solemn requiem mass which was held the following week.
Keighley News, Saturday 26th July 1919:
A KEIGHLEY CHURCH’S ROLL OF HONOUR
AN IMPRESSIVE SERVICE. MASS FOR 120 MEN FROM ST. ANNES
A solemn requiem mass was said at St. Anne’s Roman Catholic Church, Keighley, on Sunday morning last for the 120 men from the congregation who have been killed in the war.
The service was attended by between 250 and 300 members of the Keighley branch of the Discharged Soldier’s and Sailors’ Federation, who marched to the church by way of Low Street, Cavendish Street and North Street, accompanied by the Keighley Borough Band. The Rev. Canon Russell officiated, and the pulpit and the pillars were draped with black, relieved with white. One half of the church was reserved for the discharged soldier, but among the congregation which occupied the remainder of the church there were many in deep mourning, signifying that they had lost someone who was near and wear.
AN IMPRESSIVE SCENE
The service was extremely impressive, with the solemn tones of the priest saying the mass, heard distinctly in every part of the building, followed by the beautiful cadence of the responses from the choir. At the close of the service there was a never to be forgotten scene. The priest, the cross bearer, and the choir were grouped in reverential attitudes before the high altar, with the tall candles burning steadily and the beautifully coloured mosaics in contrast with the white candles. The faint scent from the burning incense wafted down the aisle, over the crowded congregation. Then, from a point near the altar but hidden from the view of the greater portion of the congregation, buglers sounded the “Last Post.” The call being finished, a solemn stillness pervaded the building for a few moments, followed by the playing of the Dead March in “Saul” by the Keighley Borough Band. The solemnity of the occasion had it’s effect upon the congregation, many of whom were in tears, and the occasion will be one which will remain in the memory of those who were privileged to be present.
UNITED BY SACRIFICE
Canon Russell prefaced his sermon with a few words of thanks to the discharged and demobilized soldiers and sailors who had come to church. He appreciated very much their presence, and appreciated even more that what was behind it, their sympathy for their fallen brothers. They as St. Anne’s mourned 120, but so long as that church was there, they would be remembered.
Their names were written on the tablet at the end of the church, so that for all time their children and their children’s children would be able to see what they had done. They would pray that their rest might be in peace. As their Master suffered, and as their Commander in Chief, Jesus Christ, suffered, so they had suffered, and, by His grace, they would come to a crown. The spirit of comradeship and of brotherhood the discharged and demobilised sailors and soldiers had shown was the stand that was wanted now. That was the spirit we wanted to see survive this war. It had made us all brothers, and the friendships we had made, and the sacrifices we had made would make us still stand shoulder to shoulder, and be brothers as long as time would last.
PRAYERS FOR THE DEPARTED
In his sermon Canon Russell referred to the fact that they had assembled that day to pray for the souls of the dead. This, he said had been a sermon of the Jewish race, which remained to the present day. The early Christians prayed for the dead, that they might be loosed from their sins and in England, when this country was in union with the Catholic Church, the devotions for the souls in purgatory was one of the most important offices of the church. It was a source of consolation to the living, and was of greater benefit to the dead. They had come together to honour the dead and to pray for the departed. The Church loved the dead and blessed their sacrifices. One hundred and twenty souls cried out to them to pray for them. “Turn not a deaf ear to them,” pleaded the preacher. Let your hearts and minds go out and pray that the God of love, of mercy, and sanctity may soon bring them into His own sweet presence and bring them into the kingdom, where they shall see His face, and hear His voice, where sorrow shall be taken away and where joy and happiness will be united.”
The inscription reads:
PIE JESU DOMINE | DONA EIS REQUIEM | PRAY FOR THE REPOSE OF THE SOULS OF THE MEN OF THIS PARISH KILLED IN THE WAR 1914 – 1919 | THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS ARE ERECTED IN THEIR MEMORY | LUX PERPETUA LUCEAT EIS
There are 121 names on this memorial of local men from this church, all of whom died in the Great War:
| Ainge, Walter Butler, Francis Burns, Thomas Baker, George E Blenkarn, Walter Brady, Thomas Briers, Joseph Carter, Vincent Caulfield, Michael Clarke, John Collins, Martin Coleman, Patrick Cobrey, Hugh Conboy, Walter Conway, John W Connolly, Joseph Corcoran, Thomas Dean, George E Degnan, Michael Degnan, Lawrence Duffy, John Duffy, William D’Agostino, Carmene Finan, John Finan, Michael Fisher, John W Flaherty, Patrick Foy, Thomas Gallagher, Michael Gibbons, James Gibbons, Thomas Golden, James Gough, John Grayston, Roy Haran, Martin Harrison, James Hartley, Joseph Heggarty, Thomas Henry, Michael Hillaby, Richard Hogan, Thomas |
Hooker, George Hodgson, Ralph Holmes, Richard Howley, Thomas Howard, William Ireland, George Jordan, William Joyce, John Kelleher, Michael A Kellett, John Kelly, Andrew Kelly, Anthony Kelly, Bernard Kelly, Edward Kelly, Edward F Kelly, Francis E Kelly, Patrick Kelly, Thomas Kennedy, Patrick Leach, John Lilley, Walter Loftus, John Long, William Love, Cuthbert Love, Frederick Love, John T Lund, William Lynch, James Manning, George H McCann, James McConnon, Phillip McDonell, William McGrath, Joseph McGuinn, John McHugh, Steven McKniff, Joseph McParland, James McShee, Patrick McShee, William McVeigh, James |
Meegan, Joseph Midgley, William Minchella, Daniel Mullan, Thomas Murphy, Michael Narey, Luke Naylor, Samuel Nolan, James O’Hara, Willis O’Hara, John W Parle, Luke Percival, John Philbin, Joseph Philbin, Michael Pope, David Quinn, John A Quinn, John Quinliven, James E Richmond, James Riley, John T Robinson, Joshua Robinson, Peter Rowley, Joseph Rushworth, Thomas Scott, Joseph Sherlock, Michael Smith, Joseph Smith, William Tighe, Edward Tillotson, John W Thompson, Thomas Tretton, John Wall, James Walsh, James Walsh, John Walsh, Thomas Walsh, William Waters, John H Wellwood, James Whitley, Ch. Ed. |
