This recently built memorial is in Haworth Park in Accrington, and is a replica of the "Accrington Pals" memorial at Serre, where the Pals fought on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1st July 1916.
The Pals battalions of World War I were specially constituted battalions of the British Army comprising men who had enlisted together in local recruiting drives, with the promise that they would be able to serve alongside their friends, neighbours and colleagues ("pals"), rather than being arbitrarily allocated to battalions. This was to encourage more volunteers to join up, when recruitment was a serious problem, before the introduction of conscription.
The practice of drawing recruits from a particular region or group meant that, when a "Pals battalion" suffered heavy casualties, the impact on individual towns, villages, neighborhoods, and communities back in Britain could be immediate and devastating.
This memorial commemorates the famous battalion, which was effectively wiped out on the first day of the battle of the Somme. Of the 700 men from the battalion that went into action 235 were killed and 350 were wounded in the first half an hour of the first day of the battle on July 1 1916.
In the Art Gallery in Haworth Park, a display of details of the individual soldiers brought home even more the scale of the human suffering on the Somme.
Thank you all for your comments and favs, they are very much appreciated.
For me, seeing this and the display in the art gallery brought home someting of the horror that soldiers endured in World War 1. I found the whole experience most moving.
@fishers
This reply reminded me of a (true?) story during WW1 when the Headmistress of a girls' school addressed Assembly, telling all, that many of them would never be wives or mothers.
Thank you all for your comments and favs, they are very much appreciated.
For me, seeing this and the display in the art gallery brought home someting of the horror that soldiers endured in World War 1. I found the whole experience most moving.
Ian
This reply reminded me of a (true?) story during WW1 when the Headmistress of a girls' school addressed Assembly, telling all, that many of them would never be wives or mothers.
A sad story - so many lives lost or badly affected.
Ian