From Wrawby, Sister Ellen was killed while on active service on the Western Front.
November 2018 will see the 100th anniversary of the guns falling silent, with the peace treaty ending the war being signed in 1919.
Ken Harrison, now living in Brigg and a former Wrawby resident, wrote to the council, suggesting Sister Andrews should be added.
His request was read out by the Town Clerk in Public Question Time during the April meeting, held in the Angel Suite, as Ken was unable to be present.
In past years, Brigg Town Council has debated the issue of whether further names should be added to the list displayed on the Monument after the First World War, when the memorial was erected. However, no names were added.
During the latest discussions it was asked what criteria were used by those who drew up the list of names for inclusion. For not everyone listed on the Monument lived in Brigg - there are some from other places in the area.
Did those compiling the role of honour perhaps take into account family connections with Brigg? Or whether the servicemen who died went to school in the town, or attended church here?
Coun Chris Dyson was firmly of the opinion there should be "no change."
Coun Donald Campbell wondered whether someone killed on active service in the current era would be included on the Monument.
It was eventually decided to defer the matter until it can be discussed at a future Full Council Meeting.
KEN HARRISON'S REQUEST TO THE COUNCIL
In conjunction with the proposed refurbishment of Brigg's war memorial, may I request, for the 3rd time, that the name of Sister Ellen Andrew (sometimes, Andrews), KIA (killed in action) on the Western Front in March, 1918, be added to the memorial plaque.
There are 105 names on the WW1 plaques remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Almost half of the 105 casualties came from the local outlying villages and parishes.
My previous requests have been rejected on the friable assumptions that as Sister Ellen Andrew came from Wrawby, she failed to qualify, ignoring the fact that many of casualties named on the memorial came from villages further afield than Wrawby and had no direct association to Brigg.
In addition, another request was rejected as a former Brigg Town Council mayor, '..did not want to re-write history' in relation to the way names were collected in 1919 when the Monument was erected.
In my opinion, the omission of the name of Sister Andrew leaves the assumption that the Monument commemorates all LOCAL people very questionable....a situation that needs urgent remediation before 2018.
While BTC presently refuse to include Army Sister Ellen Andrew's name on the WW1 plaques, she is commemorated in York Minster...one of the few women actually KIA on the Western Front...on the Nurses' Plaque.
KEN LATER ADDED
She is buried in a Commonwealth War Commission grave near Albert, France.
She was killed during an aerial bombing raid on a Red Cross train on the first day of the final German offensive in spring 1918.
Read more about Sister Andrews, of the Territorial Force Nursing Service, and view a picture of her, through this link..
View Sister Andrews' family connections with Wrawby through this link..
View our report of one of the debates on the Monument names, from April 2013, through this link...
PICTURED: One of the plaques containing names of Army personnel on the Monument.
Any views on the above issue from the public, please email scoopfisher@aol.com
Any views on the above issue from the public, please email scoopfisher@aol.com
I don't understand the hang-up from some people who despite evidence against, assume the WW1 casualties all lived, were born, or worked in Brigg.
ReplyDeleteFor example, casualty war records from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission were born and lived outside Brigg. One, for example must accept the Brigg parish boundary at the time and casualties from Scawby and Broughton are well represented. In addition, there are a number of names of soldiers who were born and lived in such villages as Kelsey, and, at least one WW1 fallen who lived in Bigby and whose parents requested his name being inscribed on Brigg's as the village did not have a memorial; Wrawby, similarly, does not have its own war memorial.
One inscription relates to a soldier who was born, bred and lived with his wife in Leicester....the Brigg connection seems to be that he was RSM of a Lincs Regt which he led over the top.
In reality, the names on the WW1 plaques were compiled from various lists received from an assorted ex-soldier groups in and around. All the war dead of Brigg and district + a sprinking casualties from quite distant communities are included on Brigg's war memorial...the exception being the army nurse, Sister Ellen Andrew(s).
A salient question to ask is whether her name would have been omitted if she was a man? Who was fighting her corner apart from her aged mother?
Did folks at the time realise she was army personnel and was officially killed in action on the front line.
Finally, and with the greatest of respect, if folks still claim that Brigg's war memorial should only include people who were born, or lived in the town, included in WW2 plaques are names of aircrew stationed at RAF Elsham....are they saying such airman had to have a direct connection to Brigg before their names were added on the monument?
Such names were added with utmost respect and without squabbling about birth and/or resident rights in recognition of their ultimate sacrifice.
Sister Ellen Andrew(s) was local to Brigg - as a trained nurse, she joined the army nursing service in 1914: she received Royal Red Cross award for 'meritorious war service' at Buckingham Palace from King George V in October 1916, KIA in March 1918 during an aerial bombing road on a Red Cross train.
Her name is inscribed in the army chapel at Aldershot, at York Minster and on a school plaque, now inside Wrawby's church.
But her name is NOT on any public war memorial.
Itonically, BTC has, in the past rejected the request to add her name to Brigg's monument to war dead.
For goodness sake, have some respect and recognise this woman's sacrifice nearly 100 years ago...
The guiding criteria to which names should/could be on a war memorial does not specifically mention that someone should live/reside in the immediate location.
ReplyDeleteIn reality, most names will be local people, but the over-riding guideline is that a any name came be added if a community accepts that a person is thought by the community as deserving local recognition,
BTC is the representive of the local community, but also has the responsibiliy to recognise the Town's community extends beyond the actual parish boundary.
Therefore, the prime question is does the community think Sister Ellen Andrew (s) as deserving recognition?
The guiding criteria to which names should/could be on a war memorial does not specifically mention that someone should live/reside in the immediate location.
ReplyDeleteIn reality, most names will be local people, but the over-riding guideline is that a any name came be added if a community accepts that a person is thought by the community as deserving local recognition,
BTC is the representive of the local community, but also has the responsibiliy to recognise the Town's community extends beyond the actual parish boundary.
Therefore, the prime question is does the community think Sister Ellen Andrew (s) as deserving recognition?
Sister Ellen Andrews was the recipient of the UK's rarest WW1 medal....The Territorial Force War Medal....to qualify one had to register for overseas war service before late September, 1914.
ReplyDeleteThere is dedicated info on display on Ellen Andrews in the Brigg Heritage Centre....it's been actually posing the question of whether she should be recognised on Brigg's war memorial for years.
ReplyDeleteBHC developed thro' the hard work of Cllr Rob Waltham - both North Lincs and BTC councillor.....so if official folk are of the opinion that she does not qualify (without any creditable argument), why has the council asked the question about being recorded on the monument?
It like asking the public who visit the Heritage Centre for a yes/no answer, while the official answer is already established as no!
I don't understand the hang-up from some people who despite evidence against, assume the WW1 casualties all lived, were born, or worked in Brigg.
ReplyDeleteFor example, casualty war records from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission were born and lived outside Brigg. One, for example must accept the Brigg parish boundary at the time and casualties from Scawby and Broughton are well represented. In addition, there are a number of names of soldiers who were born and lived in such villages as Kelsey, and, at least one WW1 fallen who lived in Bigby and whose parents requested his name being inscribed on Brigg's as the village did not have a memorial; Wrawby, similarly, does not have its own war memorial.
One inscription relates to a soldier who was born, bred and lived with his wife in Leicester....the Brigg connection seems to be that he was RSM of a Lincs Regt which he led over the top.
In reality, the names on the WW1 plaques were compiled from various lists received from an assorted ex-soldier groups in and around. All the war dead of Brigg and district + a sprinking casualties from quite distant communities are included on Brigg's war memorial...the exception being the army nurse, Sister Ellen Andrew(s).
A salient question to ask is whether her name would have been omitted if she was a man? Who was fighting her corner apart from her aged mother?
Did folks at the time realise she was army personnel and was officially killed in action on the front line.
Finally, and with the greatest of respect, if folks still claim that Brigg's war memorial should only include people who were born, or lived in the town, included in WW2 plaques are names of aircrew stationed at RAF Elsham....are they saying such airman had to have a direct connection to Brigg before their names were added on the monument?
Such names were added with utmost respect and without squabbling about birth and/or resident rights in recognition of their ultimate sacrifice.
Sister Ellen Andrew(s) was local to Brigg - as a trained nurse, she joined the army nursing service in 1914: she received Royal Red Cross award for 'meritorious war service' at Buckingham Palace from King George V in October 1916, KIA in March 1918 during an aerial bombing road on a Red Cross train.
Her name is inscribed in the army chapel at Aldershot, at York Minster and on a school plaque, now inside Wrawby's church.
But her name is NOT on any public war memorial.
Itonically, BTC has, in the past rejected the request to add her name to Brigg's monument to war dead.
For goodness sake, have some respect and recognise this woman's sacrifice nearly 100 years ago...