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Tracing Your Roots To Gallipoli

Remembering some of the Bolton men who lost their lives in the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915

About The Project: The Road to Gallipoli

The project began when we came across an old newspaper supplement from the Bolton Journal and Guardian dated 29 December 1916. It showed 800 photographs of Bolton servicemen killed in the first 2 years of the war.

 

You can download a complete list of the names appearing in the newspaper supplement as a pdf by clicking here

 

Bolton Journal and Guardian

 

We debated how we could use this valuable find to do a project for the forthcoming centenary of the start of the First World War. Because the war covered 4 years and included such a vast number of servicemen and incidents, we decided to concentrate on one event that only lasted 10 months but is well remembered in Bolton. This was the ill-fated Gallipoli Campaign. We put together a project bid that we hoped the Heritage Lottery Fund would be able to support and our proposal was accepted.

We spent several weeks talking to students and outlining the event, with help from consultants.

The first task carried out by the young people was that of identifying those of the servicemen pictured in our newspaper supplement who were killed at Gallipoli. By searching the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website they could discover where they were buried, or the memorial where their names are remembered.

We also had invaluable assistance from the Fusilier Museum at Bury which had a short list of soldiers from Bolton who were killed at Gallipoli. Together we have identified over 180 names, although we believe that there are more.

Following an article in The Bolton News we had a great response, with requests from people in Bolton, in other parts of this country and some from as far away as Australia. Several people from Bolton came in to see what evidence we had of their loved ones; nationally we had enquiries from London and other areas of England, with two ladies coming to see us from Wales. Requests from Australia concerned people who had emigrated from Bolton and joined the Australian Army.

While staff were dealing with these enquiries the students started the major task of researching the family circumstances of the servicemen - their addresses, names of parents, brothers and sisters, wives and children, their employment prior to enlisting, etc. This entailed looking up the 1911 and 1901 Census details, and in some cases going further back. Information had to be double-checked by staff to ensure that information posted on our website is as correct as we can make it.

In our preliminary report we told the story of Harold Greenhalgh, who enlisted in Bolton and was killed in action on 9 August 1915, along with 35 other Bolton soldiers. This was indeed a black day for families in Bolton, in particular the Fisher family who lost 3 sons, Albert, John and Matthew, during two terrible days of fighting at Chunuk Bair.

The young people working on this project were sobered and shocked by the fact that many of these soldiers were not much older than they are now.

View the Roll of Honour here

 

Remember Me To All Kind Friends

Remeber Me To All Kind FriendsWith the generous support of various Veterans' organisations in Bolton we have published a full colour 21x23cm 196 page book version of the information on the website called "Remember Me To All Kind Friends" which was launched during the Armed Forces Day events in Bolton on 28 June 2014.

Copies may be purchased from the Bolton Museum shop priced £9.50.

 

Bolton News Gallipoli window display

DBBC Gallipoli project and book launch display at Bolton News offices June 2014

Students with temporary display in Market Hall

DBBC students with temporary Gallipoli display inside Bolton Market

Market display