OTHER BUXTON MEMORIALS:
In addition to the main Buxton War Memorials described on other pages, there are a number of other Memorials worthy of mention:
1: Buxton Cottage Hospital Extension : opened in 1924 as the second part of the public subscription appeal which also built the town Memorial on The Slopes.
2: Buxton Congregational Church Memorial: commemorates 9 men from World War 1 and 6 from World War 2.
3: St James The Greater Church (Demolished) Memorial: built on Bath Road, Buxton, in 1871, the church was demolished in the 1950s and a Medical Practice built on the site. It contained a memorial to Buxton’s only South African (Boer) War casualty.
4: Buxton Library Memorial : in the old Kents Bank School building.
5: Peak Dale Memorial: contains many of the names of men on the Buxton Lime Industries Memorial.
6: Brandside War Memorial: contains names of some men employed in the limestone quarries to the west of Buxton.
Buxton Cottage Hospital Extension:
The photograph on the right – from an original postcard – was taken on the 28th April 1920, and refers to the opening of the Cottage Hospital on London Road, Buxton, by the Duchess of Devonshire. However, the Buxton Cottage Hospital had been in its present location since 1911, so this photo must refer to the opening of the extension.
The Duchess – presumably the figure here with the bouquet – was Evelyn Emily Mary Cavendish (née Petty-FitzMaurice) (1870-1960), the wife of the 9th Duke, Victor Cavendish.
The postcard on the left, from about 1912, shows the Cottage Hospital before the extension was built.
When reporting, in great details the unveiling of The Slopes Memorial “… with impressive ceremonial.“, ‘The Buxton Advertiser‘ concluded its account with the words: “This will complete one part of the Buxton War Memorial Scheme. The other part is the extension of the Cottage Hospital.” It seems that this commitment was fulfilled though not for another four years.
Buxton United Reform [Congregational] Church:
The origins of the present Buxton United Reformed Church can be traced to a Congregational Church in Spring Gardens, built by subscription, but by 1861 its congregation had raised funds to build a church. Kelly’s Directory of 1932 refers to this Church as being in Hardwick Mount, and a building in the “Decorated Gothic style, with a tower and spire at the south-west angle, and 500 sittings“.
This building has since been demolished and the church currently worships in a former school, on Hardwick Square East, which dates from 1881.
The “Congregational Church Memorial“, as it was initially, is a wooden plaque bearing the names of nine Great War and six Second War casualties who were members of the congregation.
The nine men of the Congregation who gave their lives in The Great War all have pages on this site, and for more details about their lives and Service CLICK the name below or the alphabetical index at the top of the page:
L/Cpl. 20080 Harold Brookes DAWSON – 7th Bn., Manchester Regiment- Spr. WR/290477 Frank FURNESS – Royal Engineers
- Pt. 1814 Ernest GOODWIN – 10th Bn., Sherwood Foresters Regiment
- Dr. 241664 Harold HOY – 2/6th Bn., Sherwood Foresters Regiment
- L/Cpl. G/6024 Percival INNES – 3rd Bn., Middlesex Regiment
- Gnr. 73543 William JACKSON – Royal Field Artillery
- Capt. Howard LISTER, D.S.O., M.C. – Royal Army Medical Corps
- Spr. 908045 George RAYNS – Canadian Engineers
- Pt. 40290 Percy WOOD – Royal Army Medical Corps
The Church had a further six men of the Congregation who gave their lives in The Second World War. These Service details of these men are not currently covered on this site, but CLICK their names below for information from the CWGC website:
- Lt. 232839 Henry Noel BEADLE – 67th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery
- Sub. Lt. Neville Gordon CREGAN – H.M.S. Daedalus, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve [Buried in Buxton Cemetery]
- L/Cpl. 2762352 Frank DAVEY – 6th Bn., Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)
- Sgt. 1078078 George Beardmore MYCOCK – 158 Sqd. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve [N.B. George was the nephew of George William MYCOCK, who is commemorated on this site.]
- Pt. 952735 Arthur SIDDALL – Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
- Pt. 4977463 John SUTTON – 2/5th Bn., Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment)
St James The Greater’s Church (Demolished) Memorial:
St. James’ Church was built on Bath Road, Buxton, in 1871, as a chapel-of-ease to the Parish Church. The church was demolished in the 1950s and a Medical Practice built on the site. Kelly’s Directory of 1932 records that it was “a structure of lime, ripping and ashlar stone, in the Early Decorated style, erected at a cost of about £5,000, and consecrated in 1871, and consists of an apsidal chancel, clerestoried nave of four bays, aisles, south chapel, transept, baptistery [sic] and south porch“.
It contained a memorial to Buxton’s only South African (Boer) War casualty, Sergeant William H. Perkins, Derbyshire Regiment, who was killed in action at Rhenoster River, 7th June 1900 (Battle of Roodeval ).
The Cheltenham Chronicle, Saturday 27th October 1900, reported: “The Bishop of Southwell unveiled a brass memorial tablet at St. James’s Church, Buxton, on Sunday, to the memory of Sergt. William Perkins, who was killed in action at Rhenoster River Bridge. He was a native of Buxton, and volunteered for service with the 4th Derbyshire Regiment. His comrades in the 2nd Volunteer Battalion attended the ceremony in the church.”
The Plaque was unveiled following a Memorial Service but it has now been lost. The inscription read:
SERGEANT WILLIAM HENRY PERKINS,
25 years Verger of the Church,
who volunteered from the 2nd Vol. Battn. for Service as
Signalling Instructor 4th Battn. Derbyshire Regiment, Jan. A.D. 1900;
killed in action at Rhenoster River Bridge, South Africa,
7th June, A.D. 1900, in the 44th year of his age.
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusted in Thee.”
THIS TABLET is erected by friends in loving memory and in sincere esteem.
Sgt. Perkin’s son, Senior Marconi Operator Clifford William PERKINS, died in service on 11th October 1918, aged 38, and is commemorated on this site.
about Sergeant 7410 William Henry Perkins on his son’s page on this site.
the Buxton Town Hall page to read about the South African (Boer) War Memorial, which names all the Buxtonians who fought in that conflict.
Buxton Library:
The Library is housed in the former Kents Bank School, which has its own Memorial for former pupils lost in the Second World War. More pictures of the Memorial can be seen on the “Kents Bank School Memorial Archive“.
In addition, however, there is a Memorial Plaque to one of Buxton Library’s former employees – although at the time he worked there the Library was housed in the Town Hall.
The Buxton Free Public Library & Museum moved into the Peak Hydropathic Hotel, on Terrace Road, in 1928. During the First World War, the Red Cross used it to care for wounded Canadian soldiers.
Buxton Library’s next move was into the eastern end of The Crescent, before moving to its present location after Kent’s Bank School closed in 1982.
Pt. 40926 George MITCHELL, 1st Battalion, Leicester Regiment, was killed in action on the 11th September 1917. George was employed as a ‘Library Assistant – Public‘, and although the Library was not in its present location at that time, a Plaque in his honour can now be found inside the current building.
[See: Pt. George MITCHELL’s page on this site for more information about his life and service.]
Peak Dale Memorial:
The small village of Peak Dale, which is divided almost in two by the former Midland Railway, comprises Upper End on the west side of the railway and Smalldale on the east.
Both were built to house quarrymen in the days when the stone was largely hewn from the quarries by hand, and so the village was composed mostly of small stone cottages and are surrounded by limestone quarries. Peak Dale War Memorial
In the 19th century, families were attracted to live in the area by the prospect of employment in the quarries.
The village War Memorial stands in a Garden of Remembrance, Peak Dale, nr. Buxton and contains the names of 28 casualties from World War 1, engraved in black on three sides of a granite obelisk, about 3.5 m. high, on a pedestal and two-step base, about 1.0 m. square. A wreath and a ribbon with dates inside it are in relief. An additional seven names of Second World War dead have been added around the base.
‘The Buxton Advertiser’, printed on the 10th April 1920, reported in some detail on the unveiling of the Memorial: “… on Good Friday afternoon.” [i.e. the 2nd April 1920.] The Memorial was unveiled by Col. Goodman and Dedicated by Rev. J Stainer-Wilkinson.
N.B. Of the above names the following appear on the private War Memorial at British Lime Industries, Tunstead Quarry, Buxton:
S. Allcock; J.H. Boam; W. Booth; J..T. Bradwell; S.J. Byatte; P. Hassall; R. Hopwood; D. Mullins; G. Pearson; J. Pearson; M. Salt; T. Sidebottom; E.H. Taylor; J. Trask & R. Yates. [Great War] and R. Bagshaw. [Second World War]
Private Robert YATES, 3rd Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment, is the only Great War name on the Peak Dale Memorial to be included on The Slopes Memorial, Buxton.
Robert is buried in the graveyard of the now disused Holy Trinity Church, Peak Dale. (pictured left)
There is one other CWGC burial in the Churchyard – that of 32 year old, Spr. 250074 Stephen Tyrrell, Royal Engineers, who died on the 21st August 1921.
Another Buxton casualty Sapper 32291 George Warrington is also commemorated on his wife and son’s grave in the Churchyard. He was lost at sea on the way to Egypt and is commemorated on the Chatby Memorial, Alexandria, Egypt.
Of the World War 2 Names: Pilot Officer George Cook is commemorated on this site, and he, with Sgt. 1020217 John Charles Brittain, attended Buxton College and are commemorated on that Memorial.
Brandside War Memorial:
Brand End, Brand Side and Brand Top are a number of tiny hamlets located in the Parish of Hartington Upper Quarter about 5 kms. west of Buxton, 2 kms west of Harpur Hill. In 1901 Brandside, Hill Top, Brand End and Dove Head had a combined population of about 150.
The Brandside War Memorial covers a small area of farms close to Buxton in Derbyshire. 
This dignified and substantial War Memorial was unveiled in 1919 and is set in a walled enclosure at the end of a country lane.
The memorial is for just twelve farm and quarry workers from the local area who died in the First World War and one man from the Second World War.
Four of the men on the Brandside Memorial also appear on the Buxton Slopes Memorial and their Service histories are included in this site. Click the name below to read their pages:
These four are: Pt. 64162 William Edwin Bennett; Pt. 33626 Frank Fin(d)low; Pt. 243481 Matthew Sweetmore; and Pt. 26188 Jasper A. Wheeldon.
The other eight men are not, as yet, covered in this site.
World War 2:
Brandside Memorial also bears the name of one Second World War casualty – Pt. 4344897 Francis Walter MORRIS, who was killed in action on 6th May 1944.
Sources:
· I am grateful to Chris Preston and Richard Clarke, Derby and Derbyshire War Memorials Project [Derbyshire War Memorials] for the photos of Brandside Memorial, Buxton
