In early 2024 a memorial to the men of a small Norfolk parish, who had served in WW1, was discovered in a shed in Cleethorpes.  A ‘phone call to the then Clerk of Poringland Parish Council followed, who consequently travelled to Cleethorpes to bring it back to Norfolk. This posed many questions, not least how and why was it found so far away?

A search through the Norfolk Record Office Catalogue revealed documents that appeared to shed some light on this mystery and coupled with some local sleuthing, a few of these questions were answered. 

The memorial is in the form of a triptych and commemorates the men of Howe and West Poringland who served in His Majesties Forces, survived the conflict and returned home. The image that filled the centre panel is missing, there is much woodworm and the names of the men on the side panels, under the year they signed up, are just legible.

A separate more elaborate memorial to the six men who served and died, is still on the west wall of the nave in Howe Church and is in a reasonable condition.

One of the first images found in the bundle of Record Office documents was a photograph of the triptych as it was when it was first completed in 1919, with its centre panel of varnished canvass, revealing an image of St. George. So, this was one mystery solved.¹

Also, in the bundle were copies of the brochures published by The Fine Art’s Publishing Company Ltd. of London from which both Howe memorials were selected. They offered war tablet suggestions to “the Great Houses of Commerce, the Schools and Churches of the Empire”. The design of St. George was by Mr G P Hutchinson and was described as “simple and dignified in drawing and colour, and at the same time finely decorative”. The designs were said to be particularly admired by Queens Mary and Alexandre. The cost of the central image was £5. 5s. This could be set into a triptych with names added onto the outer panels in gold paint on a black background, plus any other embellishments as required. Hallam’s Gallery in The Royal Arcade in Norwich supplied the triptychs with Mr J Gunn of All Saints’ Green carrying out the illumination and lettering.

As with most parishes across the country in the aftermath of the First World War a decision was made to erect an enduring memorial to the six men of Howe and West Poringland who had died in the service of their country and in addition a separate memorial to the twenty-seven who had served and returned. The former to be placed in the northwest corner of the nave and the latter in the south porch above the inner door. A memorial committee was duly formed, the designs were chosen and funds were raised. Hallam’s final price for the work for both triptychs was £39.10s with the assurance that the work would be very carefully carried out. The committee minutes reveal that there was a short fall in the funds raised, these being only £37.10s. Reverend Percival Wilder was deputed to speak with Hallam’s and for fresh designs to be sought from Messrs. Morris, Ruskin House as a contingency. Some mutual arrangement must have been reached with Hallam’s, who subsequently carried out the work. Meanwhile an application was made to the Bishop of Norwich for a Faculty for their erection.

The memorials were completed in time for them to be unveiled and dedicated at the Armistice Service on 7^th November 1919. The event was reported in detail in the Eastern Daily Press two days later and a copy of the service is in the Record Office Archives. The Bishop of Norwich officiated and the Band of the Norfolk Regiment was in attendance.

One of the other significant documents referencing the triptych was a letter describing it as being missing.² The letter itself is not dated, but was possibly written sometime in the 1970s. It appears that the triptych was probably removed when the church porch was decorated, at which point it seems to disappear. Some six years after its removal it remained missing and the matter was reported to the police, although the church wardens were reluctant to believe that someone would steal it, but rather that it had been removed for renovation or to prevent it from being destroyed. Its condition was said to be poor. An appeal was made for its return or for information regarding its whereabouts. Sometime later a note is added in red ink on the corner of the same letter, which states the triptych was never recovered, that the insurance company considered it stolen and compensation was paid in 1980. This postscript is dated and signed by Mr Burgess the churchwarden.

Many decades passed and the matter was probably forgotten, until early 2024. The name of the person from Cleethorpes who made the ‘phone call is not known, just that the new owners of the property had discovered it in their garden shed. Their hypothesis was that somebody from the Howe and Poringland area had taken it with them when they moved, intending to renovate it as a retirement project, but for whatever reason this never happened and it remained in the shed until its discovery.

The triptych was then passed on to Poringland Archive who undertook its research. All the named servicemen have been researched and again, some very useful documents in the Record Office Archives provided military information that was not available from other sources.³ The triptych plus all the research have now been passed on to the church wardens of Howe church.

Researched and Written by Jenni Southernwood, NRO Research Blogger

Footnotes

1. Norfolk Record Office, PD 588/65 ↩︎
2. NRO, PD 588/65 ↩︎
3. NRO, PD 588/65 ↩︎