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North Muskham - St Wilfrid's Church

St Wilfrid's Church, Main Street, North Muskham Nottinghamshire, NG23 6GD. Dedication: 'For God, King and Empire. (names) They that did love, and were loved, in the mighty struggle of the ages. For us, for their country and the world. With loftiest courge in glorious death went hence into life everlasting. 1914-1918.' The source of the wood for the memorial is described in an information leaflet in the church, ‘St Wilfrid Church North Muskham; a short history’, copyright Arthur Mee, 1942. Mee says that the ‘crucifix shrine’ was made of wood from the Naval cadet training ship, HMS Britannia. HMS Britannia became a cadet training ship in 1863 and was eventually moored in Dartmouth. The ‘old and leaky’ ship was replaced in 1869 by HMS Prince of Wales, which was renamed Britannia. Dartmouth Naval College was built in 1905 and Britannia was towed away in 1916. (www.royalnavy.mod.uk/News-and-Events/Latest-News/2013/January/31/130131-Britannia-celebrates-its-150-year-bond-with-Dartmouth). It is not clear which of the two ships of the same name is the one referred to by Arthur Mee, although it is likely to have been the former HMS Prince of Wales. There is a faculty in Nottinghamshire Archives for the placing of a memorial tablet in the church to commemorate those who fell in the First World War. However, although the dedication is the same as that on the triptych, the memorial is described as a ‘copper plate’ not a triptych. (Nottinghamshire Archives, ref PR 17.439/4, St Wilfrid, North Muskham. Faculty for memorial tablet.) The names of two men who died in the Second World War have been listed directly below the names of those who died in the Great War. A brass plaque was erected alongside the 'crucifix shrine' in 2014 to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of war. Inscription: ‘Our Great War sacrifices (27 names) This memorial to Bathley, Little Carlton, North Muskham and South Muskham men lost to the Great War 1914-1918 was initiated by researcher Trevor Frecknall and provided by the Parish Councils and Bathley History Society in 2014. We will remember.’

Identified casualties 8 people