Cheltenham War Memorial.

Cheltenham War Memorial was unveiled in 1921. There are 1,297 names on the memorial today, 1290 original, 1 added after 1921 and an additional 6 which were added in 2014 during the first phase of the restoration. There are 1,296 men and 1 woman remembered.

Click on the images below to view a close up of each panel and read the names after restoration. (click to enlarge photos)

Roll of Honour.

There are a total of 1297 names on Cheltenham War Memorial. Photos of more than 800 Cheltonian servicemen and 1 servicewoman who died during the First World War have been identified. These were used to create banners and lanyards for our Memorial March in November 2018.

Click on a letter of the alphabet to download the images for that surname. 

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

We now have a special section of our website which hosts the research and images collected by researcher Jimmy James including photos and details of Cheltonian war graves and memorials around the world. This is a static website archive of  remembering.org which was taken offline in 2019. remembering.cheltenhamremembers.org.uk/

They Are Remembered.

The final act of commemoration in 2018 was an audio visual film projected onto the Municipal Offices. It was created by Evenlode Productions with assistance from from the Everyman Theatre, University of Gloucestershire animation students and the Cheltenham Ladies’ College choir. The projection was re-edited and entered into the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. (A film showing the whole projection can be viewed here.)

The projection also included a specially written piece by local spoken word artist JPDL.

History of the Memorial.

In order to commemorate the lives lost during the 1914-1918 war, Cheltenham Town Council commissioned Messrs R L Boulton & Sons to create a memorial that would enable the people of Cheltenham to remember the Cheltonians who gave their lives for their country.

A temporary memorial statue of an angel had been placed outside the Municipal Offices for people to leave floral tributes by and several memorial ideas were submitted and publish in the local papers before the final design was agreed upon.

On October 1st 1921 a commemorative ceremony was held by Cheltenham Town Council and was attended by ex-servicemen, headed by the Band of the First Gloucester’s; children who had lost either a father or brother in the War; invited dignitaries; and paying guests.

The memorial was revealed by General Sir Robert Fanshawe, Commander of the old 48th Division (South Midlands) a Division in which many of the local men had served.

Repair & Conservation.

As part of the World War One centenary commemorations  Cheltenham Borough Council undertook work to repair and conserve the memorial back to its original glory.

These actions have included adding six newly identified names of Cheltonians lost in the First World War, who were omitted from the original roll of honour in 1921. These additional names included Elizabeth Roberts, the only woman from Cheltenham to be commemorated.

Supported by grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the War Memorials Trust, an extensive restoration was completed in September 2016. This included cleaning and repainting some of the names that had become hard to read. Replacement lamps have been installed to match the original design and an interpretation board with information about the memorial has also been installed.

The original 1921 list of ‘Men of Cheltenham who fell in the Great War’ can also be viewed below. This gives names, addresses and next of kin and was compiled in the same year that Cheltenham war memorial was unveiled.

Cheltenham's Roll of Honour
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