Sellack War Memorial Trail
If you’d like to walk the Memorial Trail, you can download a self guided route map and more information here…
Sellack War Memorial Plaque Trail – Self-Guided Walk
Remembering those we lost in the WWI and WWII
The Parish Council is working with the local community of Sellack, to place memorial plaques along footpaths in the parish (mostly on the Herefordshire Trail), to commemorate all those on the Sellack War Memorial, located at Picts Cross.
The idea of putting plaques on footpath stiles for each of the soldiers on the Sellack War Memorial was prompted by reading their individual stories in the fantastic book written by Bill Webb, an excerpt of which is included below. It is sobering to think about those young men leaving the green fields of Sellack, to serve their country abroad. We wanted to find a way to bring the memory of these young men back into our lovely countryside of Sellack and felt that placing memorial plaques along our footpaths would be a fitting tribute, in addition to our wonderfully kept war memorials at the Church and at Picts Cross.
Thank you to Mr Webb for his kind permission to include this excerpt from his book. You can view the full version of Mr Webb’s book by requesting a copy from our Clerk.
Excerpt from ‘The Great War for civilisation 1914 – 1919. Commemorating The men of Sellack who died in the conflict’ by Bill Webb, 2016:
‘August 4th 2014 was the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War (First World War). August 4th 1914 was the date when Great Britain and the Empire declared war on Germany in response to Germany’s invasion of Belgium. The Great War started when, on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians fired the first shots of the war as preparation for the invasion of Serbia. While the Russians mobilised, the Germans invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg, which brought Great Britain into the war.
It is not really appropriate to celebrate an event which led to the deaths of so many people. It is perhaps a time to commemorate those young men of the area who gave their lives in a conflict they thought was just and right and consider that they were part of our community. 100 years on we still ‘remember them’ and
value the sacrifice they made. It is also a time to reflect on the conditions at the time, it was a rural community and this was seen as a ‘great adventure’ and it would all be over by Christmas, the young men enlisted voluntarily in huge numbers at Kitchener’s appeal for volunteers. They did not want to miss the
boat…
The stories of the men of Sellack who died in The Great War
‘The stories will hopefully give the background to the relationship the individual soldiers have with the local area, their family and family background, where they lived and what they did. It will also give a description of their Regiment and the battles they and their Regiment fought in as well as where (and if we know it) how they died I hope it will be more than a memorial but give an account of who they were, who their families were and how they fitted into the local community. Most of them are listed on the Sellack War Memorial but one is not but he had strong local ties so I have included him here’.
At our Memorial event in November 2023, our Chairperson, Councillor Sarah Aitken, kindly summarised the story of each of these men, from the book that Mr Webb published. We have included these abridged details below (click on the names for more details), but you can view the full details in Mr Webb’s book, a copy of which can be obtained from our Clerk.
The men of Sellack who died in the Great War.
- Charles Edward Davies
- Philip Ernest Dunn
- (George) Henry Edwards
- Thomas Christopher Green
- Walter Edward Hatchard
- Alfred Henry Hemans
- Wilfred Lewis
- Reuben Lewis
- William George Jones
- Ernest John Panting
- Percy Albert Roberts
- Henry Shaw
- Harold George Thomas
- George Weeks
- Augustin George Richard Whitehouse
Linked to Sellack but not included on the Sellack War Memorial:
- William James Thomas (Private Thomas was born in Sellack and his family had strong ties to the community)
The men of Sellack who died in WWII.
We would like to thank our wonderful local volunteer, who has researched the stories of the three men (from Sellack) who died in WWII. Click on the names to read their stories:
The stories of these soldiers have been researched using a number of resources, including old newspaper articles, OS maps and Registry office records. Our local volunteer also visited the Records Office in Rotherwas, Herefordshire. To their knowledge, the information provided is correct but if you would like to request any amendments to these pages, please email our Clerk via our Contact page at https://sellackparishcouncil.gov.uk/contact/