The Memorial Album

Overall there are 776 casualty entries printed, two per page, who were believed to have died as a consequence of the Great War. There are 495 photographs contributed by friends or family and pasted on the pre-printed pages. The Men are listed under their place of worship or "Additional".

The biographical details of each casualty were compiled from April 1919 following an advertisement in the Chorley Guardian.

There is evidence of information included due to Susannah's connections (two French entries) and hearsay (only surnames included).

All the men are recorded because they died as a consequence of war. This does not necessarily mean that they were killed in action or died of wounds in the conventional sense. Twenty-six men are recorded as dying after 11th November 1918. Most of this group probably died of Spanish 'flu, though lingering wartime injuries continued to take lives well into the 1920s and 1930s as well. It is believed that several of the men recorded in the volumes actually survived the war ( I am pursuing verification) which casts an interesting light on the way the information was compiled. At least 10 are repeated entries. Some of the casualties had been rejected from the army or discharged. Some had lingering deaths as a consequence of injuries sustained. The families felt they should be included because they blamed the war, ultimately, for their deaths or they felt their service should be recorded.

As an example of the inclusive nature of the memorial, Edward Hardman died as a consequence of crashing his bicycle through a plate glass window in April 1919 - He had been wounded 3 times and had a maimed arm with two missing finger - his inclusion must surely reflect that the family blamed the war for his death. He appears on no formal war memorial, as do others included in the Album.

The Album offered a place for families to place the memory of their loved ones. Susannah then took the Album on several journeys around Britain, Europe and North America to draw attention to the importance of strengthening the ties between nations and to build a strong peace. The 'Great and the Good' of the era placed their signatures in the Album over the next 15 years.