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At the time of the ABW Low Fell was a village near Gateshead; now it's regarded as being a suburb although it still has the feel of a village.

Sergeant W. Crone
Trooper A. Dodd
Trooper F. English
Trooper William Bell Scott Leathart, 55th Company. Died of enteric fever at Bloemfontein on 13th March 1901, aged 22.
Trooper A. Williamson
all of the Imperial Yeomanry.

All five are named on Gateshead's ABW memorial but Williamson is listed as Lance Corporal A.W.C. Williamson. Leathart has a dedicated stained glass window and a plaque in St Helen's Church, Low Fell.

Hello Berenice

Not seen this memorial in 20 years! Good to see it is used by the community - are these poppy wreaths just for this memorial or does Low Fell not have a WW1 memorial?

My notes from 1994 state the rifle was broken - I have a picture (in the loft), will dig it out today.

Williamson - served with 35th bn and must have arrived after 31-05 as he is not listed on the medal rolls, he died 20-08-1902 at Newcastle, Natal (Watt In Memoriam). He must have papers in WO128 (or Kevin would not have listed in but I cannot find them on FmP ). From the 1901 census he was born September quarter 1882 Woolwich, London son of Johnson and Eleanor. Lived in Milton House, Low Fell with his parents, he was a timber (or lumber) clerk.

Regards
Meurig

I think this memorial is used by the village as a general war memorial. The Anglican church has a WW1 window and plaques but this one is accessible to everyone.

The present rifle does look newer, or at least not as weathered, than the rest of the statue. Considering the industrial workings there were in the Gateshead area the memorial is in pretty good condition.

Close up from a photo taken in 1994.

I love 'then and now' photos!

Berenice - another set of Then (1905) & Now (2021) photos:



A 2019 Local Newspaper Article reported the memorial (unveiled in 1903) was due a "makeover", they have definitely cleaned it since you photographed it in 2015. The positioning fascinates me as my Google Street journey indicated there was a green and open space a bit further up Durham Road. My second thought was when you compare the depth of the base at the bottom it had undergone a rebuild at some time, my next thought was that they had raised the pavement surrounding it. You recently visited Oxford and no doubt "climbed" up The High admiring the controversial statue of Cecil John Rhodes on the way. If you got as far as Carfax you would have seen whichever way you approached there would have been an upward climb - the original settlement of Oxford was not built on a small hill, you would have climbed over the accumulated rubbish & debris of previous generations. So, are all stand-alone War Memorials gradually shrinking in height?

Below is an article from the Newcastle Daily Chronicle of 26 October 1903 relating to the unveiling. It also tells you how all five men met their end.



I see you have already posted about Trooper W B S Leathart, soon I will be adding to that. How did you work out the pronunciation of his surname?