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The roll of honour of Yeomanry and Volunteers from Ellesmere is on the outer front wall of the Town Hall. The council's occupancy of this building only dates from 1981, it having previously been a community hall, and the roll of honour was originally on the outside wall of the old town hall (now an estate agents' business).
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CAPT. BERNARD HEAD, 2ND K.S.L.I....PTE. HENRY COLEMAN, 2ND K.S.L.I......PTE. ROBERT JONES, DENBGH. I.Y.
VET. LT. ALFRED BATE, DENBGH I.Y.......".....SAMUEL GRIFFITHS, DENBGH I.Y....."....ARTHUR POVEY, MONT. I.Y.
FAR. SERGT. RICHARD BAGLEY,..."........".....HAROLD JONES,..............".........."......"....HENRY ROBERTS, 2ND K.S.L.I.


SGT. MAJ. HENRY PHILLIPS, SALOP I.Y....PTE. CHARLES COOKE, LANCASTER I.Y....PTE. WALTER ROWLANDS, MONT. I.Y....PTE. ROBERT WYNN, MONT. I.Y.
PTE. CHARLES BOYLIN, MONT. I.Y...............".....CHARLES EVANS, MONT. I.Y..................."......EDWARD SANDALLS
...".....BERTRAM BREEZE, SALOP I.Y............".....JOHN LINDOP,............"........"...................."......EDWARD SHONE
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ELLESMERE WAR MEMORIAL. - Ellesmere was en fete on Friday night, when Colonel the Hon. George Ormsby-Gore, Parliamentary representative for Oswestry, unveiled a handsome bronze memorial to perpetuate the gallantry of 19 local soldiers who fought in the South African war. The vicinity of the Town Hall, where the memorial was unveiled, was gaily decorated and illuminated, the immense crowd being controlled by a squadron of the Shropshire Yeomanry and Ellesmere Volunteers. - Colonel Gore, in performing the unveiling ceremony, trusted that the tablet would serve as a lasting tribute to the valour and patriotism of Ellesmere's heroes. Future generations might admire those soldiers, and their example might inspire others with similar patriotism when Britain desired military assistance. Colonel Gore then unveiled the tablet amid unbounded enthusiasm, the local band meanwhile playing the National Anthem. Subsequently a banquet was given at the Bridgwater Hotel, where the distinguished company foregathered, and the proceedings continued until a late hour.
Cheshire Observer, Saturday 21st November 1903
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Mount Aspiring (9,951 feet high) is in Otago, New Zealand, and Bernard Head, with two guides, was the firrst to climb it.
"The first ascent was on 23 November 1909 by Major Bernard Head and guides Jack Clarke and Alec Graham. Head's party climbed to the summit ridge by the west face from the Bonar Glacier, a route not repeated until 1965." [Wikipedia]
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Mount Aspiring has for a long time been considered one of the unclimbable mountains of New Zealand. There were quite a number of New Zealand mountains that come under that heading, but one by one they have yielded to persevering attacks on Alpine climbers. Dr Teichelmann, of Hokitika, received a wire to-night stating that Captain Head, the English mountaineer, accompanied by Messrs A. Graham, of Waiho,and Jack Clark(e), late of the Geological Survey Department, had succeeded in reaching the summit of Mount Aspiring. The attack was made from the Otago side.
The Colonist, 26th November 1909
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....MAJOR BERNARD HEAD, 5th Royal Welsh Fusiliers (T.F.), who has fallen in action in Gallipoli, formerly held a commission in the 2nd Volunteer Battalion Shropshire Light Infantry. He served with distinction in the South African War, receiving mention in dispatches, and had the Queen's medal with three clasps. He was appointed honorary captain in the Army in 1901. He was the youngest son of the late Henry Head, of 27, Cornhill, E.C.
The Times, Tuesday 24th August 1915
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. ....Major Bernard Head, killed in action at the Dardanelles, was a sleeping partner in the firm of Lloyd's, underwriters. He was a thorough sportsman, and took up exploration as a hobby. He came to New Zealand originally for the fishing at Taupo, and a visit to Mount Cook gave him a taste for mountain-climbing. After putting in a season here, learning the practical work of icecraft and rock-climbing, he returned the following year, and, engaging "Jack" Clark and another guide, he attacked Mount Aspiring, which several experienced climbers had been keeping steadily in view, and achieved the honour of making the first ascent of this imposing peak. He also accompanied Mr. L. M. Earle when the latter made the first ascent of Mount Sefton from the West Coast. About two years aGo Major Head made tentative arrangements to explore the unsurveyed portions of the Orange River, South Africa, but abandoned the idea and, returning to New Zealand, of which he was very fond, did some valuable work in exploring the country at the head of Dart River, in the Lake Wakatipu district. Major Head was an ardent Imperialist, and a thorough soldier in his instincts. He distinguished himself in the South African war, and afterwards took an active part in the territorial movement in England. When in New Zealand he offered his services gratuitously to the Defence Department, and did excellent work at the big Kowai camp on the occasion of Sir lan Hamilton's visit. His unfailing cheeriness and bonhomie made him a great favourite with the men. He accompanied the advance Expeditionary Force to Samoa, and when matters were put on a settled footing there, he hurried home to rejoin his old regiment, the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. He was stationed for some time on the east coast of England, and was then sent to the Dardanelles.
New Zealand Herald, 14th October 1915
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....Major Bernard Head, 5th Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers, of Ivy House, Ellesmere, Salop, was killed in the Dardenelles on the 12th August last. For some years in the Ellesmere Estate Office of Earl Brownley, he was in 1904 appointed estate agent to Lord Harlech.
The Scotsman, 28th October 1915
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Bernard Head is remembered on a memorial, together with his nephew, Bernard Pinney, on a side wall of the Comrades' Hall (the village hall), in Broadwindsor, near Beaminster, Dorset. A foreunner of the Royal British Legion was the Comrades of the Great War, which likely accounts for the name of the hall.
Major Bernard Pinney, of the Royal Horse Artillery, was born in the Farnham area, Surrey, in 1903; his mother's maiden surname was Head.
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In Ellesmere Cemetery is the Butler family grave, and remembered on the gravestone is Andrew J. Butler, who died at Heilbron, July 5th, 1900, aged 27. He was 4348 Private Andrew Joseph Butler, 1st Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, who died of disease, and his birth was recorded in the Ellesmere registration district in the 3rd quarter of 1872.
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Also remembered on the regimental memorial at Preston.
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