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Town's fallen tracked down for memorial exhibition

Federica BedendoNorth East and Cumbria
News imageSupplied A black and white image of Edward and Joseph Johnston. Edward is wearing a military uniform and hat and standing with his hands behind his back. Joseph stands next to him. He wears a shirt and holds an item of clothing folded over his hands. Behind them is a wooden garden fence with a hedge poking over the top.Supplied
Joseph Johnston (left) was just 15 when he died in the Battle of the Somme

A group of volunteers has tracked down images of all the soldiers from their town who died in Battle of the Somme for a special exhibition.

The nine members of Ulverston's history group spent months digging through archives to unearth photos for all 42 soldiers from the town who died in the four and a half-month battle in 1916.

They also made a replica of a bi-plane in use during World War One, a Vickers Gunbus, which will all be part of a free exhibition at the town's Coronation Hall on 2 July.

Volunteer Jennifer Snell, who led the efforts on the plane, said: "It looks the part but I think if you gave it a good old push, it'd fall over and break - but we've had some fun doing it."

She said: "I'm no craftswoman at all, but I thought I'll go into the back of our shed and I'll see if I can find some old timber and old bits of plastic and what have you.

"Since then I've nailed, screwed, sawed and painted."

Other members made weapons using materials they had available, including a magazine fashioned out of a cheese container.

News imageSupplied A black and white posed image of Frank Porter in a military uniform. He is looking to his left and slightly smiling.Supplied
Frank Porter died on 1 July 1916 - the very first day of the battle - aged 26

The group thought they had to settle with only having found photos for 41 servicemen who died in the battle, but recently they found the missing one.

In it, 15-year-old Joseph Johnston is pictured with his brother Edward.

"I don't actually know what [Joseph] was doing on the battlefield at that age, because he was much too young, really," Snell said.

"But we found out that he had an older brother, two years older, called Edward, and I think he might have gone in the army at the same time."

News imageMargaret Snell A replica of a Vickers Gunbus bi-plane on a lawn. It is painted in a beige colour with a blue, red and white tail fin, in the same design as the French flag, and the circular RAF logo on each wing, the tail and the cockpit.Margaret Snell
Volunteer Margaret Snell made a replica of a Vickers Gunbus with items she found in her shed

The images will feature in a booklet and a video prepared for the exhibition alongside information the group found out about the soldiers.

Many of the soldiers the volunteers identified had no known graves.

News imageSupplied A black and white image of George Bell in a military uniform and hat. He is looking at the camera and his mouth is slightly open. There are red poppies over laid on the bottom left hand corner of the picture.Supplied
George Bell was 19 when he died

Snell said her favourite was a man called George Bell, who lived just down the road from where she lives.

"He has such a sweet, honest face," she said.

"I look at him and I think 'poor boy, you died aged 19 years and you probably hadn't been out of Ulverston in your life, and there you go to France, and you lose your life within a few months'.

"It's so sad in a way."

The exhibition will run from 09:30 to 15:30 BST on 2 July and is free to attend.

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