The War Memorial at the civic campus on London Road was erected in 1923. In 2016, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport included Basingstoke War Memorial to the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. The War Memorial is now listed at Grade II.
At Worting Road cemetery there is a memorial in the form of a large stone cross that was erected by and maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
The names on war memorials across the borough were captured in a memorial booklet in 2014 with the help of town and parish councils in Basingstoke and Deane. This was part of the commemorations to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War.
WW1 Centenary memorial names booklet(PDF) [542 kb]
If you require an accessible version of this booklet, please get in touch at communications@basingstoke.gov.uk
The Basingstoke Roll of Honour, inscribed with the names of those who served in H M Forces in the European War 1914 to 1919 was drawn up in 1916. More than 1,200 local service men who fought in the Great War are named on the document which has been digitally enhanced and preserved by Hampshire Records Office in special packaging for future generations to view.
According to local historian David Stewart, Miss Alice Fisher of Cliddesden Road presented the Mayor and Basingstoke Town Council with the list of 1,036 names of local men who were serving or had been serving in the Forces up to that time. The list had been inscribed by Mr Ernest Henry George Bolley and it was agreed that Mr Bolley would further inscribe the names of men joining up afterwards following the conclusion of the war.
The names listed on the Roll of Honour are of those serving in the Army, Navy, Royal Marines, Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force, along with Basingstoke men who emigrated to parts of the Commonwealth and served in the Forces of Canada and Australia.
A copy of the original is on show at the Willis Museum (opening times Tuesday to Friday 10am to 5pm and Saturday 10am to 4pm). The original Roll of Honour is held at the Hampshire Record Office, in Sussex Street, Winchester, where it is available for public viewing.
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Roll of Honour Men of the Borough of Basingstoke 1914-19(JPG)
If you require an accessible version of this document, please get in touch at communications@basingstoke.gov.uk
First World War heroes from Basingstoke and Deane who received the Victoria Cross were honoured with commemorative paving stones as part of a national project organised by the Department for Communities and Local Government to commemorate the centenary of the First World War.
The special paving stones were laid in the areas were the recipients were born on the 100th anniversary of the Victoria Cross hero’s death.
Captain Liddel, who had joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, before transferring to the Royal Flying Corp to serve as a pilot, was awarded the Victoria Cross in recognition of safely landing his aircraft on friendly territory and saving the life of his observer gunner, despite his injuries and aircraft damage.
In July 2015, the then Basingstoke and Deane Mayor Cllr Anne Court and The Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire Nigel Atkinson LL unveiled the first of the borough’s memorial stone in commemoration of Captain John Aiden Liddell in Sherfield on Loddon. The memorial stone was presented to Sherfield on Loddon Parish Council in recognition of where the Liddell family originally made their home.
Lance Corporal Welsh was awarded the Victoria Cross for his act of heroism during the Battle of Arras, on April 29 1917, where he entered a German trench and killed a German soldier after a hand-to-hand struggle, before chasing four others across the land and capturing them single-handedly. He then manned a machine gun for five hours before being wounded.
On Saturday 29 April 2017, the memorial stone for Lance Corporal James Welch VC was unveiled in Stratfield Saye, the village where he was born, by the then Basingstoke and Deane Mayor Cllr Jane Frankum and dignitaries from across the borough.
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