Memorial to Private George Wallace Jackson, Carlton in Lindrick

Summary

A memorial commemorating the death in the First World War of Private George Wallace Jackson, in the form of a statue of an infantryman on a pedestal, with commemorative dedication. Additional dedication for Private Jackson's mother, who erected the memorial.

Reasons for Designation

The memorial to Private George Wallace Jackson, which stands in the churchyard at Carlton in Lindrick, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Historic interest: as an eloquent witness to the tragic impact of world events on a local family, emblematic of the community’s sacrifices made in the First World War;

* Architectural interest: as an unusual example of a memorial to a Private soldier, rather than an officer, incorporating a statue of a fully-equipped infantryman in uniform;

* Group value: with the Grade I listed Church of St John the Evangelist.

History

The aftermath of the First World War saw the biggest single wave of public commemoration ever with tens of thousands of memorials erected across England. This was the result of both the huge impact on communities of the loss of three quarters of a million British lives, and also the official policy of not repatriating the dead which meant that the memorials provided the main focus of the grief felt at this great loss.

As well as memorials raised by communities, families often chose to mark the deaths of their loved ones. Such memorials are commonly in the form of features within buildings such as windows or plaques in churches, or by the addition of a name to an existing family gravestone. Less commonly, individual monuments were erected, such as the statue to Private George Wallace Jackson in the churchyard at Carlton in Lindrick.

Private Jackson died on 21 March 1918 whilst serving with 2nd/5th Battalion Sherwood Foresters. He was 22 years old. He had left his job at the Worksop Co-Operative Society, where he had worked since leaving school, to join up. His battalion had been formed in October 1914 and served in France from February 1917, where it suffered relatively few casualties during fighting in the Third Battle of Ypres and at Cambrai. The first major German Army offensive of 1918, Operation Michael, was launched against the British Front Line on 21 March. Jackson's battalion held the line near Bullecourt, to the north of the village of Noreuil, where the bombardment started early on the morning of 21 March. By midday, the advancing German Army had over-run the British trenches. Some 108 men of 2nd/5th Sherwood Foresters were known to have been killed in the attack whilst more than 600 were missing.

Private Jackson was one of the missing soldiers. His death was not formally confirmed until the Summer of 1919. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. His mother, Charlotte, commissioned a monument to be erected to him in the churchyard of the Grade I listed Church of St John the Evangelist.

Details

A memorial commemorating the death in the First World War of Private George Wallace Jackson.

MATERIALS: stone statue on a stone pedestal, square in plan, rising from a single stage base.

DESCRIPTION: the monument stands in the churchyard of the Grade I listed Church of St John the Evangelist. It takes the form of a stone statue of an infantryman in uniform with his pack, standing on the moulded top of a tall pedestal. The infantryman’s head, right hand, and his rifle, are missing. The monument is enclosed by rails carried on four corner posts.

The dedicatory inscription to the front face of the pedestal reads: TO THE/ GLORIOUS MEMORY OF/ PTE GEORGE,/ WALLACE JACKSON./ 2/5 SHERWOOD FORESTERS./ WHO FELL IN ACTION IN FRANCE/ MARCH 21ST 1918,/ AGED 22 YEARS./ “GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN/ THAN THIS, THAT A MAN LAY/ DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS/ FRIENDS.”/ THIS MEMORIAL WAS/ ERECTED BY HIS SORROWING/ MOTHER.

To one side of the pedestal an additional inscription reads: IN LOVING MEMORY/ OF A DEAR WIFE & MOTHER/ CHARLOTTE E./ PADLEY/ WIDE OF WM PADLEY/ WHO DEPARTED THIS/ LIFE APRIL 13TH 1926/ AGED 64 YEARS./ "WE MOURN THE LOSS OF/ HER WE LOVED,/ AND DID OUR BEST TO SAVE,/ BELOVED IN LIFE/ REGRETTED GONE,/ REMEMBERED IN THE/ GRAVE."

The inscription is in applied metal letters.


This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 27 February 2018.

Sources

Websites
Nottinghamshire Roll of Honour, accessed 8 May 2017 from http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/rollofhonour/People/Details/5855
Commonwealth War Graves Commission record for Private GW Jackson, accessed 8 May 2017 from http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1574116/JACKSON,%20GEORGE%20WALLIS
War Memorials Online, accessed 3 July 2017 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/238167
War Memorials Register, accessed 27 February 2018 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/26907

End of official list entry

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