Rise up in Remembrance

Commemorating 100 years since James Tolson died in WW1
(Part of Armistice Day Centenary commemorations)
Heritage Memorial Garden, Tolson Memorial Museum,
Ravensknowle Park, Wakefield Road, Huddersfield HD5 8DJ
Saturday 20 October: 1pm-3pm
For more information contact Tolson Museum, tel: 01484 223240, or Ann Denham, chair of the Friends, tel: 01484 425708, email: ann.denham3@gmail.com

The people of Huddersfield are invited to join the Friends of Tolson and Ravensknowle on Saturday, 20 October, to mark 100 years since the death of James Tolson in the First World War.
James Tolson was one of two Huddersfield brothers whose deaths in World War I led to the establishment of Tolson Memorial Museum in Ravensknowle Park on Wakefield Road. The mansion was the home of their uncle, Legh Tolson, who gifted it to the people of the town to be turned into a museum in memory of his nephews.
As part of Tolson Memorial Museum’s Armistice Day Centenary commemorations, its Friends group will be unveiling a 6ft ‘Tommy’ silhouette in James’ memory at their ‘Rise Up in Remembrance’ event to be held in the museum’s Heritage Memorial Garden.
“James Tolson was killed in France on 20 October, 1918, just three weeks before the Armistice. He was only 20 years old,” explained Ann Denham, chair of the Friends group.
“We want to remember this tragedy along with the death of his brother Robert, aged 31, on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July, 1916, and honour the Huddersfield servicemen and women who have died since in the service of their country.”
The Tommy silhouette is one of many Tommies rising up across the country as a way communities can remember those they have lost in conflict. They are part of this year’s national ‘There But Not There’ fundraising campaign for armed forces mental health charities.
The ‘Rise Up in Remembrance’ commemoration will be from 1pm to 3pm and among the invited guests will be the Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire Ed Anderson. There will be poetry readings and poppy-making for children throughout the afternoon. The event is free to attend.
The Friends group continue their commemorations with a Remembrance Day Service, starting at 10.45am, on Sunday, 11 November, in the Heritage Memorial Garden.

In addition, Tolson Memorial Museum is showing the exhibition, Lost Legacy – Muslim Roots in the British Army, which has been produced by young people from the Huddersfield Pakistani Community Alliance to show their relatives’ significant contribution to WWI and WW2. It opens on Saturday 13 October 2018. Access by stairs only
The museum is also screening the powerful 1917 film ‘The Battle of the Ancre’ on Friday, 9 November, at 7pm. It shows the final stages of the Somme campaign on the Western Front and features the first ever scenes of tanks in battle and the difficulties experienced by the British Army fighting on ground beset with mud. Places must be booked, cost £3 per person.
For further information about these events contact Tolson Memorial Museum, tel: 01484 223240.

ENDS
For further information contact Ann Denham, chair of the Friends, tel: 01484 425708, email: ann.denham3@gmail.com

Photographers are invited to attend this event. Please contact Ann Denham for appropriate times and to confirm attendance.

Editor’s Notes:
The Tolson brothers lived at Dalton with their father Whiteley and their mother Jessie. They had four sisters and a brother, Gerald, who survived the war.
Robert Huntriss Tolson was a Second Lieutenant with the 15th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment and was killed leading his men over the top. His body wasn’t discovered until March 1917 and he is buried in the Somme area of France.
James Martin Tolson, the youngest son of Whiteley Tolson, was a Second Lieutenant with the 74th Battery, Royal Field Artillery (Guards Division) and was killed at Solesme. He is buried at Quievy in France.
Tolson Memorial Museum opened in 1922. It marked the 2014 centenary of the start of the First World War with a new permanent gallery, Huddersfield’s Great War Stories, which includes a specially commissioned film, Loss and Legacy, which tells the poignant story of the Tolson brothers and is based on Tolson family letters from the period.
Also in 2014, a Heritage Memorial Garden was created by the Friends of Tolson and Ravensknowle to honour the Huddersfield service men and women who have died in the service of their country and as a place of remembrance and contemplation at any time of year.