Man proud to discover memorial for great-uncle killed in WW1

A man has told of his pride at discovering a memorial dedicated to his great-uncle and five other gas workers killed in World War One.

Pte Samuel Corfe, James Hitchmough, Pte Richard Ireland, L/Cpl Alexander McDonnell, stoker Allan Prophet and Pte John Williams worked at the gasworks in Garston, Liverpool.

George Corfe found about the memorial after gas network company Cadent put out a plea to relatives to make sure they were aware of it.

He joined in Cadent's Armistice Day ceremony earlier, and said he was "very pleased" to learn his great-uncle had been remembered.

Corfe told BBC North West Tonight he was delighted.

"I didn't know about the memorial," he said.

"I knew I had a great-uncle who died in the First World War... and that my own grandfather had died.

"But my family never talked about it and that's all I knew."

His brother-in-law had heard about Cadent's search for relatives told him.

Cadent said his great uncle Pte Samuel Corfe from Garston served with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and died on 11 September 1918, aged 34.

Pte Corfe, along with the other five, are named on two memorials which are now housed at the company's base in Huyton.

Every year, Cadent staff gather at the memorial on 11 November, to pause for a moment of reflection and silence.

In recent years, they have been joined by the great-niece of Thomas Thompson, to whom one of the two memorials is dedicated.

Cadent put out a search earlier this week to find more descendants and relatives of the six men.

The firm said Thomas was 24 when he was killed as his unit advanced into Belgium in October 1918.

Before the war, he worked at Caryl Street gasworks, which at that time was a huge gas production site close to what is now Brunswick train station.

His father, Robert, was a foreman at the site, and after Thomas died a memorial stone was engraved and added to the wall.

More than 100 years on, the site today is a much smaller gas pressure management station, accessed by only a handful of workers.

Several years ago the firm moved the memorial to its headquarters for Merseyside operations in Huyton so more people could see it.

A plaque was placed on the public-facing wall of the original location of Thomas's memorial.

The original was merged with another memorial dedicated to "the men employed at the Garston gasworks … who gave their lives for their fellow countrymen".

Nick Jerman, head of safety and engineering and regional lead for Cadent's military community, said: "Cadent is proud to have a history that dates back to the early 1800s here in Liverpool."

"Thousands of Merseyside gas workers served in both of the World Wars, and many were killed.

"As a company, we pause every year to remember that."

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