Relatives of a former Nantwich soldier have come forward to say his name has also been misspelt on the Nantwich War Memorial.
The family of Thomas William Keany came forward after reading our story on the campaign by Mark Potts to get incorrect name spellings amended on the town square monument.
Thomas Keany’s name has been misspelt as “Keaney” on the memorial.
Mark, who thanked Nantwich News for highlighting the issue, says at least SIX names on the memorial are now known to be misspelt.
Meanwhile, Cheshire East Council which is in charge of the upkeep and maintenance of the monument, claimed they were “not made aware” that they were responsible.
A Cheshire East Council spokesperson said: “The council recognises that the misspelling of names on a war memorial can be distressing for family members.
“We are in contact with the Imperial War Museum with regard to this monument as we were not made aware that responsibility had recently been passed to Cheshire East Council.”
Mark said he had not had any contact with Cheshire East regarding the errors.
He has been researching names on local war memorials since 1996 and has had books published on the subject.
“I have dealt with Dave Thomas at the Nantwich Town Council who has arranged a number of constructive meetings with myself and the Nantwich British Legion,” he added.
“When I had my first two meetings with the Nantwich Town Council, they were unsure who the memorial belonged to – the church, themselves or Cheshire East.
“Eventually, it was established that Cheshire East are responsible for it, and this is why very little has been done so far to rectify it.
“There is an idea to place a temporary small plaque with the proper spellings on the memorial, although I suggested that high quality decals could be placed over the top of the names with errors until something else could be done.”
The impressive monument, made of Darley Dale stone, stands over 21 ft tall and commemorates the fallen from the two great wars.
Mark added: “‘We Will Remember Them’ however doesn’t quite ring true for a number of men inscribed on the
Great War marble tablets, which were placed over the top of the weathered names on the memorial in November, 1969.
“There could, of course, be others.”
If you do know of any further mistakes, please get in touch with Mark on [email protected] or on 07503178132.
Keaney looks to be spelt correctly according to the military records and the 1891 census https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/6598/images/CHSRG12_2850_2852-0566?treeid=&personid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=QUO4787&_phstart=successSource&pId=1516554. I havn’t found his actual birth cert which is recorded as Enniskillen N Ireland abt 1888 in the 1891 census. So would check this out.
My interest is I have Keaney relatives.