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ST ALBAN'S FIRST WORLD WAR MEMORIAL

Inside St. Alban's church, standing adjacent to the west wall, in front of the Lady Chapel, is a memorial to the thirty-eight parishioners who died in service during the First World War.

The upper part of the memorial is a statue of St Joseph holding flowers in his right hand and his left hand resting on his heart. St Joseph, as the patron saint of the dying, is not a surprising choice for this memorial; Catholic tradition holds that Joseph died in peace, held by Jesus and Mary.

Beneath the statute of St Joseph is a marble plinth, (measuring 1.5m x 0.5m x 0.5m), which lists the Christian name and surname of each serviceman. Above the names is the inscription:

Pray for the souls of
the following members of the Parish
who gave their lives in the great war
1914 - 1918

At the base of the plinth, close to the ground, is a prayer,

Eternal rest grant to them o Lord
"May they rest in peace"

The list of the servicemen's names is presented alphabetically by surname. However, if you look closely, you will notice that one name, Owen Mulrooney, is the exception. His name appears, at the bottom right hand column of the list, between brothers Timothy Lafferty and William Lafferty. It is not known why Owen's name does not follow the alphabetical listing.

The memorial was created by John Alberti's company of masons and sculptors in Moston, Manchester. According to the War Memorials' Archive, the memorial was unveiled in December 1920, nine months before the mayor of Macclesfield, Alderman J G Frost, officially unveiled the town's magnificent memorial, inscribed "...in honour of Macclesfield men who gave their lives for their King & Empire in the Great War 1914 - 1918", in Park Green.

This website honours the WWI casualities of St Alban's Catholic Church, Chester Road, Macclesfield
www.stalbanmacc.org.uk
www.iwm.org.uk

StAlban's WWII war dead