In March 2006 we again took a coach party of 40 Year 10/11 pupils to the Battlefields of Flanders, Belgium and the Somme in France. To focus on the local significance of how the war affected Ellesmere Port, we decided to try to find and visit as many of the graves of the soldiers recorded on the Ellesmere Port War Memorial that we could. This website records the results of those efforts and shows where future researches may lie, given that this is an ongoing project.

Some of the pupils visiting the Battlefields were also keen to find their own ancestors. We had several potential visits lined up while in Belgium and France, but we were unable to fit all of them in due to a lack of time. I don't think we could have packed anything more into such memorable trip, but we will try to visit them on future tours. Nevertheless, some of those researches are recorded on this website under Student's Own Ancestral Research.

In 1914 Ellesmere Port was a very small place, little more than a village, contained within the working dock and small industrial area centered around where the modern Boat Museum is today, plus the compact terrace housing of the Netherpool area. The small village of Whitby was a mile away on the Chester Road with agricultural fields between the two settlements. The population of Ellesmere Port was around 10,000 at the outbreak of the war. As far a we know there were no Pals Battalions raised from this area in the Cheshire Regiment. There does not seem to be the mass joining up of men from the same factories and football teams. Some of the men signed on locally, others in Birkenhead or Chester. Therefore, the area was spared the wholesale slaughter of broad sections of their menfolk. Nevertheless, this was effectively a village. There would be few houses in this tight-knit community which would be untouched by the losses, be they relatives, friends, neighbours or workmates.

Some of the men were never found, and they are recorded on memorials such as the Menin Gate in Belgium, or the Thiepval Memorial on the Somme in France. Those with known graves lie in immaculate cemeteries maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Their care for graves is not confined to those which are scattered throughout the Battlefields, but for all 1,700,000 men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died in the two world wars. It may come as a surprise to know that there are over 20 such war graves in the Christchurch graveyard, which was then the local parish church for Ellesmere Port.

This is an ongoing project with many avenues of research, which is why certain areas on this site are more detailed than others. If you have any information which may help the project or you want to get involved please refer to the Current Research link in the menu.