Oldham Employers' Roll of Honour 1914-1920
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About the Oldham Employers' Roll of Honour
Search more than 1,900 names in a listing of Oldham companies and the men working for those companies who served in some capacity during WWI.
These names originally appeared in The Oldham Battalion of Comrades – Book of Honour in 1920. The first part of the book contains platoon lists and photographs and the second part includes rolls of honour which companies and institutions compiled.
The rolls of honour list men who had enlisted in His Majesty's Armed Forces and who were employed by companies in and around Oldham. As with the Manchester employers' roll, the detail provided in each of the rolls varies considerably.
Some men are listed simply by last name and initial while other rolls include full name details as well as rank, regimental number, regiment, battalion, company and even platoon and section.
Victoria Cross winner 2154 Private Walter Mills of the 1/10th Manchester Regiment is recorded on the roll for Eli Lees and Co Ltd. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his part in the action at Givenchy on 11 December 1917, an action which cost him his life.
The rolls do not provide extensive information; however, knowledge of the company for which a man worked may lead to further information from other sources. The Greater Manchester County Record Office and Manchester Archives and Local Studies hold a number of records of companies in the Manchester area. Other archives may also have relevant holdings.
Men in this roll also served in the Manchester City Battalions and the Oldham Pals Battalion
Our thanks to the Manchester and Lancashire Family History Society for providing us with these records.
Begin with the basics
The name of the person you are searching for may not be recorded in the way you expect. Henry John Davies, for example, may have been recorded as Henry Davies, Henry J Davies, H Davies, or even H J Davies. We would therefore suggest that you initially search using their last name only. If you receive too many results, you can then add a first name to narrow them down.
First name variations
If you don’t find the result you want first time, it is worth trying every possible variation in the first name field.
Your ancestor might have used a different first name in everyday life from the one that appears on official records. For example, your great-uncle Jack’s birth name might have been John. If you can’t find someone recorded under the name you expect, try variations of that name. And if you still can’t find your ancestor using their full first name, try entering their first initial instead.
Last name variations
We’ve added an ‘Include variants’ tickbox next to the ‘Last name’ field to allow for common differences in spelling or incorrect spelling. For example, if you search for the name ‘Foakes’ while ticking the variants option, you may also get results for ‘Folks’, ‘Fookes’, ‘Forkes’, ‘Foukes’, ‘Foulkes’ and ‘Fowkes’.