WEM Civic Society has marked the upcoming 100th anniversary of the dedication of the town's war memorial with a new study of the memorial's history.

The war memorial in Wem was dedicated on Sunday, December 19, 1920.

Standing at 14-feet high, with a slender column on an octagonal base, the designers and architects were Messrs Bateman and Bateman of Birmingham and Messrs Coleman and Godfrey of Tewkesbury.

Reverend. the Hon. A. Parker officiated at the dedication, while the monument was unveiled by Brigadier General H. C. Cholmondeley supported by Lieutenant-Colonel. N. ff. Eckersley, who was chairman of Wem Memorial Committee and Captain F. S. Butter, O B E, chairman of Urban District Council.

The lesson for the service was taken from the Wisdom of Solomon, iii 1-3, 'The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God'.

Shelagh Richardson, chairman of Wem Civic Society, explained the intricacies of the memorial, 100 years on.

"There are two points to note about [the memorial]," said Shelagh. "The structure at the rear of the memorial is the Union Buildings.

"This was a row of shops, which was demolished in 1943.

"The names of the servicemen are engraved in the stone.

"Grinshill stone is a soft stone and the names eroded over the years.

"In 2016, Wem Civic Society commissioned a survey of the monument, which gave the monument the 'all clear'.

"The exception was the surface of the stone –the advice was that no further cleaning should be undertaken since this would lead to further erosion.

"There were 56 names engraved on the monument.

"An additional four names were added in 1921 and the monument rededicated.

"Further names were added from the Second World War after the end of that war.

"In 1972, Welsh slate tablets engraved with the servicemen's names were placed over the eroded engravings.

"The work was carried out by Jones and Hughes of Oswestry.

"One name, Ronald Oswell Williams, was added.

"The compilation of names for war memorials was haphazard - it was left to friends and families of the deceased to put names forward.

"This is the reason that some names appear on more than one monument, Samuel Alvery Cotton appears on both Edstaston and Wem memorials.

"There are differing degrees of connection of servicemen to memorial sites, Allen Jones' parents were from Clun and Llandyssil; the family living in Ruyton and Ellesmere until his parents – his father being a retired police superintendent – became residents of Wem.

"John Manuel, the son of a journeyman blacksmith, appears on the Shrewsbury Roll of Honour but not the Wem War Memorial, even though he was born in Wem and lived in Leek Street when he was a child."