The Ipswich War Memorial website

In the early 1920s Ipswich people hoped to raise £5,000 to build a lasting memorial to the local men who lost their lives in the Great War, giving the families the recognition for their sons', brothers' andfathers' sacrifice. It was unveiled on 6 May 1924. Remarkably, the total amount raised was over £50,000 enabling the surplus funds to go to Ipswich Hospital which, up to 1919, dealt with 7,777 casualties.

The Ipswich War Memorial website (www.ipswichwarmemorial) launched on 22 October, aims to digitally preserve images and create profiles of the Ipswich individuals who lost their lives in both World Wars and up to the present, giving a greater understanding of the sacrifice of so many. The site uses all the names from the Christchurch Park memorials as well as those from churches, factories and public buildings in Ipswich creating a free database of men and women from 1914 until 2007. The website gives details of their lives and the chance to see hundreds of unseen and rare images donated by family members and research into their lives up to the time they died.

The research was started in October 2014 by a small group of dedicated people. This is a continuing project and new images and documents are unearthed each day making it a unique view into the past of Ipswich. You can search for a specific name on the site, or use your favourite search engine. The associated Facebook page seeks to feature individuals who died on the particular day and month of the entry.

The work will be displayed at a series of exhibitions. If you have a picture of a family member on the memorial and wish to have them commemorated contact the project by email: ipswichwarmemorial@gmail.com [See Diary dates, page 23, for our January Winter Talk.]