Newspaper Archive: 1980s

Monday 17th October 1983 The Star (page 5)
Mystery name on war memorial
By Caroline Parsons
A Sheffield suburb's war dead have now been honoured - 38 years late. But one name on the plaque of the newly-erected war memorial in Totley is a mystery - no one seems to know who Stephen Atkin was or what rank he held. The other 12 people on the plaque all have ranks, including one woman, Lance Corporal Edna Mary Wilkin, who is believed to have manned a searchlight battery. Most of the dead were in the RAF, an on Remembrance Sunday next month the people of Totley will gather round the new memorial on Baslow Road for a special service. It will be the first time that the names will have been in display together for 38 years - lthough there has been talk of providing a memorial since fighting ceased.

Roll. No action was taken until three years ago, when the Totley Residents' Association tackled the problem, and the association is meeting half of the £600 costs. The dead include two brothers whose mother still lives in Totley, and the full roll of honour reads: Stephen Atkin, WO Malcolm Davidson, Sgt William Foulston, WO J.D. Garnett, PO Victor Glossop, AB Sidney Hopperton, Sgt Ernest Jacques, Sgt Fred Johnson, Sgt Kenneth Seals, Sgt S.P. Sharp, WO Kenneth Webster, Sgt Vincent Webster and L/Cpl Edna Mary Wilkin. A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said that it would be almost impossible to find out about Stephen Atkin from their records. "We would need his service number, or failing that, his regiment," he said. "We have 37 miles of shelves containing records of service personnel and they are not sorted alphabetically."