WW1 Remembrance Walk

This walk visits locations that have strong associations with Totley during the First World War. It includes the homes of the ten soldiers from the village who lost their lives, the auxiliary hospitals, war memorials, and even the rifle range on which the soldiers trained. Some of these sites are just over the Totley township boundary into neighbouring Dore and Bradway which like Totley were in the county of the Derbyshire at that time. The walk is based upon research by Pauline Burnett, Jim Martin and Dorothy Prosser, whose book "Totley War Memorial WW1 1914-1918" was first published by Totley History Group in 2011.  

It is also available in PDF format as an Z-fold leaflet download for home printing. Best on A3 but can be read, just about, on A4. This is an Adobe Acrobat document [1.6 MB]

The Totley Rise (Wesleyan) Methodist Church has a framed WW1 Roll of Honour recording the names of those who served in the Great War, together with their regiment. A remarks column details those who lost their lives. The names of the five who died include three soldiers remembered on Totley War Memorial (Tom Fisher, Allan Hill and Bob Martin) plus two further names that do not appear on any of the memorials at Totley, Dore, Abbeydale, Holmesfield or Norton (David Cockshott and Roland Hill).  

Return to the dual carriageway and turn left towards the centre centre. Immediately after the railway bridge turn left down a footpath which leads to Totley Brook Road. Cross the road and turn left.

Inside what was the Union Church, now the Dore and Totley United Reformed Church, is a  roll of honour bearing the names of 3 members of the the congregation who lost their lives and a further 22 members who also served in the Great War. The names of the dead are Harold Todd and Harper Seed, both of Dore Parish, and Robert Hugh (Bob) Martin, of Glenbourne, Back Lane, Totley. The old memorial, pictured above, has recently been replaced by a more modern version as part of the renovations.  

Leaving the church, turn left and walk to the intersection of three roads: Totley Brook Road, Busheywood Road Leaving and the main road which is now called Abbeydale Road South. Turn left on the main road towards the city and walk past Abbeydale Hall and the Abbeydale Sports Club.  

The plaque on the northern gatepier of the almshouses indicates that they were used as an auxiliary hospital during the Great War. Being close to the VAD hospital at St. John's Church Rooms, it is probable that they were used as an overflow site for the less severely wounded Belgian soldiers.

Cross the main road at the pedestrian crossing and turn right walking along the eastern side of Abbeydale Road South away from the city. After the railway station, cross the busy Twentywell Lane and continue past Mercia Motors.

St. John's Church Rooms were built by Ebenezer Hall in 1893. During the First World War they were used as a VAD hospital. VAD stands for Voluntary Aid Detachment, and the volunteer staff were overseen by the British Red Cross Society. At the St John’s Hospital there were a hundred beds with the first wounded soldiers arriving there on the 21st November 1914. They were Belgian forces and thereafter many Belgian soldiers would pass through the St John’s doors.  Dr. Charles A. Thorne, who lived at The Glen, was the hospital's surgeon; he was supported by Dr. Mary Andrews and Dr. Charles O'Connor Parsons. The President of the Dore & Totley Voluntary Aid Detachment was Mrs Sarah Milner OBE of Totley Hall whose own son, 2nd Lt. Roy Milner, was one of the first soldiers from our area to die in the Great War. Sarah Milner worked tirelessly to provide aid and comforts for wounded soldiers, including working closely with the VAD hospital at St John’s. Local people raised funds to provide boots, slippers, gloves, and other little necessities. Amongst some of the more unusual ways that the hospital was supported by Dore and Totley residents was through the very regular appeal for eggs to be donated. Food not rationed could be in short supply, and giving up precious eggs was indeed a major gesture of support for the War effort. 

The new parish of St. John the Evangelist was created in 1876 from adjacent parts of the parishes of Christ Church Dore and St. James Norton. The war memorial that stands in front of the church was erected on 29 Mar 1920. Thirteen of the 22 names on the octagonal base can be found on the memorials in these two older parishes and five on the war memorial in the much later parish of All Saints, Totley. Those five Totley names are Hedley Bishop, Willie Green, Allan Hill, Bob Martin and Albert Pinder. The four other names on the St. John's war memorial are: Stanley Gummer, Thomas Reginald Heap, Harold Davis and John William Masser. 

Inside the church is a Roll of Honour with the names of officers and men from the parish who served during the war. Ebenezer Hall paid for six tubular bells to be erected in commemoration of the peace after the Great War. These were dedicated on Sunday 21 Sep 1919.

Continue walking out of the city along the eastern side of Abbeydale Road South until just after the railway bridge, and opposite Grove Road, you come to a small triangular shaped green. Turn left down the narrow lane.

Colin Hedley Bishop was born in Dore on 8 April 1893 and baptized at Christ Church, Dore on 22 October 1893. He was the fifth child and second son of Colin Bishop, a gardener, and his wife Mary Ellen (nee Kirk). By August 1897 the family had moved to Totley and in the 1901 census they were living at Rolling Mill, Totley Rise. Hedley attended Totley All Saints School until April 1906 when, at the age of 13, he left to start work.  In the 1911 Census the Bishops were living in Ivy Cottage (now called Mill Cottage). Hedley was aged 17 and was working as a machine file cutter. When the First World War began, Hedley must have volunteered almost immediately and he became Service No. 2763 Private Hedley Bishop in the Queen's Own Yorkshire Dragoons. The regiment arrived at Le Havre in France on 16 July 1915 as part of the 17th (Northern) Division and were deployed to the Ypres salient. In September 1915. The Yorkshire Dragoons were involved in the Battle of Delville Wood which took place between July and early September 1915. This was a subsidiary attack of the Somme offensive and it seems very likely that Hedley was wounded during the fighting and eventually died of his wounds on 21 October 1916. He is buried in Grave K34 at Aveluy Communal Cemetery Extension. He was awarded the 1915 Star as well as the Victory Medal and British War Medal.

Retrace your steps to the main road and turn left up the dual carriageway crossing Milldale Road. Turn left down the narrow unnamed lane immediately before the crescent of shops and houses. Continue along the lane until another narrow lane joins on the right at an old farm house which is now subdivided. 

Robert Hugh Martin was born in Walkley on 14 November 1896, the second son of Harry Martin and his wife Jeanetta (nee Biltcliffe). The family were still living in Walkley in the 1911 census but the following year they moved to Glenbourne, on Back Lane, Totley Rise. Jeanetta's aunt, Martha Hawes, nee Wordsworth, lived next door at Glenrose. Bob was a keen sportsman who played for Totley football club. He worked for Cole Brothers in Sheffield, travelling daily from Dore & Totley station. Later he became apprenticed to Hartley & Son, printers. Bob enlisted close to his 18th birthday and joined the Household Cavalry and Cavalry of the Line Regiment, Derbyshire Yeomanry Battalion, Service No. 75965, serving overseas. On 14 November 1917, Bob's 21st birthday, he was shot in Salonika, Greece. The bullet lodged in his heart but did not kill him. He rode his horse back to camp but, as there was no x-ray facility, he had to be taken by hospital ship to the island of Malta which had excellent medical equipment and facilities. At St Elmo Hospital, Valletta, pioneering surgery was performed to remove the bullet. The operation was reported in the Daily Malta Chronicle as being "the talk of the Island". Bob's operation was successful. The bullet was removed but he died of blood poisoning on 14 March 1918. He is buried in Grave Reference C. XVII. 4. in the WW1 Section of Pieta Military Cemetery, Malta.

Returning down the hill turn right and follow the lane into Laverdene Avenue. After rounding the bend cross over Totley Brook at the footbridge on your left and ascend the lane for a short distance.

Herbert Allan Hill was born in a cottage on Fox Lane, Greenhill in 1888. He was the third son and fourth child of William Colin Hill, a gardener, and his wife Mary Ellen Hill nee Scothern. On 24 January 1889 he was baptized at St James's Church, Norton. By 1901 the Hills had moved to Lemont Road in Totley. Allan, like his father and two older brothers, was working as a market gardener. In 1908, at the age of 20, he decided to join the Territorial Army and signed Attestation papers on 2 April and became a volunteer in 4th (Hallamshire) Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment. He was discharged at the end of his two year term and went back to purely civilian life working for his father's nursery business. On 11 July 1912 Allan married Mary Jane Moore at St. John's Church, Abbeydale and the couple moved into Brook Vale Cottage on Back Lane, Totley and life went quietly on until August 1914 and the start of WW1. Allan rejoined the Hallamshires on 9 August as service number 2176 Private Hill. He advanced quickly through the ranks and on 15 March 1916 he was promoted to Sergeant. On 13 January 1917 the Hallamshires sailed from Southampton for France and on 3 May 1917 they were ordered to attack the Hindenburg Line and the village of Bullecourt. This attack failed and Allan was taken a prisoner of war and he died of his wounds at Limburg hospital on 5 June 1917. He is now buried in Grave V.F.13 at Tournai Communal Cemetery Allied Extension in Belgium.

Continue to the top of the lane and turn right along Queen Victoria Road to its junction with Mickley Lane opposite the Shepley Spitfire. Turn right and ascend the rise passing Glover Road and then cross to the west side of Mickley Lane. After passing Aldam Road, turn left at the next road, Lemont Road.  

James William Green was the first child of James and Mary Alice Green who married in Christ Church, Dore in 1895. Willie's father was a mechanical engineer and for a short time after his marriage lived in Norton Woodseats where Willie was born on 17 December 1895. By 1901 the family were back in Totley living in Grange Terrace on Baslow Road opposite the Cross Scythes. Willie was admitted to Totley All Saints School in 1900, leaving to attend another school, probably in Dronfield Woodhouse, in November 1906. Willie enlisted in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry on 29 June 1915 as Service No. 18960 Pte James William Green, attesting at Chesterfield. He was allocated to the 2nd Battalion of the Regiment. They were stationed in France but Willie will have spent a number of weeks training before being sent to join the Battalion, so it may well have been September or October before he reached the front. November was wet and trenches had to be repaired as they fell in. Things were reasonably quiet except for occasional shelling and sniping. It remained that way throughout the spring of 1916 and time was spent training, keeping trenches in good condition, and even playing football matches. In July the 'real war' exploded with the Battle of the Somme. On November 13th, in thick mist, a number of Brigades were attempting to take and consolidate a part of the German Front Line known as “the Green Line” and it was during this attack that Willie Green was killed. His body was never recovered but he is remembered on Pier and Face 10A and 10D of the Thiepval Memorial. His family still treasure the last letter he wrote home to his parents who by now were living on Lemont Road.

All Saint's Church was built on land that was donated by William Aldam Milner and his wife Sarah of Totley Hall. The Milners also gave £2, 000 towards the building of the church with further funding obtained from the estate of Ebenezer Hall and from smaller public donations. The church was designed by Messrs. Currey and Thompson of Derby and building work commenced on 4 June 1923. In a ceremony on 26 July 1923 attended by the Bishop of Derby, Mr. and Mrs. Milner laid the foundation stone. There is a further inscription inside the church which is often kept locked. It reads "To the dear memory of Roy Denzil Pashley Milner 2nd Lt. Sherwood Foresters who fell in the Great War Sept. 20 1914, the east end of this Church was erected by his parents."

Leave the church grounds by the main west drive and turn left into Totley Hall Lane. Totley Hall Farm and then the hall itself are on your right.

Roy Milner was was born in Totley on 1 December 1892, the second son and youngest child of William Aldam Milner and Sarah Elizabeth Milner (nee Roberts), of Totley Hall. Roy was a pupil at Repton School in south Derbyshire from September 1906 to July 1911. When he left school, he joined the Army and went to the Royal Military College Sandhurst for his initial training as an officer. He obtained a commission in the 2nd Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment) on 22 January 1913 and looked forward to a promising military career. He was very popular with his fellow officers and men and he played polo for his regiment when they were stationed at Plymouth. He was also fond of hunting and he was a member of the Barlow Hunt. On the outbreak of war Sec. Lt. Milner, two other officers and a hundred men were deployed to South Shields where they took over a battleship that Armstrong, Whitworth & Company had built for Turkey but which was instead claimed by the British Government. The soldiers were on board for two days until the Royal Navy arrived to take possession of the ship. On 8 September 1914 the regiment sailed from Southampton and arrived at St. Nazaire in France on 11 September. They formed part of the 18th Brigade of the British Expeditionary Force. On 14 September Sec. Lt Milner and his men of ‘A’ company began the 350 mile march to the area around the River Aisne in Picardy. The following day the battalion marched for fifteen hours in heavy rain. The drenching rain continued as they marched for another twelve hours on the 16th. Finally, weary and footsore, they arrived at Chacrise on the 18th where they were billeted on a farm and were given a 24 hour rest period. On 19 September with three other battalions of the 18th Brigade they moved forward to the village of Vendresse in the steep-sided Troyon valley where they relieved the 1st Black Watch in the trenches. Later that day they were moved back to a reserve line. 20 September dawned wet and cold with heavy rain and sleet falling. The Sherwood Foresters joined other regiments as they attempted, with some success, to retake trenches broken into and occupied by the Germans. Roy Milner, with a fellow officer and most of their men, was cut down by heavy machine gun fire as he led a charge up the valley. On 24 September Mr and Mrs Milner received a telegram from the War Office announcing the news of Roy's death. His body now lies in Grave Ref. 6. C. 5 in the Chauny Communal Cemetery British Extension in Aisne, France.

Return up Totley Hall Lane to the cross roads at the now closed Fleur de Lys. Cross Baslow Road at the pedestrian crossing and turn left to the corner of Hillfoot Road.

Tom Brown Fisher was born on 10 October 1893 at Hallfield Farm, on Strawberry Lee Lane, Totley. He was the youngest child of Francis and Emma Fisher (nee Hill). By 1901 Tom was living in one of the now demolished cottages that stood on Baslow Road just above the corner with Hillfoot Road. Tom was enrolled at Totley All Saints School in March 1898 when he was 4 1/2 years old. In August 1907 he left school to begin work on a local farm.  By the time of the 1911 census, Tom had moved out to Beeley where he was working as a cowman at Moor Farm. Tom Fisher's Army Service Record was among the 60% destroyed during the Blitz in WW2 so it is not known when he originally joined the army. When he enlisted in the Derbyshire Yeomanry in Totley his residence was given as Holmsfield so it would seem that he had moved back to work in the local area by the early years of WW1. At some point he was transferred to the 6th Dragoons (Inniskilling) and on 1 December 1917 he took part in the cavalry charge south of Villers Guislain. The Dragoons were cut down by heavy machine-gun fire and shrapnel and 169 of them died along with 271 horses. Tom Fisher was among those who died. His body was never found but he is remembered on Panel 1 of the Cambrai Memorial at Louverval.

Walk down Hillfoot Road to the corner of Summer Lane.

James Parker was the third child of John Henry and Rosa Parker and was born on 8 June 1888, being baptized at Christ Church, Dore on 8 July that year. Jim was a pupil at Totley All Saints School, enrolling just before his third birthday in 1891 and leaving ten years later to begin work. He was recorded as a labourer in the 1911 census. Initially Jim enlisted with the Lincolnshire regiment but was transferred to 507th Agricultural Company, Labour Corps. This suggests that he may have been injured but unfortunately his service records have been lost. The Agricultural Companies were normally in England, the soldiers being of the lowest fitness level but providing labour on farms to help in the production of food. The 507th Company to which Jim was attached had its HQ in Beverley and he died aged 30 in Patrington Hospital near Spurn Point, where the Agricultural Company had a training camp. The cause of death, recorded by Capt. Morgan FRCS, was influenza, pneumonia and heart failure. Jim Parker was a victim of the Spanish flu epidemic that would eventually claim more lives than those lost in the hostilities of WW1. His body was brought home and buried in the family grave in Dore Christ Church. His date of death was 10 November 1918, the eve of Armistice Day.

Carry on down Hillfoot Lane and turn right into Butts Hill.

Albert Pinder was baptized at Christ Church, Dore on 11 March 1891, the son of Letitia (Letty) Pinder, single woman. Four years after the birth of her son,  Letty married Robert Hodgson and they moved to Sutton in Ashfield leaving Albert to be brought up by his grandmother, Phoebe Hassall, and her second husband Frederick in Gleadless. In 1910 Albert married Ella Maude Hill, the sister of Herbert Allan Hill, another of the men named on Totley War Memorial. Their daughter was baptized at Christ Church, Dore, and named Phoebe after Albert's recently deceased and much loved grandmother. By the time of the 1911 census Albert, Ella, Phoebe and Frederick were living at Moor View House on Butts Hill, Totley. Albert gave his occupation as cutler although at his daughter's baptism a few months earlier he was a postman.  Albert's Army Service Record is among those that were destroyed during the Blitz in World War II so it is not possible to discover when he joined the Notts & Derby Regiment but by June 1917 he was among the men of the 17th Battalion (the Welbeck Rangers), who were in the trenches in France. On the 4th June the Battalion HQ was at St Jean and took several direct hits. Albert was probably wounded during the Battle of Messines Ridge which began on 7 June 1917. He died of his wounds on 20 June 1917 and is buried in Grave II.D.67 at Mendinghem Military Cemetery in Belgium.

Retrace your steps back along Butts Hill to its junction with Hillfoot Lane. Cross towards All Saint's School and the Pinfold and turn right downhill and left into the narrow Chapel Lane.

Charles and Bernard Turner were sons of Charles and Hannah Turner (nee Bingham. The house where the family lived for three generations was a small cottage and still stands, although now part of a much larger property called Old Orchard. Born on 16 August 1892, Charles junior was at Totley All Saints School from September 1898 until leaving at the age of almost 13 to begin work. He is recorded as a scythe smith, like his father, in the 1911 census and still living at home. He enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry as Private PO/1399(S), although his records are lost and dates unknown. He was killed on 17 February 1917, aged 24, on the western front south of Arras in France and is buried at Queens Cemetery Bucquoy in Grave Reference I.J.5. Born in early January 1898, the school records for Bernard Turner have not been found but he is recorded in the 1911 census as a scholar. He is named as one of the children in the Pageant of King Ecgbert, performed in 1909, and written by Mrs Sarah Milner, the mother of Roy Denzil Pashley Milner, another of the men named on Totley War Memorial. Bernard's service records have survived. He enlisted on 13 September 1916  as Pte. No. 01896 with Royal Scots 2/8th Battalion. Bernard was transferred to the 2/7th, and finally the 9th Battalion on arrival in Etaples, France on 25 June 1917. He was fighting in the Battle of Menin Road, near Ypres in Passchendale, when he was reported missing on 20 September 1917. His death was officially recorded on the 23rd with the War Office being informed the following day. He was 19 years old and is remembered at the New Irish Farm Cemetery memorial. It appears Bernard's body was found and identified in 1921 and buried there in grave reference XX.D.17.

At the bottom of Chapel Lane continue through the stoop stile on to a curving paved footpath leading down to Penny Lane. Turn left passing the riding stables and the car park of the Cricket and enter the recreation ground beyond at a small wrought iron gate.

Wounded soldiers from the front line in France and Belgium were brought to the field hospital at the recreation ground fronting Cricket Inn for treatment. More serious cases were operated on at the St John's VAD Hospital and transferred to the field hospital for recovery. A regular visitor was Dr. Rice Kemper Evans, the American Vice Consul in Sheffield, who lived at Hill Crest on Baslow Road and who had been a surgeon in Franklin, Ohio, prior to accepting an appointment in the diplomatic service in 1909. Dr. Evans's expertise was greatly appreciated we are told in Dan Reynolds's personal memoirs.

Continue up Penny Lane and turn into Lane Head Road  Walk past the chicken houses of Bank View Farm and turn right into Moss Road. A short distance up the road there is a car park on the left. Follow the path at the far end behind the buildings to the field beyond. It is possible to walk along a rough path for 1000 yards uphill to the top of the Rifle Range where there are fenced off ruins. 

The rifle range at Totley Bents opened in 1900 on moorland that had been acquired at the foot of Totley Moss by the 1st (Hallamshire) Volunteer Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment. After several months of hard work and at a cost of over £4,000 a first class rifle range had been created. The corps offered every possible facility for class firing and prize shooting, to the members of the local Yeomanry, R.A. and R.E. Volunteers and, in order to encourage rifle shooting among civilians, it granted the use of the range at a nominal rental to some four or five rifle clubs that had recently sprung up including the Dore & District Rifle Club. There was an uneasy relationship between Totley and Sheffield even in those days. Colonel Hughes applied to the Council for a grant of £2,500 to finish the marking and to reduce the debt but when the Council insisted on the Hallamshires handing over control of their facility to a committee, the application was withdrawn. During the 1900s and the years immediately prior to the outbreak of war the rifle range proved to be very popular bringing thousands of people to the area as volunteer trainees, participants in shooting competitions and as onlookers. Large scale weekend encampments under canvas were common during the summer months. In 1913 the military authorities even backed an idea to build a station at the tunnel end of Totley Brook Road to provide quicker and more convenient access to the rifle range. Although a local landowner was willing to fund the erection of the station in anticipation of building a considerable number of new houses close by, opposition from other Totley residents and a lack of interest from the Midland Railway Company directors meant that the plan never came to fruition. Perhaps that was just as well from a public safety perspective as the rifle range became used for more intensive military training throughout the war years.

Return back down Moss Lane to Lane Head Road and turn right passing Monnybrook Cattery and up the hill to Baslow Road. Turn left towards the city.

The building of the Totley War Memorial was delayed by the difficulty of obtaining a suitable site. This was overcome thanks to the generosity of the Vicar of Dore, William R. Gibson, who donated land on Baslow Road in August 1919. The memorial was funded by public subscription under the guidance of the Milner family of Totley Hall and built by several local stone masons including Horatio Taylor. At a dedication ceremony on Saturday 27 November 1920, the War Memorial was blessed by Archdeacon E. F. Crosse. Plaques commemorate the ten local soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and the 13 servicemen and women killed in World War II. The latter was added as recently as 1983. Totley History Group has researched the lives of the WW1 soldiers and published a book entitled “Totley War Memorial WW1 1914-1918”.

The nearest bus stop for the 97 route into the city centre is a short distance away at the Cross Scythes. Those who have parked at Totley Rise Methodist Church should continue down Baslow Road.