Walton war memorial correction delights Whitnash family

Three generations of a Whitnash family are delighted that a spelling error for the name of their relative on a nearby war memorial has now been corrected after almost 100 years.
By The Newsroom
Published 6th Nov 2018, 16:24 BST
Updated 6th Nov 2018, 17:26 BST
Dennis and Kevin Wormington with Andrew Hamilton at the Walton war memorial on which L-Cpl Arthur Wormington's name is engraved. Dennis holds a photo of Arthur taken during the First World War.Dennis and Kevin Wormington with Andrew Hamilton at the Walton war memorial on which L-Cpl Arthur Wormington's name is engraved. Dennis holds a photo of Arthur taken during the First World War.
Dennis and Kevin Wormington with Andrew Hamilton at the Walton war memorial on which L-Cpl Arthur Wormington's name is engraved. Dennis holds a photo of Arthur taken during the First World War.

L-Cpl Arthur Wormington, of Walton village near Wellesbourne, died aged just 23 from the wounds he suffered when an enemy shell exploded on a shed where he was working in the First World War on April 24, 1918.

Unfortunately, his surname was engraved as ‘Warmington’ on the Walton war memorial which was unveiled in 1920 to pay tribute to him and six other fallen soldiers

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Andrew Hamilton of the Walton War Memorial fund group said: “Several years ago when working on research for a book about the war, I drew a blank over one of the soldiers for whom there appeared to be no obvious link to Walton.

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L-Cpl Arthur WormingtonL-Cpl Arthur Wormington
L-Cpl Arthur Wormington

“The reason became clear some time later when I was approached by the nephew and great nephew of L-Cpl Wormington. Understandably, they were disappointed that for so many years their ancestor had not been properly commemorated and were hopeful that the error might be corrected.

“Earlier this year, the memorial was granted Grade II Listing status by Historic England.

“I feared that the wheels of bureaucracy might cause an interminable delay but to my surprise and great relief, it transpired that responsibility for it now lies with Wellesbourne and Walton Parish Council.

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“Within a few days, permission was granted to amend the offending ‘a’ to an ‘o’ to the delight of three generations of Wormingtons who live in Whitnash – Arthur’s 84-year-old nephew Dennis, his great nephew Kevin, 53, and Kevin’s sons Paul and Mark.

“Last week, a stonemason performed the long-awaited change.”