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Part of the roll of honour... ‘this beautiful painting’
Cary Magness |
Back home... the WWI roll of honour found in a Texas cupboard
AN OIL-painted tribute to First World War dead, which hung for years on the walls of a cajun restaurant in Texas, was this week returned to Finsbury – with a little help from Facebook.
St Luke’s Parochial School Roll of Honour, which records fallen pupils, was unveiled at an Armistice Day ceremony at St Luke’s Primary School in Radnor Street on Wednesday.
How the roll of honour found its way to Texas remains a mystery.
It came to light when, on one side of the world, Alan Simkins began researching his family history, while on the other the painting was languishing in the cupboard of 78-year-old Texan collector Cary Magness.
During his research, Mr Simkins discovered the name of his grandfather’s brother on the painting, which he stumbled upon at the website rollofhonour.com. “He was 19 when he died,” Mr Simkins said. “He was buried in an unknown grave in France on April 2, 1915.”
Mr Simkins tried to contact St Luke’s Church in Old Street but found it was no longer there so got in touch with St Luke’s Parochial Trust, which knew nothing about the painting but promised to look into it.
Volunteer Sheila Foley traced collector Mr Magness, who was named on the website. She contacted him through social networking website Facebook and within 10 days the roll of honour was shipped to Finsbury.
Mr Magness, from Lubbock, Texas, said: “I’ve been collecting odd and unusual things for many years, from when I was stationed in Germany in 1955.”
In 1986, he bought the roll of honour at an auction of restaurant decorations which included memorabilia.
He said: “One of the items was this beautiful painting. It was unique.”
In 2003 he emailed the names on the tribute to Martin Edwards’ rollofhonour.com website. Mr Magness said: “I said some day a descendant of these men will see this. Then in October I got this message from Sheila Foley. She was elated.
“This was meant to be. If I hadn’t kept it, it could have been in the trash. I really get emotional thinking about this wonderful item and the people who lost their lives.”
Mr Magness hopes to visit Finsbury one day to see the tribute in its new home. Martyn Craddock, chief executive of St Luke’s Parochial Trust, said: “We’re going to hang it in St Luke’s community centre.”
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