For some time, members of the Richmond History group have been researching the people whose names appear on the Richmond School Roll of Honour, which is now housed at Avebury House. We have recently completed a document that tells the stories of Richmond men who perished during the First World War.

The 60-page document, available via the link below, includes some background about the honour roll as well as detailed information about 46 people we have identified as having died in the conflict. Of these, only two are buried in Christchurch, all the rest are buried or memorialised overseas, many thousands of miles from home.

This may help explain why there are so many memorials commemorating the war throughout New Zealand; apart from the many official war memorials around the country, there are hundreds of these honour rolls that record the names of service men and women connected with schools, workplaces, churches and a wide range of other groups and organisations. These local memorials may have served as a focus, particularly for people who had lost friends and relatives, when there was little or no hope of ever visiting their graves.