The town hall holds a pair of plaques recognising the contribution of Loftus to the war.

The 1943 plaque was presented by the Air Ministry for ‘Wings For Victory’ week which was 1st – 8th May 1943 when civilians would have been asked to save their money in Government accounts, such as War Bonds, Savings Bonds, Defence Bonds and Savings Certificates.

‘Salute the Soldier’ week was a similar fund raising campaign 17th – 24th June 1944 and presented by the War Office.

The Zetland family originally erected this wooden memorial outside the Town Hall in 1919 where it remained until 1949.

The memorial was then misplaced, Councillor Eric Jackson began looking for it in 1982, but it wasn’t until  2001 it was finally rediscovered in the Cemetary Chapel in East Loftus. The restored memorial was unveiled by Mayor Gerry Dickinson in August 2008.

It carries the words “‘Is it nothing to you, all ye who pass by”

Loftus War Memorial was unveiled on 11th November 1922, it was designed by B J Wormleighton and erected by C Hebditch.

Two panels list the casualties of World War 1


A third panel holds the World War 2 additions.

Interestingly the first name Herbert Armsby has been erased because he actually returned home 8 years later having claimed he lost his memory (although he did return home shortly after an amnesty was declared on deserters)

The fountain below carries the inscription “THESE LAID THE WORLD AWAY AND POURED OUT THE RED SWEET WINE OF YOUTH, GAVE UP THE YEARS TO BE OF WORK AND JOY AND THAT UNHOPED SERENE THAT MEN CALL AGE” which is a line from The Dead by Rupert Brooke.

There is an additional plaque from 2002 dedicated to Stanley Hollis who was the only person to be awarded the Victoria Cross on D-Day 6th June 1944.

He is also commemorated as one of the only three locals to be awarded the VC on a memorial in Middlesbrough Town Hall