Frank Hanley, a native of Boston in Lincolnshire was born in 1880, he left Lincolnshire and took up an appointment as a groom to Major James Heap of Newhey.
He was resident at Cliffe House which once stood where the war memorial is now in Milnrow Memorial Park.
Frank was a member of the 2nd volunteer battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers.
At the outbreak of the Boer War in South Africa, Frank Hanley volunteered for overseas service with the army, enlisting into the 23rd Company of Imperial Yeomanry.
For his services in the army Frank was awarded the Queens South Africa medal with battle clasps for the Orange Free state, Cape Colony and Transvaal, together with the Kings South Africa medal with clasps for South Africa 1901 and 1902.
On the day following peace being declared Frank Hanley was killed.
There was an outpouring of public grief in the village on hearing the news that Frank had been killed, a public subscription was set up in order to erect a permanent memorial to him.
A brass tablet was erected to him in St. Thomas' church, (the church incidentally had been built in 1875, the benefactors being James and Benjamin Heap).
The tablet reads;
THIS TABLET WAS ERECTED THROUGH THE ENDEAVOURS OF A FEW COMRADES (WORKING MEN) AND SUPPORTED BY THE PUBLIC, IN EVERLASTING REMEMBRANCE OF FRANK HANLEY, 23, WHO VOLUNTEERED FROM MILNROWFOR ACTIVE SERVICE IN SOUTH AFRICA DURING THE WAR, AND WAS KILLED ON JUNE 2ND 1902, THE DAY AFTER PEACE WAS DECLARED. DECEASED WAS A NATIVE OF BOSTON, LINCOLNSHIRE.
THY WILL BE DONE
On the day of the unveiling a procession formed outside the Free Trade Tavern headed by the bugle band of the Church Lads Brigade.
The procession also included a large number of men from the 23rd Company of Imperial Yeomanry and also some members of the 2nd volunteer battalion Lancashire Fusiliers. Members of Milnrow Fire Brigade and the St. Johns Ambulance brigade also marched with them.
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| Frank Hanley Is Also Remembered On Rochdale Town Halls Boer War Memorial |
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