Conisbrough to honour Victoria Cross hero Laurence Calvert

Conisbrough is marking the sacrifice of First World War soldier Sgt Laurence Calvert on Sunday at an event also commemorating the centenary of the end of the four-year conflict.

The lasting memorial will be revealed at Coronation Park in the shadow of Conisbrough Castle in a ceremony starting at 11am, which is due to be attend by Sgt Calvert’s family and representatives of the King’s Own Light Infantry, in which he served.

Steve Pugh, one of the organising team said, “We feel that honouring Sgt Calvert would be a fantastic and timely recognition of a very brave member of our community and be a fitting tribute to the centenary of the end of the Great War generally.  

“Honouring Sgt Calvert is way overdue. In the place of his birth Hunslet, he has a school named after him but in Conisbrough,the place where he lived at the time of the Great War, there’s nothing, not even a side street on a new build estate.”

In fact, a double tribute to Sgt Calvert has now been completed, as the small street next to Coronation Park has just been named Calvert Way in his memory.

Before the war, Laurence lived in Beech Terrace, Conisbrough, while he worked as a miner at Cadeby and Maltby Colliery and spent a spell at the former as a rescue worker.

He enlisted in the Army and was shipped to France in 1915 and was awarded the VC for his actions at Havrincourt on September 12, 1918.

Sgt Calvert, who charged and captured two machine-gun posts, was also awarded the Military Medal (MM), and the Belgian Order of Leopold (with palm), in the grade of Chevalier.

The brave soldier, who was 26 at the time, survived the war and lived until 1964.

The organisers of the commemoration event have been in touch with Sgt Calvert’s family to seek their approval and his grandson Laurie Calvert III, who lives in Hornchurch in Essex is expected to attend Sunday’s event.

Andrew Kelly of the Royal British Legion will lead the ceremony.

A grant has been obtained from the Dearne Valley Landscape Partnership to carry out the installation of the memorial, but the organisers are still seeking donations to help pay for ongoing insurance costs and maintenance, which can be made through the Light up the Castle Facebook page.

The memorial stone, for which the footings have been supplied by local trader Craig Wordsworth of Construction & Plant Assessments, has been made by another local resident, Steve Arrowsuch, through his company Historic Building Restoration Ltd.