AN appeal has been launched for a Warrington hero of the Charge of the Light Brigade, the battle immortalised in verse, film and legend, to be remembered
When warrington-worldwide reporter and photographer, Paul Jackson, was covering the story of a community volunteer organisation, little did he expect to come across a forgotten hero from possibly one of the British Armies most famous actions.
While interviewing Jean Bouch, a volunteer with the Friends of St. Mary’s cemetery group he was surprised to hear that the grave of one of the survivors from the ill fated Charge of the Light Brigade was located within the Penketh plot.
Not only was the old soldier one of the lucky ones to get away with his life, he blew the trumpet to sound the charge through “the valley of death”.
Paul felt compelled to share the valiant story with his fellow Warringtonians as he was sure that a great many local people would, like him, be unaware of Sgt. James Donoghue’s existence and connections with the town.
He explained ” As soon as I heard that this man lived and was buried here I knew I had to share that with as many local people as possible.
“Local history is hugely popular in Warrington and this has to be one of the most famous battles in history. I felt that it was appropriate, in the weeks preceding Remembrance Sunday, to try to bring to the publics attention the amazing story of this heroic man. Hopefully a few people will visit his grave and maybe leave a poppy as a mark of respect.”
After some research an online poster has been produced documenting the former Hussars valiant life and is now available to read here.
