IN 1924, a borough war memorial committee commissioned the calligrapher Edward Johnston to inscribe 80 pages of vellum with the names of Keighley’s Great War dead.
There were approximately 900 of them.
Keighley had aimed for the best. Edward Johnston had taught at the Royal College of Art, where one of his famous pupils had been Eric Gill. His Writing and Illuminating, and Lettering was a classic.
“Had more time been available, it might have been better done,” he modestly commented on his work, “tho’ Time itself might not do justice to the Names inscribed”.
Keighley’s Great War roll of honour, illustrated here, is on permanent display in the Local Studies Library, where a page is turned every day. In 1972, it formed exhibit 1A in Edward Johnston’s centenary exhibition at the Royal College of Art Galleries, Kensington Gore.
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