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For nearly a hundred years - a war memorial in Bolton has borne the name of a man thought to have been killed in the Great War.

Arthur Chippendale's name features on stained glass at his old school Rivington and Blackrod in honour of his sacrifice. But research shows he survived and died in 1975.

His family has described how as a stretcher bearer he had amnesia, was wounded and was missing for two years. But new research shows Arthur, who spent two years in Salonika under fire, was never wounded and never missing. In fact he was sent back in 1918 for treatment for melancholia – a military term for depression.

He spent five months at the Lord Derby military hospital in Winwick where he received innovative care. He was honourably discharged from the army on 6 November 1918 before marrying in March 1920.

It appears Arthur created a cover story of being physically wounded to avoid the stigma of a psychiatric illness. His experiences of the horrors of war never left him and he had a breakdown in 1943 after the death of his son who was killed in action serving with the RAF. It brought back too many painful memories and Arthur retired to the countryside with his garden and his pipe until his death in 1975.

Location: Rivington and Blackrod High School, Bolton, Lancashire BL6 7RU
Image: Arthur Chippendale, courtesy of his son Reverend Peter Chippendale

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