Burton Observer and Chronicle Thursday 6th March 1952 reported on page 8: 'BURTON'S 1939-45 WAR MEMORIAL TABLETS Town Hall Ceremony Next Wednesday One of the projects of the Burton 1939-45 War Memorial Committee was the erection of a Roll of Honour for the second world war in the entrance to the Town Hall, and this project has been completed. The Roll of Honour has been made by Messrs Robert Bridgman and Sons, of Lichfield, and has been fixed in the outer porch at the Town Hall. It is covered by black cloth at present awaiting the official unveiling which will be performed by the Mayor at 3.30 p.m. next Wednesday. It is on two tablets, one on each side of the main entrance to the Town Hall, and they have been made to match the tablets In the inner porch which were erected after the 1914-18 war, and are in oak, carved at the top and bottom. and bearing the town coat of arms. The unveiling ceremony itself will be short and simple. The Chairman of the committee (Councillor J. H. Jones) will make a few Introductory remarks and Introduce the Mayor, who will unveil the tablets, after which they will be dedicated by the Rev. C. O. Haden (Vicar of Burton). The " Last Post" will be sounded and after a prayer the buglers will sound "Reveille." There will be a microphone and a small platform for the Mayor to stand on. Members of the council and of the War Memorial Committee will be present, and relatives of the fallen and members of the public are invited to watch the unveiling ceremony, and later, to view the tablets'. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003310/19200925/062/0008

Burton Observer and Chronicle Thursday 13th March 1952 reported on page 4: 'Town Hall Unveiling and Dedication. 350 NAMES INCLUDE CIVILIAN AIR RAID VICTIMS. TWO memorial tablets, bearing the names of 350 Burton men and women who lost their lives in the 1939-45 war, and fixed in the outer porch of the Town Hall, were unveiled yesterday by the Mayor (Councillor M. M. Mercer). The ceremony was attended by Councillor J. H. Jones (chairman of the Burton 1939-45 War Memorial Committee), Major C. E. Eley (hon. secretary to the committee), the Rev. C. O. Haden (Mayor's Chaplain), members of the Town Council, representatives of the various local ex-Service organisations, Mrs. A. Colegate, and relatives of men and women whose names are recorded on the tablets. Councillor Jones recalled that early in 1948, during his term of office as Mayor, he undertook to sponsor the provision of a memorial to those who, without counting personal cost, abandoned civilian life and subsequently lost their lives in the 1939-45 war, in an endeavour to preserve for us freedom, justice and peace. At a town's meeting subsequently held it was decided that the memorial should comprise: - (1) A contribution to the memorial of the 6th Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment, which took the form of silver drums and bugles; (2), the provision of a plaque on the 1914-18 War Memorial; (3), the recording of the names at the entrance of the Town Hall of those who made the supreme sacrifice; and (4), a Garden of Remembrance. There was a generous response to the memorial fund, which enabled the committee to carry out the first two projects without any considerable delay. There was, however, a certain amount of delay concerning the third proposal, because of the committee's anxiety that every name concerned should be inscribed. At long last, continued Councillor Jones, that part of the memorial had now been accomplished. GARDEN OF REMEMBRANCE PROBLEMS. The provision of the Garden of Remembrance had also presented many problems, but they had now been overcome, and it was hoped that very shortly work would start in St. Modwen's Churchyard on the laying out of greens—a shrine in the heart of the town that would keep fresh the memory of our fellow citizens who served and died. The Mayor explained that there were 350 names recorded on the tablets, including 336 Service personnel, three of the Merchant Navy and 11 civilians. NNE [sic] BURTON AIR RAID VICTIMS. Of the latter, nine were killed or died as a result of the air raid on Burton. NINE BURTON AIR RAID VICTIMS. The Service personnel represented every branch of the three Services, there being 44 of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, 214 from the Army and 78 from the R.A.F. and the tablets had been placed in the Town Hall entrance side by side with the tablets containing the names of those who gave their lives in the 1914-18 war. Upstairs in the Town Hall was another tablet commemorating the dead of the Boer War and the three rolls of honour had been erected in half a century. "If we pause to count the names on those three memorials we shall realise how much Burton has missed through the loss of those fine, young, healthy men and women. "Let us hope the necessity of a fourth roll of honour will never arise." " By our actions let us be worthy of the sacrifice of these men and women." LAST POST AND REVEILLE. Councillor Mercer then pulled the cord which caused the Union Jack covering the tablets to swing back to reveal the names inscribed. As he did so a bugler of the North Staffordshire Regiment sounded the "Last Post." after which the Rev. C. O. Haden dedicated the tablets. The "Reveille" followed, and the ceremony closed with prayers by the vicar. Members of the public then filed past the tablets and inspected the roll of names'. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003310/19520313/190/0004

Historic England's record of the Grade II listing of Burton Town Hall can be found at https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1038703

The War Memorials Trust's record of the memorial can be found at https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/276621/