In August 1916 Lower Hutt's mayor Henry Baldwin presented Lower Hutt Borough Council with a 'board of honour' for recording the names of men from the borough who had enlisted for active service. The imposing tripartite rimu tablet, designed by the well-known ecclesiastical architect Frederick de Jersey Clere, was officially unveiled by Minister of Defence Sir James Allan on 11 December 1917.
It was one of the earliest municipal Great War rolls of honour produced in New Zealand
At the time of unveiling it listed 231 names. In or around March 1919 another 69 names were added. The inscriptions along the top of the board read: "For King and country || Roll of honour || Boys from the Lower Hutt ", and below: "Presented by his Worship the Mayor H. Baldwin Esqr. 1917."
The roll of honour was installed in the Lower Hutt Borough Council chambers. Its whereabouts is unknown today, but a later (and presumably replacement) 'Lower Hutt Roll of Honour, 1914 -1918' is displayed outside the Hutt City Council chambers. This lists the names of 61 men from the Hutt who made the supreme sacrifice and 304 others who saw active service, including two nurses (E. Wilson and D. Chittenden). It is uncertain at what date this expanded version of the roll of honour was produced.
See: 'Borough of Lower Hutt: roll of honour' [public notice], Evening Post, 24/8/1916, p. 2; 'Lower Hutt honours board', Dominion, 13/2/1917, p. 6; 'Borough of Lower Hutt: board of honour' [public notice], Evening Post, 1/3/1919, p. 3; Lance Hall and William Toomath, Lower Hutt Past and Present, Lower Hutt, 1941, p. 29.
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