They Gave Their Today
  • Home
  • Memorials
  • Gallery
  • RAF Stations/Squadrons
  • Chaplains
  • Contact
  • My Thoughts
  • Links
  • Middlesmoor
  • Ramsgill
Picture
Picture
The War Memorial in Baldersby and Rainton
 
 
The Church of St. James, Baldersby serves the villages of Baldersby and Rainton.
 
The War Memorial in the Church is a wooden plaque containing a copper Cross with two doors that open with a dedication on them. This was installed after WW2 replacing an earlier memorial and included the Fallen of WW2. The Memorial is made from ship’s teakwood.
 
SEE WHAT GREAT THINGS
THEY HAVE DONE FOR US
 
BALDERSBY                                                  RAINTON
MARK MEGGITT                                           RALPH ADAMSON
GORDON RICHARDSON                             EDWIN AYTON
THOMAS RIGG                                             WALTER BUSBY
RICHARD THACKERAY                               EDWARD HARRISON
                                                                        ROBERT HOOD
 
1939 -1945                                                      1939 -1945
JOHN ALFRED HODGSON                          JAMES BOWES
DONALD LESLIE WILSON                            RONALD SIDWELL
                                                                        ROBERT SUNLEY
                                                                        ROBERT FRANCIS DUNNING
WHO DIED FOR US THAT WE SHOULD LIVE
 
 
Baldersby - Those who Fell in WW1
 
MEGGITT, Mark
Private, 2nd Battalion, Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own (Yorkshire Regiment), 21 Brigade, 30th Division.  Army no 27309.
He was killed in action on 17 August 1916. He was probably wounded in the Battle of Langemarck. He was 19.
He was the son of the late James Meggitt, Baldersby.
He is remembered on The Loos Memorial.
 
RICHARDSON, Gordon
Private, 6th (Service) Battalion, Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own (Yorkshire Regiment), 32 Brigade,11th Division.  Army no 201270.
He died from his wounds on 19 August 1917. He was 19.
He was the son of Albert and Phoebe Richardson, Baldersby.
He is buried in Mendinghem Military Cemetery and his headstone is inscribed Let light perpetual shine upon him.
 
RIGG, Tom
Private, 13th (Service) Battalion, Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own (Yorkshire Regiment), 121 Brigade, 40th Division.  Army no 243370.
He was killed in action on 13 April 1918 in the Battle of Hazebrouck. He was 29.
He is remembered on The Ploegsteert Memorial.
 
THACKERAY, Richard
I have not found any record in the following: CWGC, SWD, freebmd nor the main records in  Canada, NZ and Australia.
 
 
Not on Baldersby Memorial of Those who Fell in WW1
 
ENGLISH, Robert Walter
Private, 15th/17th Battalion, The Prince of Wales’s Own (West Yorkshire Regiment), 93 Brigade, 31st Division.  Army no 25472.
He was killed in action on Wednesday 27 March 1918 at Moyenneville. He was 23.
He was the son of Thomas and Martha English, 5 Princess Place, Ripon.
He is buried in Two Tree Cemetery, Moyenneville.
 
 
Baldersby- Those who Fell in WW2
 
HODGSON, John Alfred
Flying Officer, 263 Squadron, Royal Air Force. RAFVR no 133670.
He died on active service on Friday 7July 1944. He was 25.
He was the son of Fred and Amy R Hodgson, Ripon.
He is remembered on The Runnymede Memorial.
Additional information
The squadron was flying the Hawker Typhoon 1B at the time which was a fighter/bomber based at RAF Bolt Head near Salcombe, Devon and it concentrated on attacks on shipping.
 
WILSON, Donald Leslie
Corporal, 6th Royal Tank Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps. Army no 14452809.
He died whilst on active service on Wednesday 1 January 1947. He was 21.
He is buried in Udine War Cemetery, Italy.
Additional information
I have not identified any further detail.
 
 
Those who Fell in WW2 who are not on Baldersby Memorial
 
BOWES, Ernest
Ordinary Seaman, HMMGB 333 (HM Gun Boat), Royal Navy. RN no P/JX 275195
He died on active service on Tuesday 6 January 1942. I suspect he was born in 1920 in the Ripon RD.
He is buried in the churchyard of St. James’ Church, Baldersby.
 
SANDIFORD, James William
Ordinary Signalman, HMS Jaguar, Royal Navy. RN no D/JX 210341.
He died on active service on Thursday 26 March 1942. He was 19.
He was the son of Norris Albert and Victoria C Sandiford, Baldersby.
He is remembered on The Plymouth Naval Memorial.
Additional information
At 02.27 hours on 26 March 1942 HMS Jaguar (F 34) was attacked with four torpedoes from the German U boat U 652near Sidi Barrani, Egypt. Two torpedoes struck HMS Jaguar setting her on fire and she sank. 193 of the crew were lost.
Rainton - Those who Fell in WW1
 
ADAMSON, Ralph
Private, 9th (Service) Battalion, The King's Own (Yorkshire Light Infantry), 64 Brigade, 21st Division. Army no 34841. He had also served as Private, Army no 5412 with Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own (Yorkshire Regiment).
He was killed in action on Saturday 16 September 1916 on the Somme.  He was 33.  
He was the son of William and Mary Adamson.
He is remembered on The Thiepval Memorial.
 
AYTON, Edwin
Private, 1st/4th Battalion, The Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment), 147 Brigade, 49th Division.  Army no 5920.
He died in Hospital on Friday 29 September 1916. He was 21.
He was the son of Fred and Emma A Ayton, Rainton.
He is buried in Etaples Military Cemetery and his headstone is inscribed With Thee When Morning Breaks Ever to Be.
 
BOWES, James
Private, 4th Battalion, Guards Machine Gun Regiment, Guards Division. Army no 52. He had also served as Guardsman, Army no 24234 with the Grenadier Guards.
He was killed in action on Thursday 13 September 1917 near Ypres. He was 25.
He is buried in Artillery Wood Cemetery, Ypres.
 
BUSBY, Walter
Leading Seamen, Royal Navy. RN no J11397
He was invalided out of the Royal Navy on 31 July 1919 because he was suffering from Pulmonary Tuberculosis. He died on 23 March 1920 in Rainton at the age of 34. The cause of death was pulmonary tuberculosis and tubercular meningitis.
He was the son of Sampson and Rose Busby, Rainton.
I have not found his burial.
 
HARRISON, Edward
Private, Y Company, 2nd Battalion, The Suffolk Regiment, 76 Brigade, 3rd Division.  Army no 19376. He had also served as Private, Army no 12968 with The Hussars.
He was killed in action on Monday 9 April 1917 at the first Battle of the Scarpe. He was 27.
He was the son of William and Alice Harrison and born in Baldersby St James.
He is buried in the British Cemetery, Tilloy le Mofflaines and his headstone is inscribed  When I Awake in Thy Likeness I shall be Satisfied.
 
HOOD, Robert James
Private, 7th (Service) Battalion, Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own (Yorkshire Regiment), 50 Brigade. Army no 39146.
He was killed in action on Tuesday 10 July 1917. He was 34.
He was the son of Eli Ezra and Elizabeth Hood, Baldersley.
He is remembered on Arras Memorial.
 
WELLS, John Richard
Private, Motor Transport, Army Service Corps, Brigade, Division.  Army no. M/279411.
He died in Ripon Military Hospital on Monday 29 July 1918. I believe he died from natural causes. He was 23.
He was the son of Elizabeth Wells, The School House, Dalton and the husband of Elizabeth Wells.
He is buried in the churchyard of St. John’s Church, Dalton.
He had been awarded the Silver War Badge on the grounds of sickness and discharged from the Army on 4 October 1917.
 
 
Rainton - Those who Fell in WW2
 
DUNNING, Robert Francis
Lance Serjeant, 1st Battalion, Coldstream Guards Army no 2657312.
He was killed on active service Friday 7 June 1940 fighting with the rear guard at Dunkirk. He was 22.
He was the son of Albert and Lilian Dunning, Rainton.
He is buried in St Amandsberg Communal Cemetery and his headstone is inscribed He died that we might live. Gone but not forgotten.
 
SIDWELL, Ronald
Signalman, 18th Divisional Signals, Royal Corps of Signals, Army no 2320659
He died as a Prisoner of War of the Japanese Army on Tuesday 22 June 1943. He was 34.
He is buried in Chungkai War Cemetery
Additional information
The notorious Burma-Siam railway, built by prisoners of war, was a Japanese project to improve communications to support the Japanese army in Burma. During its construction, approximately 13,000 prisoners of war died. The line, 424 kilometres long, was completed by December 1943. The graves of those who died during the construction and maintenance of the railway were transferred from camp burial grounds and isolated sites along the railway into three cemeteries at Chungkai and Kanchanaburi in Thailand and Thanbyuzayat in Myanmar. Chungkai was one of the base camps on the railway and contained a hospital and church built by Allied prisoners of war. The war cemetery is the original burial ground started by the prisoners themselves, and the burials are mostly of men who died at the hospital.
 
SUNLEY, John Robert
Sergeant, 186 Squadron, Royal Air Force. RAFVR no 1623987.
He died on active service on Sunday 15 October 1944. He was 20.
He was the son of Albert Robert and Elsie Sunley, Rainton.
He is remembered on The Runnymede Memorial.
Additional information
Lancaster I LM165 WP-T was lent by his (186) squadron to 90 Squadron for a raid on Duisburg.  The aircraft took off at 22.52 hours from RAF Tuddenham, Suffolk.  It was lost without trace.
 
 
Not on Rainton Memorial of Those who Fell in WW1
 
COOPER, Robert
Private, C Squadron, 18th (Queen Mary’s Own) Hussars, 2 Cavalry Brigade, Cavalry Division.  Army no 6652.
He died on Monday 12 August 1918. He was 26. He was a Prisoner of War
He was the son of Thomas and Mary Cooper, Rainton. Born at Kirby Hill, Boroughbridge.
He is buried in Hamburg Cemetery and his headstone is inscribed Gone from our home but not our Hearts Father, Mother and Family.
 
LANCASTER, Fred 
Private, 10th (Service) Battalion, The Northumberland Fusiliers, 68 Brigade, 23rd Division.  Army no 41881. He had also served as Private, Army no 32250 with The Prince of Wales’s Own (West Yorkshire Regiment)
He died from his wounds on Friday 13 July 1917. He was 29
He was the son of Jim and Mary Lancaster, Rainton and the husband of Mary Lancaster, 20 Lickley Street, Ripon.
He is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery and his headstone is inscribed Thine Will be done.
 
WILLEY, Frank
Private, 10th (Service) Battalion, Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own (Yorkshire Regiment), 62 Brigade, 21st Division.  Army no 10495.
He was killed in action on Wednesday 27 March 1918 on the Somme battlefields. He was 22.
He was the son of John and Frances Willey, Sinderby.
He is remembered on The Pozières Memorial.
 
 
 
 
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.