​War Memorial in Hardraw
                   
The War Memorial in the Church of St. Mary & St. John, Hardraw, is a plaque inscribed;-
 
IN LOVING REMEMBRANCE
OF
THE FALLEN OF HIGH ABBOTSIDE,
WHO LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES IN THE
GREAT WAR OF 1914-1919
THAT WE MIGHT LIVE IN PEACE.
 
 
PRIVATE HAROLD BELL,     AGED 19 YEARS
PRIVATE SAMUEL KIRK,      AGED 23 YEARS
PRIVATE WILLIAM MOORE, AGED 24 YEARS
PRIVATE JAMES MOORE,   AGED 31 YEARS
PRIVATE EDMUND STAVELEY, AGED 30 YEARS
PRIVATE ROBERT SHARPLES, AGED 38 YEARS
 
 
GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS, THAT
HE LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS
 
 
Thee is a wooden plaque on which is written:
 
1939    PARISH OF HARDRAW 1945
 
ROLL OF HONOUR
JOSEPH RYLAND                             CBE
CHARLES WARD
ROBERT WATSON
FRANCIS JOSEPH WATSON          DFC
 
SERVED IN HIS MAJESTY’S FORCES
 
JOHN RICHARD METCALFE           RONALD JOHNSON
ANTHONY TAYLOR LAMBERT       THOMAS THWAITE
WILLIAM FRANCIS MOORE            ELI WINTRINGTON
JOHN EDWARD FAWCETT             CHARLES DAVID WRIGHT
REGINALD WRAY                             URSULA MARY BATLEY
JOHN DINSDALE MOORE               VERA MAY WRIGHT
ERNEST EDMUNDSON                   MARGARET JANE SHARPLES
GEORGE METCALFE                       EVELYN PEACOCK
GEORGE SCOTT                              BEATRICE RACHEL WRIGHT
 
 
 
The Memorial on the Green in Hawes includes
 
HARDRAW 1914 -1918
HAROLD BELL                                   HARRY CHILTON
ROWLAND HARPER                        SAMUEL KIRK
JAMES MOORE                                WILLIAM MOORE
      EDMUND STAVELEY                      ROBERT SHARPLES
   1939-1945
JOSEPH RYLANDS                          CHARLES WARD
  FRANCIS J WATSON                      ROBERT WATSON
 
Those who Fell in WW1
 
BELL, Harold
Private, 1st/8th Battalion, The Durham Light Infantry 151 Brigade, 50 Division.  Army no. 80885.
He was killed in action on Wednesday 10 April 1918. He was 19.
He is remembered on The Ploegsteert Memorial.
 
CHILTON, Harry
Private, 17th (Service) Battalion (2nd Leeds), The Prince of Wales’s Own (West Yorkshire Regiment), 106 Brigade, 35th Division.  Army no. 37895.
He died from his wounds on Tuesday 23 October 1917 in a Casualty Clearing Station near Mendinghem. He was 23.
He was the adopted son of Mrs B E Chilton, Cotterdale, Hawes.
He is buried in Mendinghem Military Cemetery and his gravestone is inscribed A noble sacrifice.
 
HARPER, Rowland
Private 9th (Service) Battalion Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own, (Yorkshire Regiment), 69 Brigade, 23rd Division.  Army no 28754.
He was killed in action on Thursday 7 June 1917 in the Battle of Messines. He was 36.
He is remembered on The Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres.
 
KIRK, Samuel LAMBERT
Private. 6th (Service) Battalion Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own, (Yorkshire Regiment) 32 Brigade, 11th Division.  Army no 30337.
He was killed in action on 12 November 1917. He was 23.
He was the son of Wilfred and Frances Kirk, Cotterdale, Hawes.
He is buried in Chocques Military Cemetery.
Additional information
His birth was registered as Samuel Kirk Lambert in Aysgarth Registration District. He took his Step-Fathers surname (1911 Census) when he enlisted.
 
MOORE, James age 31
All we have is his name and age and there is the potential for it be a Private with:
The Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment).
The East Yorkshire Regiment.
or James Moore, age 31, who died in Cockermouth in 1918, there was a Convalescent Hospital there.
He was the son of Simon and Ann Moore
There is no claim that he was with Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own, (Yorkshire Regiment).
The most likely death registration is in Cockermouth. I have seen a claim that he died in York but there is no relevant registration
Additional information
Cockermouth Castle Auxiliary Hospital WW1.
The patients had been wounded in France and Belgium, and were sent for convalescence to Cockermouth Castle, which could look after twenty men. The first group arrived in March 1917. The patients were allowed out of the Castle between set hours and the locals were allowed to invite them home for tea. Free entry to the Cinema and political clubs was another attraction.
And his brother
MOORE, William 
Private, B Company, 7th (Service) Battalion, The East Yorkshire Regiment, 50 Brigade, 17th Division.  Army no. 28278.
He was killed in action on Monday 23 April 1917 in the second Battle of the Scarpe. He was 24.
He was the son of Simon and Ann Moore, Litherskew, Askrigg.
He is remembered on The Arras Memorial.
 
SHARPLES, Robert
Private, 4th Battalion, Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own, (Yorkshire Regiment), 150 Brigade, 50th Division.  Army no. 235110.
He was killed in action on 23 April 1917 in the second Battle of the Scarpe. He was 38.
He is remembered on The Arras Memorial.
 
STAVELEY, Edmund
Private, 9th (Service) Battalion, Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own, (Yorkshire Regiment), 69 Brigade, 23rd Division.  Army no 28233.
He died from his wounds on 9 June 1917. it is probable that he had been wounded in the Battle of Messines. He was 29.
He was the son of Edmund and Mary Staveley and the husband of Agnes Staveley. His birth is registered as Stavley.
He is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery.
 
 
Those who Fell in WW2
 
RYLANDS Joseph                CBE
Air Commodore, RAF.
He died whilst on active service from natural causes in the RAF Hospital in Uxbridge on Sunday 4 February 1945. He was 59.
He was the husband of Annie Rylands, Hardrow.
He is buried in Watford North Cemetery and his gravestone is inscribed Till we meet again.
Additional information
He had served in the Army in WW1 winning promotion from Private to Captain before transferring to the RFC in 1917 and then to the RAF. He became a Regular Officer after WW1 and served in the RAF until his death.
 
WARD Charles
I have not identified one candidate
 
WATSON Francis Joseph  DFC
Pilot Officer, 83 Squadron, Royal Air Force. RAF no. 42945
Tuesday 24 September 1940. He was 27.
He was the son of Francis F and Sarah A B Watson, Thwaite.
He is buried in Becklingen War Cemetery and his gravestone is inscribed I Bare You on Eagles' Wings, and Brought You unto Myself. Exodus Xix.4.
Additional information
Handley Page Hampden I L4049 of 83 Squadron, Royal Air Force, RAF Scampton, was shot down by flak near Bethen (Niedersachsen), returning from a raid on Berlin. Squadron Leader 37667 A.O. Bridgman DFC was taken Prisoner. RAF PoW No.1264. The other 3 crew members were killed.
There was an earlier report in the Penrith Observer, 22 October 1940:
Awarded the D.F.C. only a few weeks ago, Pilot Officer F. Joseph Watson, a former pupil
of Alston Samuel King’s School, is now officially reported missing. Pilot Officer Watson, who is 28 years of age, was a pupil at the school from 1924 to 1928, when he entered the RAF as an aircraft apprentice, subsequently becoming a sergeant-observer.
He received his commission in January. Attached to a bomber squadron, Pilot Officer
Watson has taken part in several raids over Germany, including some on Berlin. Returning from one such flight, he was a member of the crew of a bomber which was forced down in the North Sea. They were rescued from their rubber dinghy after being adrift for several hours.
This aircraft may possibly have been Hampden I X2897 of 83 Squadron, ditched 28/29 August 1940, returning from Berlin
 
WATSON Robert
Capt. 9th Battalion, The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers. Army no 56898
He died on active service on Sunday 15 February 1942. This was the day that Singapore was surrendered. He was 27.
He was the son of Francis Fowler & Sarah Ann Beckett Watson of Muker.
He is buried in Kranji War Cemetery, Singapore and his gravestone is inscribed Ever Remembered by His Parents and Sister. He is not Dead but Sleepeth.
He is also remembered on a headstone in the churchyard of St Mary & St John’ Church, Hardraw.