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Picture
Picture
The War Memorial in Thornton Steward
 
 
In the Church of St Oswald, Thornton Steward there is a semi-circular Memorial Stone over a doorway inscribed:
 
TO THE MEMORY OF THE MEN FROM THE PARISH OF THORNTON STEWARD
WHO LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR
GUNNER J HORN                 PRIVATE H T WRIGHT
TROOPER F ATKINSON       PRIVATE R S ATKINSON
2nd LIEUTENANT D B PRIESTLEY
THEY LOVED NOT THEIR LIVES UNTO DEATH
 
In addition there is a wooden Roll of Honour within the Church
 
1914 THE GREAT WAR 1918
ROLL OF HONOUR
THORNTON STEWARD AND PARISH
 
CAPT  H E WADDINGTON RAF                   PTE J HAMILTON RASC
LIEUT F R WADDINGTON RAF                   PTE G HAMILTON RASC
2ND LT D B PRIESTLEY LANC FUS*                        PTE J A HANBY RAOC
CPL G STEAD RFA                                       GNR J HORN RGA*
1 W ATKINSON RGA                                    PTE G HORN RASC
TR F ATKINSON HUSSARS*                       PTE F I’ANSON E YORKS
PTE R S ATKINSON NZ FORCES*              PTE H W B KIRKY RASC
PTE R D ATKINSON NZ FORCES               DR O R MORRIS RE
SPR F CHERRY RE                                      PTE H STOCKELL ROYAL FUS
PTE H CHERRY T RESERVE                       PTE J VASEY YORKS
PTE W CROWLEY YORKS                          CDT C R WADDINGTON ARTISTS
PTE F CLARKSON E SURREY                    CDT S B WADDINGTON W YORKS
PTE A E DILLON RASC                                PTE H T WRIGHT W SURREY*
 
Those who Fell in WW1
 
ATKINSON, Frank
Private, 10th (Prince of Wales's Own Royal) Hussars, 6 Cavalry Brigade, 3rd Cavalry Division. Army no. 12694.
He was killed in action on Saturday 23 March 1918 on the Somme.
He is commemorated on the Pozières Memorial.
The information is very limited.
His birth is recorded as being in Braith Hall. Could this be Braithwaite Hall?  This would be appropriate for the inclusion on the War Memorial.
He was serving in France in 1915 which means that he was born before 1898.
He lived in Leyburn and enlisted there.
I have not identified his birth, his parents nor any trace of him in the 1891, 1901 or 1911 Census Returns
 
ATKINSON, Robert Stockdale
Private, 1st Battalion, Canterbury Infantry Regiment, New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Army no. 6/2922.
He was killed in action on Sunday 17 September 1916 near Flers. He was 21.
He was the son of Nathan and Mary Ann Atkinson, Danby Lodge, Middleham and was living with his brother in Stoneyhurst, Canterbury, New Zealand.
He is remembered on the Caterpillar Valley (New Zealand) Memorial which is in the Caterpillar Valley Cemetery near Longueval, France.
 
HORN, James
Gunner, 126th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery.  Army no. 123539.
He was killed in action on the Somme on Thursday, 21 March 1918. This was the first day of the German Spring Offensive also known as the Kaiser’s Battle which was the second worst day for casualties in the British Army’s history.  He was 22.
He was the son of Joseph W and Christiana Horn of Thornton Steward.
He is buried in Lebucquière Communal Cemetery Extension, near Bapaume, France and inscribed on his headstone is “Yet joined by one encircling bond the Love of a Mother's Heart”
The information is very limited.
In some records his surname appears as Horne
 
PRIESTLEY, Douglas Bernard  
Second Lieutenant, 2nd/5th Battalion, The Lancashire Fusiliers, 164 Brigade, 55th Division.
He was killed in action on Tuesday 31 July 1917 at the Battle of Pilkem Ridge. He was 20.
He was the son of Ethel and the late Rev Jonathon Priestley, The Vicarage, Thornton Steward. His Father was Vicar in this Parish from 1903.
He is remembered on The Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres.
Additional information
Probate gives his address as that of his Uncle in The Wardens Lodge, Daventry.
He was born in Bishops Monkton and his Mother had died when he was an infant. His father had remarried Ethel Stead in 1905.
 
WRIGHT, Henry Joseph 
Private, 2nd Battalion, The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment), 91 Brigade, 7th Division.  Army no. 40257. He also served as Private, Army no. 068071 with the Royal Army Service Corps.
He died from his wounds on Saturday 17 March 1917 during the German Retreat to the Hindenburg Line. He was 25.
He was the son of Thomas E and Gertrude M Wright, Danby-on-Yore.
He is buried in Varennes Military Cemetery.
 
Those who Fell in WW2 who are not on the Memorial
 
FAWCETT, Kenneth
Flight Sergeant 547 Squadron, Royal Air Force . RAFVR no. 1196180.
He died on active service on Wednesday 26 April 1944. He was 29.
He was the son of John T and Dora AFawcett and the husband of Joyce Fawcett of Thornton Steward.
He is remembered on the Runnymede Memorial.
Additional information
After basic training at Blackpool, he qualified in 1942 as a wireless operator/air gunner and was posted to 547 Maritime Reconnaissance Squadron, Coastal Command at RAF Thorney Island. By early 1944 he had been promoted to Flight Sergeant and his Squadron had moved to RAF St Eval, Cornwall flying the Liberator on maritime patrol and he had flown several anti-submarine patrols in the Battle of the Atlantic.
On 26 April 1944, Kenneth Fawcett's aircraft piloted by Squadron Leader Terry (of Terry's Chocolate, York) took off from RAF St. Eval for an anti-submarine training patrol with a British submarine off the Welsh coast.
In the early hours of 26 April, the aircraft was to rendezvous with the submarine. The submarine captain reported that the aircraft flew very low over the conning tower and crashed into the sea. An immediate and systematic search reported all the crew as missing.

There is also a The Roll of Honour
 
 
The Roll of Honour
1914 The Great War 1918
Roll of Honour
Thornton Steward, and Parish.
 
Capt HLWaddington, R A F                            Pte  J Hamilton, R A S C
Lieut  R R Waddington, R A F                        Pte  G Hamilton, R A S C
2nd Lieut  D B Priestley, Lanc Fus *              Pte  J A Hanby, R A O C
Corpl  G Stead, R F A                                    Gnr  J Horn, R G A
Grn  G W Atkinson, R G A                              Pte  G Horn, R A S C
Tr  F Atkinson, Hussars *                              Pte  F I'Anson, E Yorks
Pte  R S  Atkinson, N Z  Forces *                   Pte  H W B Kirby, R A S C
Pte  R J  Atkinson, N Z  Forces                      Dr  O R Morris, R E
Spr  F Cherry, R E                                          Pte  H Stockell, Royal Fus
Pte  H Cherry, T Reserve                               Pte  J Vasey, Yorks
Pte  F Clarkson, E Surrey                              Cdt  C R Waddington, Artists'
Pte  W Crowley, Yorks                                   Cdt  S B Waddington, W Yorks
Pte  A E Dillon, R A S C                                 Pte  H Wright, W Surrey *
 
To expand on the military initials:
 
R A F               Royal Air Force
Lanc Fus         The Lancashire Fusiliers        
R F A               Royal Field Artillery
R G A              Royal Garrison Artillery
Hussars            (Prince of Wales's Own Royal) Hussars
N Z  Forces     New Zealand Expeditionary Force
R E                  The Royal Engineers             
T  Reserve      Training Reserve
E Surrey          The East Surrey Regiment
Yorks               Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own, (Yorkshire Regiment)
R A S C           Royal Army Service Corps
R A O C          Royal Army Ordnance Corps
E Yorks           The East Yorkshire Regiment
Royal Fus        The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment)
Artists'             1st/28th (County of London) Battalion (Artists Rifles), The London Regiment
W Yorks          The Prince of Wales’s Own (West Yorkshire Regiment)
W Surrey         The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment)
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