The Return of a Family Medal

I have written this post to thank the eagle-eyed reader (AP) who spotted my grandfather Hutton's Defence Medal for sale on ebay earlier this week.

Screen shot of ebay sale (after purchase) with price redacted

I wrote about my grandfather back in January 2013 after finding some of his WW2 Home Guard paperwork and mementos in a box at my mum's house. Later I found more information about his service and was sent a photo of him in the Home Guard by my second cousin. This formed a second blog post in June 2013.

At the time I did not know where my grandad's Defence Medal was, although the paperwork showed that he had claimed it in June/July 1946, so it was fantastic that AP had spotted the ebay entry and linked it to me via my grandfather's name and address. I have blanked out the asking price in the snip above to avoid embarrassment as I really, really wanted to buy it! Thankfully the OH agreed and it came in the post this morning.  I know that Second World War medals don't have the recipient's name engraved upon them like First World War medals and I already have my paternal grandfather's Defence Medal, so basically I now have two the same, but the box is special. 

I did message the seller to ask if he had anything else that might be linked to my family, and if he could tell me when he obtained the medal. He wrote back within a few hours saying that he thinks he bought it on ebay around 18 months ago, and that he was delighted that it would be returning to a family member. He had nothing else related and was selling the medal to concentrate his collection on First World War items
.

My grandfather's Defence Medal with original packaging

This is what came, and I am very happy. To think that I am holding an item my grandfather handled over 70 years ago is quite a feeling.  I have informed my mum about my purchase and look forward to showing her the medal and box when I see her next week.

So thank you AP for the heads up and 756Keith somewhere in Darlington (the seller) for the swift response and dispatch of my grandfather's medal.

 

Two Members of the Same Family both named Irving Killed in Action a Generation Apart

There are at least 154 war memorial gravestones in Barnsley Cemetery, Barnsley, South Yorkshire. These grave markers commemorate a man who has been lost in a conflict, be it the Boer War, the First World War or the Second World War by an inscription on the stone work upon or around their family's grave plot. The men in question are NOT buried in the Cemetery, most lying in Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries overseas or commemorated on CWGC memorials across the world.

Recently, from March to July 2018, a volunteer has been walking the cemetery checking every plot for these inscriptions. Wayne Bywater has now moved onto the cemetery in Bolton upon Dearne but the Barnsley War Memorials Project and myself are very grateful to him for finding and photographing so many of these memorials which give valuable family information about our servicemen. Wayne's work has added names to the BWMP First World War Roll of Honour (due to be presented to the Mayor of Barnsley in November 2018) and has identified many Second World War men for future researchers.

The gravestone that I was logging this morning is particularly interesting as it commemorates two servicemen in one family, one killed in the First World War and one killed in the Second World War. Coincidently both were called Irving. Irving Lindley was killed in action 20 November 1917 and Irving Parry was killed in action 19 November 1944.  Intrigued by this I decided to find out exactly how the two men were related.

Lindley family gravestone, plot 7 371, Barnsley Cemetery
Photo by Wayne Bywater in July 2018

The gravestone gives us lots of clues. Irving Lindley's parents were Violet C, who died in 1929 and Arthur who died in 1933. Irving Parry was their grandson.  

Arthur Lindley, born 1870 in Wombwell, married Violet Charlotte Bower, born 1875 in Sheffield, in Wombwell Parish Church on 24 December 1895. It seems they had known each other for a while for in the same church on 7 January 1894 their daughter May Lindley Bower was baptised. No father's name is given, but the inclusion of the Lindley name in the child's forenames is a huge pointer towards her parentage!

Following their marriage Arthur and Violet had three more children, Edgar, born in the September quarter of 1896 (so around nine months after their wedding), Irving, born in December quarter 1897 and Ida, born in the January quarter of 1899.  All four of the Lindley children are at home with Arthur and Violet in the 1901 census when the family are living at 28 Gower Street in Wombwell. May is listed as a Lindley and all the children were born in Wombwell. Arthur's occupation is Coal Hewer. Gower Street runs off Park Street, to the left of the 'Last Orders' pub. On Google maps I can see that there are only three older terraced houses remaining on the street, most of the housing now being modern bungalows.

The 1911 census finds the Lindley family in Worsborough Dale, a few miles outside of Barnsley town centre. Their full address was 23 James Street and that house can still be seen on Google maps. Arthur Lindley, now aged 41, is listed as a Ripper in a Coal Mine and Violet's entry gives us the following information; they have been married for 15 years, and have 3 children born alive, all three are living. Under Violet's name the whole of the next entry has been scratched out but enough is visible to suggest it did read May Lindley. Under that are the other three children. Edgar is 14 years old and a Labourer in a Saw Mill, Irving is 13 years old and a Screen Boy at a colliery and Ida is 11 and still at school.

It seems that May had been mistakenly entered on the census by her father as she can be found listed in the 1911 census at Croft House in Linthwaite in West Yorkshire working as a Housemaid to Benjamin Walker, the local Registrar of Births and Deaths.  She is 17 years old. The fact that she is not included in the tally of Violet's children on the census return could have been to cover up the fact that she was born prior to their marriage, or just purely in strict adherence to the direction at the top of the column which asks for 'children born alive to the present marriage', and of course she was born before the wedding.

At some point in the next seven years the family move to 58 Agnes Road, much nearer to the centre of Barnsley. This long street of terraced houses with several local shops runs from Park Grove to Princess Street, just a few hundred yards south of Morrisons on Westway, Barnsley.

From the Barnsley Chronicle 9 February 1918
With thanks to Barnsley Archives

The next record of the family that I have been able to find is the report of the death of the second son, Irving Lindley, born late 1897 in Wombwell, who was 20 years old in 1917. He had been working at Barrow Colliery, which is in Worsborough, until his enlistment in the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. His service records have not survived so it is difficult to tell exactly when he signed up, but his service number is 41914 and his war gratuity (paid to his father after his death and which can be seen on his Army Register of Soldiers' Effects record) was only £3 and 10 shillings, we can estimate that he enlisted in November 1916, this making it likely he was conscripted. The cutting from the Barnsley Chronicle on 26 January 1918 is the source of the family's address and Irving's occupation. There are no details given of how he met his end.


We know he was in the 2nd/5th KOYLI when he was killed and that he was subsequently buried in Hermies Hill British Cemetery in the Pas de Calais area. According to the CWGC site for the cemetery there are buried on this site 70 soldiers from the UK who fell on 20 November 1917, the first day of the Battle of Cambrai, most of whom belonged to the infantry of the 62nd West Riding Division (which included the 2/5 KOYLI). Some of these graves were concentrated (gathered in from) other cemeteries after the Armistice and it not always possible to know the exact location of a particular grave. Irving Lindley is named on a special memorial in the cemetery along with 30 other men who are also believed to be buried there.

Some of Irving's story can be found on Lives of the First World War.

The Lindley family story continues with the marriage of May Lindley (or Bower) in the final quarter of 1918. Her husband was David Parry from Chapel Street, Carlton and he had been discharged from the army in December 1918, 'released to coal mining' according to his service record. This record also tell us that they married on 31 October 1918 in Barnsley Register Office, so whilst he was still a soldier. He had not served abroad probably because he was only mobilised in April 1918 and caught influenza shortly afterwards. May and David have four children, Irving born in the December quarter of 1919, and no doubt named after her brother, David, born in the June quarter of 1921 (the only one of the children whose mother's maiden name is given as Lindley, the others are all Bower), Marjorie C, born in the December quarter of 1923 and finally Hazel J, born in the June quarter of 1929. Irving Parry, their eldest son, is the man named last on the gravestone above, below the uncle after whom he was named.

Ida Lindley marries Horace William Ibbotson on 25 December 1919 at St John's Church in Barnsley. This is in the area once known as 'Barebones' because of the way the boulders of the underlying terrain protrude into the streets (although some people claim that the name was given because of the poverty and hence poor clothing of the inhabitants!) Ida's home address is 58 Agnes Road, so the Lindley's are still based there. She is 20 years old and a Machinist. Ida also chooses to remember her fallen brother in naming her children. Horace Irving Ibbotson was born to David and Ida on 31 December 1920. They also had a daughter, Violet Gwendolyne born 24 September 1927.

Edgar Lindley, the eldest son of Arthur and Violet marries last. He is of the right age cohort to have served in the First World War but I am unable to work out if he did or not. There are two possible Edgar Lindleys listed in the Medal Cards, but if he did not serve abroad, like his brother in law David Parry, then he would not be included in that record set, so he could be neither of the men I have found. Edgar marries on 20 September 1924 in St Mary's Church in Barnsley. His bride is Elizabeth Linsley (confusing?) and he was 28 years old, a miner and still living at 58 Agnes Road with his parents. Edgar and Elizabeth have a total of four children, Raymond b.1925, Irene b.1927, Betty b.1933 and Una b.1938.

We know that Violet Lindley is buried in Barnsley Cemetery on 5 June 1929 having died on 1 June. She has seen the death in war of her younger son, the marriages of her other three children and the births of at least eight grandchildren. We don't know if her son's (Irving Lindley) details were added to her gravestone straight away, or even when the stone was erected. It could have been put up at any time and the style and age of the lettering does look similar suggesting it was mostly all done at once, so maybe after the Second World War.  We do know that she had been living at Birk Avenue, Stairfoot or Kendray and she was only 54 years of age. That's younger than I am now!  She left £180 and her husband Arthur was granted administration of her affairs.

Arthur Lindley joins his wife in plot 7 371 in October 1933, just four years later. He was 63 years of age and died in Beckett Hospital. His Probate Calendar entry tell us that he had been living at 1 Birk Terrace, Kendray and that adminstration of his estate was granted to son Edgar. Arthur left £299 17s and 6d. He will have seen the birth of another grandchild, Edgar's Betty in early 1933. 

At the beginning of the Second World War a register was taken of everyone in the country (although servicemen and women are not listed on the records accessible online). These listings were used for many years afterwards as the source of numbers for the National Health Service as well as being the basis of the ration card system in the war itself. These records give the actual birth dates of the people listed, but some records are obscured (officially closed) as they belong to people who may still be alive, that is those people under 100 years old and not recorded by the NHS as dying in the intervening years.

In 1939 Edgar Lindley was living at 56 Lambert Road in Barnsley with Elizabeth. He is still a Ripper in a coal mine, although his occupation now reads Contractor as well. Only their children Raymond and Betty's records are visible, but there are two blanked out lines which must obscure Irene and Una's details.

Ida and (Horace) William Ibbotson are living on the Manor Farm Estate somewhere in Hemsworth in 1939. William is a Colliery Ripper or Stone Contractor and appears to have chosen to use his second name for official purposes. Their children Horace I (already working in Colliery Haulage) and Violet G are listed too.

In 1939 David and May Parry are living at 178 Carlton Road, Barnsley. David is a Colliery Deputy and of their children only Marjorie can be seen listed. There is an obscured line above which must hide David and another below which must be Hazel. If Irving had still been at home his record would have been visible as we know he was killed in 1944. I cannot find a separate entry for him which suggests he was already in the forces.

Irving Parry, son of David and May, joins the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in the Second World War. When he is killed on 19th November 1944 he is a Sergeant Pilot in 70 Squadron. He was 24 years old. His CWGC entry tells us that he was married to Eva Dorothy Parry and that after the war she lived at Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex. He is buried in Belgrade War Cemetery in the old Yugoslavia now Serbia. You can see his gravestone on the Find a Grave website. Interestingly it is a collective grave and Irving is buried with three other airmen from the same squadron, killed on the same day. 

Irving had married Eva Dorothy Hall in the Brentwood district of Essex in the June quarter of 1943, so maybe he met her whilst he was training in the RAF.  They had only been married for a year and a few months when he was killed.

There are a couple of online trees on Ancestry for this family, so someone out there is researching these people. Maybe writing this blog will help them, and at least they will now know where to find one of their family gravestones, complete with the sad story of two men from Barnsley with the same name who lost their lives in the World Wars.

Did you know Miners were sold Surplus Army Rations in 1947?

I'm at my Mum's for the weekend, we try to visit every three weeks or so and I don't generally take my laptop with me as it seems rude to work whilst I'm visiting, however as this is a long weekend and the OH is otherwise occupied I managed to carry a bag of stuff for the weekend and the computer on the long journey via the X19 bus from Barnsley to meet Mum at the Hare and Tortoise at Parrot's Corner, Rossington.  It seems this will be the last time I will do this too - the X19 will terminate in Doncaster from September and I'll have to change buses, so I might as well catch one all the way to Bawtry and make Mum's journey to pick me up shorter.

My route on the X19 Route from Barnsley to the right angled kink
just before the airport, takes 1 hour 15 mins

After a visit to the Retford Bookworm (a rare independent bookshop with a large second-hand section at the back) this afternoon where I couldn't resist several WW1 books, I was reading out a paragraph to Mum this evening about people now not having much idea about the kind of thing soldiers in WW1 had to endure.  I mentioned rations ... and Mum suddenly remembered that after WW2 her father, a Colliery Manager, was able to get hold of a box of surplus army rations, which were being distributed to all miners. She particularly remembered the chocolate and estimated it must have been 1946 or 1947 as she had been around 8 or 9 years old and living in Spennymoor, County Durham, by then.

As I had not heard of this before her comment led to a bit of Googling and a long search of the old newspapers on Find My Past. This is what I found:

It was announced in Parliament on 16 April 1947 by the Minister of Food Mr John Strachey that it had been arranged for three quarters of a million surplus army ration packs, each containing foodstuffs sufficient for one man for six days to be made available for purchase by coal miners all over the country through colliery managements and the National Union of Mineworkers. Hansard 16 April 1947 vol 436 cc185-6 

There were some brief reports of this in many newspapers, this is the best article I could find. From the Yorkshire Evening Post dated 17 April 1947.

'EXTRA' FOR MINERS
750,000 Army Ration Packs
From our London Office
All underground miners are to be given a chance of buying one of 750,000 surplus Army ration packs, free of points and coupons. They are to be sent to mining areas under arrangements of the National Coal Board and the National Union of Mineworkers.
They will cost 30s each, but 7s 6d is returnable if the container in which the rations are packed is brought back whole, and 6s if the lid is broken.
The 50 cigarettes which are part of the pack will be a post-Budget bargain. Other contents are tins of bacon, vegetables, tins of fruit, soap, sweets, matches and tea.
The container is made of wood with a tin inside.
During the war packs of this type were dropped to isolated troops.    
 
There were some complaints in the press about the packs being offered only to miners, however In November in reply to a question in Parliament Dr Edith Summerskill (Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food) replied, "The packs are being distributed to mineworkers by the National Coal Board. Points or coupons will not be required in exchange. I regret that there are not enough of the packs to issue to farm workers and other heavy workers." Then in reply to a further question, "There are about 700,000 packs and approximately 700,000 miners, and this decision was reached during the fuel crisis when we felt it necessary to give extra rations to the miners." Hansard 3 November 1947 vol 443 c1318

In December 1947 some articles appeared in newspapers reporting the distribution of the packs. I found one in the Yorkshire Evening Post dated 22 December.

EXTRA FOR MINERS
Food-Packs Distributed
Packs of food marked "Pacific", now being distributed to Yorkshire miners for Christmas, are surplus Army emergency rations identical with the standard packs issued to troops in Burma during the war.
Each pack contains sufficient food for six men for one day, besides cigarettes and sweets. 
During the week-end clerks at many pits in the Doncaster area assisted in issuing packs to miners on payment of 22s 6d.

Another item from the Dundee Courier dated 24 December.

Miners' Boxing Day Means Food
Fife miners were offered 20,000 Christmas boxes yesterday. Costing 22s 6d (or 30s with the case) they contained ham, sugar, butter, tea and cigarettes.
Before the parcels were handed over, each miner was asked to sign a declaration that he would not resell the contents.
Surplus army "compo" rations, samples had been tested before being distributed to collieries.

And finally, the one picture I could find, which is from the Sunday Post, a Glasgow newspaper, dated 28 December 1947.

"Hugh Nesbett, Kennoway and William Baxter, Methill, like thousands of other Fife miners, smile despite their heavy load. They're carrying home their Christmas box - containing a varied assortment of tinned meat, fruit, biscuits, bacon, eggs, and cigarettes. These surplus Army "Compo" ration boxes were made available to miners at 22s 6d." 

Happy looking miners hefting large boxes on their shoulders (from Find My Past newspapers)

My Mum was pleased I'd been able to find proof of her memories.  She said that the tinned fruit would have been a special treat. My next task is to check the Barnsley Chronicle to see how the distribution of the boxes was reported in our area.  That will have to wait until next week though. 

There you go Mum, especially for you!
     

      

Making World War Casualties 'real' for non-historians - the CWGC Living Memory Initiative

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) announced their new initiative, the Living Memory project, earlier this week, which hopes to get community groups to visit the UK burial sites of WW1 & WW2 servicemen and women. There are apparently 300,000 burial sites in over 12,000 locations in the UK.  These vary from large cemeteries with many rows of gravestones, usually associated with a war time hospital or military base, to little local churchyards and cemeteries.

Being an active volunteer for the Barnsley War Memorials Project I know that there are 130 of these burials in Barnsley's main cemetery, and dozens more scattered across the borough.  But this weekend I am in North Nottinghamshire visiting my mum and I wondered if there were any in her local churchyard.

CWGC logo

It is amazingly difficult to explain to someone who has no background knowledge how the Commonwealth War Graves Commission came about and what it stands for today.  I was surprised (after all I've been wittering on about WW1 soldiers for five or six years now) that my mum didn't know who the CWGC were.  I did a quick explanation about Fabian Ware, the gravestones all being the same pattern and threw in Rudyard Kipling and Lutyens for good measure.  The CWGC has a fast facts page if you find yourself in the same situation!

After we'd sorted that out I explained that I was going to look to see if there were any CWGC burials in the her village.  She really did expect me to put my coat and boots on at that point and set off up the High Street - she didn't know I could just search the CWGC site online.  My mum has an ipad and she can Google (especially for Simon's Cat videos!) and she watches iPlayer and she can look up the weather forecast.  My mistake was to assume that because she could do these things that she understood all the things I do as a family historian. Of course she doesn't .... and if I don't bother to explain, why should I expect her to?

Lives of the First World war logo

There is one WW2 burial in the cemetery in the village in which my mum lives, but according to the documentation on the CWGC website it seems to be in a family plot and doesn't have the standard white stone.  I was really after one of those to show her as an example of the equality principle and so she'd recognise them if she saw some in the future.  So, still using the CWGC 'Find a Cemetery' search, I had a look around the surrounding villages and found an interesting man in Gringley on the Hill about three miles away.  Then I looked him up on the Lives of the First World War website (which I use rather a lot at the moment and have written some useful blog posts about using it to Remember your WW1 relatives); this was very easy to do as the CWGC site give his service number and regiment; no-one was remembering this soldier and only his medal card was attached as evidence.

Alfred Girken Marriott was 29 years old when he died on 23 February 1917; he was a Shoeing Smith in the Royal Field Artillery and his medal card (available to view free on Ancestry during the centenary period) indicates that he served from the beginning of the war as he was entitled to the 1914 Star was well as to the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.  I did a bit more research and then persuaded the OH that we really needed to pop along the road for a walk around the cemetery to have a look for his gravestone.  After all it was a really lovely day ...
 

Gringley on the Hill village cemetery

Gringley on the Hill cemetery is on the edge of the village, on the main road, right next to the old windmill.  There is no car park or lane, but there is a wide bit of causeway (path) with dropped kerbs at either end that you can pull onto.  I would recommend a spotter for pulling out though as it is rather near a bend and the speed limit on the road is 50mph.
 

War Memorial at Gringley on the Hill

The village war memorial is in the cemetery, commemorating men from WW1 and WW2. 

I counted 24 WW1 casualties which seems a lot from a small village (note to self: nip up the road and count the ones on the memorial in mum's village after lunch for comparison) including A Marriott.

I spotted at least three war memorial gravestones, those are ones where the man is not actually buried in the plot but his family have had a memorial inscription added to the family stone.  These usually include the words 'Killed in Action', 'Died in France', 'Died of Wounds' or 'Interred in *name of some cemetery overseas*'.

There was a very new looking WW2 CWGC gravestone just a few yards from the war memorial.  It commemorated a young, 18 year old, airman who died in July 1947.  The cut off date for qualification for a WW2 CWGC stone is 31 December 1947 so he just qualified.   

Albert G Marriott's CWGC gravestone

We found Albert Marriott's CWGC gravestone on the other side of the cemetery, right next to the hedge.  There was an old Christmas style wreath resting up against the stone and two little wooden crosses, the sort the British Legion place on war graves every year.  So someone is remembering him. We did move the wreath to take a photo but the OH put it back carefully afterwards.

Unfortunately a little bit of the family citation at the bottom of Albert's stone has chipped off.  It reads, "Let Those Who Come After / See That His Name / Is Not Forgotten" and according to the documentation on the CWGC website would have cost his wife 14/- (at 3 pence ha'penny a letter or space).  Though I understand that families were frequently not billed for this.  

We did our bit today remembering Albert.  Even my mum was impressed that after a little bit of online research we had found a man locally who did his bit in WW1, visited his grave and taken some photos.  You can read what I discovered about Albert on his Lives of the First World War Life Story. I'll continue to add information today, including the photos we have taken. 

Why don't you have a go?  Information on the Living Memory project can be obtained from the CWGC here.  The man you visit might not be a relative, but I tell you, visiting one of these burial plots will not leave you unmoved.  Leave a poppy cross or a couple of flowers when you go ... or just take a photo of the gravestone and share it on CWGC's Living Memory Facebook page or via Twitter using the hashtag #LivingMemory.

Thank you for reading.  Lest We Forget.