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King George V:
"He whom this scroll commemorates was numbered among the those who at the call of King and Country, left all that was dear to them, endured hardness, faced danger, and finally passed out of the sight of men by the path of duty and self-sacrifice, giving up their own lives that others might live in freedom. Let those who come after see to it that his name be not forgotten".
On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, the First World War ended following the Armistice of November 4th. Civilians wanted to remember the people who had given their lives for peace and freedom. An American War Secretary, Moina Michael, inspired by John McCrae's poem, began selling poppies to friends to raise money for the ex-Service community. And so the tradition began.
In 1922, Major George Howson, a young infantry officer, formed the Disabled Society, to help disabled ex-Service men and women from the First World War. Howson suggested to the Royal British Legion that members of the Disabled Society could make poppies and the Poppy Factory was subsequently founded in Richmond in 1922. The original poppy was designed so that workers with a disability could easily assemble it and this principle remains today.
Remembrance Sunday Nov. 12, 2006.
At todays Remembrance Day Service David Dimbleby stated that 400 Post Office personnel [5 from Barney] lost their lives during the First World War. He also said that letters from the Trenches took only two days to get to their destination in Great Britain.
Medal Index Card of Charles John Knight (M.M.)
The Military Medal was introduced by Royal Warrant of March 25, 1916 as an award to Army N.C.O.'s and men for individual or even associated acts of bravery in the field, brought to notice by the recommendation of a Commander in the field.
Military Medal details from:
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
G.W.A. Thorne of Cotherstone.
Thomas Sampson, a member of the Post Office Home Guard, began work at Barnard Castle as a postman in April 1913 retiring in November 1944. He enlisted in the Royal Lancers in 1905 and was recalled to the Colours with the outbreak of World War One in 1914.
He served until the end of the War resuming work as a postman cycling 30 miles per day on the Wycliffe Rural Post. In those days he began work at 6am in the morning not finishing until 8pm at night. Motorised deliveries saw Postman Sampson on one of the worst winter time routes - Harwood in Upper Teesdale. He later retired as a postman-driver serving Bowes and Pennyhill.
[More information can be found on the Scrapbook page.]
The Military Medal (MM)
The MM was instituted in March 1916 as an award for non-officer rank of the Army for acts of bravery. In the First World War the MM was awarded to a few recipients from the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Some RAF personnel were awarded the MM during World War II. All MMs are issued named with the recipient's details impressed around the medal's rim.
During World War I, 115,000 MMs were awarded, with 5,800 first bars and 180 second bars. There was 1 award of the MM and 3 bars. World War II saw the award of 15,000 MMs with 164 first bars and 2 second bars.
Although all MMs awarded are listed in the London Gazette, the First World War MMs don't have citations. The Second World War MMs generally do have citations.
Following the 1993 review this medal has been replaced by the Military Cross, which is now available to all ranks.
Feb 2007 - Briony Kay, and the Reader Information Services Team at The National Archives have come up 'trumps' with research details on four more names on the Roll of Honour:-
C.J. Knight (M.M.), E. Raine, R.N. Carlton and T.S. Bainbridge.
Charles John Knight (M.M.)
From the Discharge Documents: Regtl No. 471792 Sgt Charles John Knight, born Wandsworth, Surrey in 1879, of the 148th Coy Chinise Labour Corps was transferred to the Reserve 24-2-19. (The usual reason for transfers to the Labour Corps was that a man was no longer A1 fighting fit for front line service - as was the case with John transferring from the 2nd Bn York R as he suffered an agrivated hernia/rupture caused by coughing through a gas attack in France July 1918.) The document cover is endorsed Cotherstone, Darlington.
Record WO 363/453.
Ernest Raine of the Labour Corps.
Private Ernest Raine of the 81st Coy Labour Corps worked as a postman (and farmer) and lived in Lathkirk, Middleton-in-Teesdale. From the 1901 Census his father, William Raine, was a Sub Postmaster and his mother, Mary, a Post Office assistant.
Record WO 364/5580.
Robert Nixon Carlton
Postman Private Robert Nixon Carlton of the Highland Light Infantry Yorkshire Regiment 26442 was the son of George Robert Carlton, of Close (later Rose) Cottage, Cotherstone. He also served a Exchange Telephone Clerk at 65th Law Div Hdqrs, R.A.M.C. 143788.
Record WO 363/C373
Thomas Sowerby Bainbridge of the Royal Army Medical Corps
Postman Private Thomas Sowerby Bainbridge, of the Royal Army Medical Corps Nos 12 & 34 Coy Woolwich R.A.M.C. 119437 formerly of Mickleton, lived in Barnard Castle, with his wife Alice at the Coach & Horses Yard, Galgate.
Record WO 364/113
Regular Army:
4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion
August 1914 : in Barnard Castle. Remained in UK throughout the war.
Territorial Force:
17th (Reserve) Battalion
Formed in Barnard Castle, October 1914, as a Service battalion, part of K4.
October 1914 : attached to 89th Brigade, original 30th Division.
10 April 1915 : became a second Reserve battalion.
September 1916 : became 2nd Training Reserve battalion of 1st Reserve Brigade.
J. Walton is John 'Jack' Walton.
Jack is pictured in Lance Nelson's late 1950's photo of the Safe Driving Awards. (See Group Photo outside the Flatts Road yard gate on the Homepage.)
Details courteousy of Mrs Heavisides - Jack's daughter.
Private H.R. LUMLEY PS/8964, 20th Bn., Royal Fusiliers who died on July 30, 1916.
Details, and portrait, courteousy of Captain Pat Thompson, great nephew of Harold Lumley.
Pvt Harold Robert Lumley - born 1892.
Since launching our appeal for details of our postal heroes Mrs Myra Lycett, daughter of John Thomas Kavanagh, has written regarding her lovely Dad.
(For more details/photos and a bit of history of 'Jack' Kavanagh - the dog man click here.)
Sjt John GILMORE, Pvt Harold Robert LUMLEY, Pvt Tom SHEPHERD, Pvt William THOMPSON, Pvt John BAILEY.
for the fallen... Featuring lines from Laurence Binyon's famous poem, this 'We Will Remember Them' Generic Sheet comprises twenty commemorative 'Poppy' 1st Class Stamps.
Binyon wrote the seven-verse poem 'For the Fallen' to honour the British Expeditionary Forces that were suffering such high casualties on the Western Front, and as such it is appropriate that a line from the poem lends itself to be the title of the Sheet, his solemn yet beautiful words adorning the edge of these extra special stamps.
Each stamp shows seven poppies entwined with barbed wire as their stems. The labels showcase images of four memorials: The Cenotaph in Whitehall; Royal Artillery Memorial, Hyde Park; RAF Memorial, The Gilded Eagle at Charing Cross and the Euston Station War Memorial. An explanation is given under each image by the renowned militay historian Richard Holmes.
First Day Cover
The Lest We Forget filler card features an atmospheric black and white photograph of 3 & 4 platoons of the Accrington Pals Battalion taken shortly before the Battle of the Somme.
(Copy is by military Historian Professor Richard Holmes.)
Discover more about this issue by visiting:-
www.royalmail.com/stampsandcollecting
In Flanders' Fields
John McCrae, 1915
In Flanders' fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders' Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high,
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders' Fields.
Some of the bloodiest fighting of World War One took place in the Flanders and Picardy regions of Belgium and Northern France. The poppy was the only thing which grew in the aftermath of the complete devastation. McCrae, a doctor serving there with the Canadian Armed Forces, deeply inspired and moved by what he saw, wrote these verses:
a tragic waste... The longest and most costly battle in British history, the Somme has become a byword for the futility of war, and also one which reminds us to remember.
600,000 British and French, with a similar number of German troops, of which over a million we lost in the Battle of the Somme alone in 1916. The battle lasted for months and generated enormous sacrifice on both sides, despite just 12km being gained by allied forces.
To mark the end of fighting in November 1916 and honour the fallen, Royal Mail is issuing a Remembrance Day Minature Sheet - Lest We Forget. This issue is the first of three consecutive commemoratives culminating with the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War.
The Lost Genertation: In tribute to the valour shown and the ultimate sacrifice made by the men who fought in the Battle of the Somme - their courage will never be forgotten!
Date of erection: Unveiled June 29, 1924 by Baron Daryngton of Whitley. Dedicated by Rev. S.F. Warth, vicar of St. Luke’s Darlington.
Description of monument: Plaque of black enamelled brass with raised burnished edge. At centre top is a laurel wreath containing a cross raised in half relief and the whole gilded. The names are listed in five columns. The lettering is raised in casting and polished using serif capitals throughout. This is set on a wood backing with the plaque for 1939-45 below.
Materials used: Black enamelled brass.
Changed location: Originally in the Northgate Post Office, which closed, and the plaque was transferred to the Royal Mail sorting office in St. Cuthberts Way.
Notes :
1. Baron Daryngton of Witley in the County of Surrey had been Assistant Postmaster from 1915-1923. Before being raised to the peerage in 1923, before elevation to the peerage, Herbert Pike Pease had served as the town’s MP for 25 years, apart from one brief spell of ten months.
2. A total of 119 post office employees served, of whom 25 were killed.
Modern photographs by Simon Raine & Dave Charlesworth.
Newspaper cuttings, photos or archival material:
Northern Echo 10/1/1917 p.3; 30/6/1924 p.7
Darlington & Stockton Times 5/7/1924 p.3
Northern Dispatches. 30/6/1924
Source of quotation: “Their name liveth for evermore” Apocrypha Ecclesiasticus 44
Research acknowledgements: NEWMP, Simon Raine & Dave Charlesworth.
The North-East War Memorials Project (NEWMP) aims to cover every War Memorial, of whatever type, located in Northumberland, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and County Durham as defined by the Pre 1974 boundaries.
The aims of the Project – which has been registered formally as a Charity by the Charity Commission - are; to Educate the public; Assist historical research for the public benefit;
Foster patriotism and good citizenship by publishing and maintaining an inventory and catalogue of War Memorials in the North East of England.
These aims will be achieved by recording, documenting and researching these memorials and, by these means, extending the existing archive.
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends". JOHN 15:13.
Additional Rolls of Honour can be found on the Websites:-
www.roll-of-honour.com
www.newmp.org.uk
The Scottish stamp features the Old Stewart tartan, the English version carries a Tudor Rose, the Welsh stamp the Prince of Wales' feathers and Northern Ireland - its unique wickerwork-style china.
Christmas Courier 2008:-
Kitchener WW1 recruiting poster.
The Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and General Sir Bernard Paget, Commander0in-Chief of Home Forces, watch infantry at [unknown location] Barnard Castle, County Durham on December 4, 1942.
Taken by Cpt Horton - War Office official photographer.
The background photo is from the Imperial War Museum collection.
The Passchendaele stamp uses the pattern formed by the black stamens and inner edges of the petals - although based on photographs of real flowers, it dramatically suggests the silhouetted forms of struggling soldiers which were some of the most striking images of the long muddy battle.
Remembrance Generic Sheet (Smilers Stamps) - The Last Post.
A generic sheet consisting of 20 x 1st class poppy stamps will also be available, designed by hat-trick design and printed by Cartor Security Printers.
The labels show images and details of personnel from the front-line with typographic copies of original letters they wrote to their loved ones. The soldiers are:
- Private Harry Brown 2nd King's Royal Rifle Corps
- Second Lieutenant Percy Boswell 8th Battalion the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
- Dorothy Field Voluntary Aid Nurse
- Private William Bowen Stephens Lancashire Fusiliers
The border incorporates extracts from the poem "For the Fallen" by Laurence Binyon.
"As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust, moving in marches upon the heavenly plain, as the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness, to the end, to the end, they remain."
Robert Laurence Binyon (1869-1943), the poet and art critic, was born in Lancaster in 1869 and was educated at St. Paul's school and Trinity College, Oxford. He worked at the British Museum before going to war he won the Newdigate poetry prize in 1890. Whilst on the staff of the British Museum he developed an expertise in Chinese and Japanese art. From 1916 he served as a Red Cross Orderly on the Western Front.
In 1933-1934 he was a professor of poetry at Harvard University in America and in 1940 he was Byron professor of English Literature at the University of Athens. He was created Companion of Honour in 1932 and died in 1943. His many distinctions notwithstanding, Laurence Binyon's main fount of unfading fame is that great and much recited fourth verse.
Aside from his best known poem For The Fallen, published in the Times of September 14, 1914, most notably the fourth stanza which adorns numerous war memorials, Binyon published work on Botticelli and Blake among others. He returned to the British Museum following the war. His Collected Poems was published in 1931.
He lived at Westridge House, Aldworth, Berkshire and his ashes, together with those of his wife, are buried in the churchyard at St Mary's.
For The Fallen
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.
Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.
They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.
But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;
As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.
Royal Mail Marks WWI
The blood red petals of a poppy stand tall on a new 1st Class stamp commemorating the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele. Described as the ‘Battle of Mud’ by the soldiers who endured it few battles are more symbolic of the terrible reality of the First World War.
Barbara Roulston, Head of Royal Mail’s External Relations in Northern Ireland said:
“Passchendaele is remembered as one of the worst battles of the First World War, with the area becoming synonymous with the misery of trench warfare."
“This anniversary is particularly symbolic and poignant of army service in the First World War as every infantry regiment of the army served in the battle over time.”
The stamp, which forms part of a five-stamp miniature sheet on sale from 8 November, is the second in the 'Lest We Forget' series which started in 2006 and concludes in 2008, the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War.
The stamp continues a poppy theme featured on the Battle of the Somme miniature sheet last year that was acclaimed the 2006 Asiago ‘Best stamp of the year’.
The 2007 Passchendaele stamp reveals a detailed image of a corn poppy in bloom, with the silhouetted forms of struggling soldiers emerging from the flower’s centre.
As with all new 1st Class poppy stamps featured in the series, this poignant and powerful image was created by hat-trick design, while the sheet’s background depicts weary soldiers moving along the mud-clogged battlefields as night draws in.
The new stamp sits alongside a block of four country definitives representing the soldiers from around the UK who gave their lives in the battle.
A presentation pack containing the miniature sheet also details the story of the battle and its legacy, written by military historian Peter Caddick-Adams.
BPMA War Memorials Survey Project:
The Post Office today remains the second largest custodian of war memorials in Britain, behind only the Church.
The World Wars of 1914-1918 and 1939-1945 caused massive loss of life in Britain and around the world. Almost everyone in Britain was affected in one way or another, not least the British Post Office.
The Post Office contribution:
The Post Office had an exemplary war record, not only allowing many thousands of its employees to be recruited as soldiers but in carrying on the vital business of post and telecommunications and maintaining other vital services for the war effort.
In Remembrance:
At the end of both the First and Second World Wars, as a reflection of remembrance and gratitude, war memorials were erected all over the country to the memory of those who sacrificed their lives in defending their country and fighting for freedom. As a measure of the heavy involvement by the Post Office in the war, and as a reflection of the number of lives lost amongst postal workers the Post Office today remains the second largest custodian of war memorials in Britain, behind only the Church.
War memorials remain in around 500 of Royal Mail’s buildings and a great number are still visited by relatives of those named on them. Royal Mail Group Limited have, over a number of years, shown great care and respect for their memorials and have signed up to support the government’s publication War Memorials: A Code of Practice for Custodians of War Memorials.
In order to do this however, Royal Mail recognised the need to better record the memorials in its care, to make information on them more accessible to the public that funded them and to maintain an active database to record changes or re-locations of its memorials.
In recognition of this the BPMA have now been commissioned by Royal Mail to undertake a survey of all the memorials on Royal Mail premises and to make the data captured available online. This follows work begun during a pilot project in 2004 and the completion of the project will coincide with an exhibition to mark the 90th anniversary of the end the First World War that will be developed by the BPMA in November 2008.
www.postalheritage.org.uk/wiki
With the passing of Harry Patch to 'The Army on the other side'
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM!
His autobiography, 'The Last Fighting Tommy', was published in 2007. Harry Patch, the last veteran of the First World War trenches, died aged 111, on 25th July, 2009.
'For The Fallen', by Laurence Binyon.
.
'The Memorial Plaque', issued by the King, was given to the Next of Kin of the Fallen.
