Village Roll of Honour

Inscribed on our War Memorials are the names of twenty-six men who were lost during World War One. One was a Naval Officer, one a merchant seaman; all the rest were soldiers. These pages record as much as I have been able to discover about each of them. All have now passed out of living memory, and so their stories here are far from complete. However, factual information has come from several official sources, and local newspapers have provided useful ‘background’.

I am particularly grateful to have been shown photographs and documents which in one or two cases have been passed down within village families. If there are other families who can help in this way I do hope they will get in touch with me – (Tel +44(0)1946 824620).

One soldier’s entry is marked “conjectural”. I have not been able to show positively whether “our” J. Stainton was the James Stainton who enlisted in Kendal, or the Jack Stainton whose service started in the Lancashire Fusiliers . Another three entries are of soldiers not named on our memorials, but whom I know to have had positive links with our village.

The St. Bees School Roll of Honour, published in 1921, lists the one hundred and eighty four Old St. Beghians who did not survive the war. Only those of village origin are also listed here.

Bob Jopling  St. Bees