Casterton residents who fought in World War I

Research by Jean Hamlett

The following is a list of the men of Casterton who fought in WWI and returned. The names of those who sadly didn’t come back are listed on the War memorial beside the church.

As part of the 100 year anniversary of the end of World War One, Jean researched the stories of Casterton men who served during the war and survived. A copy of her research can be found in a ring binder at the back of Holy Trinity Church and a fact sheet for each man can be downloaded from this page. The biographies of some of the men are published below. Many thanks to Jean and to Simon Drakeford for typing up some of the biographies from Jean’s research folder.

ASKEW, John William

born 7 January 1899, Kendal (Killington)

died 13 January 1982, Bradford

See fact sheet

John William Askew was the youngest child of six (he had one brother and four sisters) of William and Mary Askew of Cragg House, High Casterton. The Askew family farmed at Cragg House for about 60 years: first William (John’s father), then Anthony (William’s brother) and lastly Edward, Anthony’s son. The family finally left in 1966. John’s brother Robert was not thought to have fought in the war due to health problems. Their four sisters were Agnes, Alice, Jane and Mary.

John William enlisted as a private on 21 December 1916 and was sent to a Training Reserve Battalion prior to serving in the East Lancashire Regiment and later the King’s Liverpool Regiment. On demob he was transferred to the 757 A. Emp. Coy Labour Corps on 23 February 1919. He apparently caught the ‘flu (presumably Spanish ‘Flu) which he passed on to his brother Robert (b.1889), from which Robert died in 1919. On his death their father William left the farm and his brother Anthony took it over. William set John up with a business in Bradford, Yorkshire, and from then on he was known as “John from Bradford” by his Lunesdale relations. He ran a taxi service, had a milk round and later a newsagent’s. John William was married to Jenny and they had two children: Robert and Joan.

BARROW, George

born 1891, Lupton, Westmorland

died 7 March 1959

See fact sheet

photo courtesy of Barrow family

George was one of a large family: eleven sons and four daughters. He was born in Lupton in 1891, and when he was four years old he went to the nearby National School, as did his brothers and sisters. His father, Isaac, was a farmer, who married Mary Bonson in 1878. In 1901 George was still living with his family at Thompson Fold, Lupton, Westmorland, but by 1911, aged 20, he was working for Mr Greenbank at Bellgate Farm in Casterton.

From the photograph (sadly not very clear), since George has bandoliers and a lanyard on his shoulder he was very possibly in the Royal Artillery, but we should be most grateful for any further information.

After the war he married the farmer’s daughter, Margaret Jane (“Maggie”) in the March quarter of 1920 and they had one child, Annie May, in 1926. By that time George was working at Lane Head Farm, Gt. Eccleston. Later they moved to Springfield Cottage (also Gt. Eccleston) but eventually returned to Casterton to live in Norwood Cottage in the 1950s.

George died on 7 March, 1959, aged 67, and Maggie on 29 March, 1975, aged 81, and they were both buried in the churchyard at Casterton.

BRIGGS, Edward Oliver (‘Eddie’)

born 9 February 1901, Kirkby Lonsdale

died June 1964, Lancaster

See fact sheet

Edward (known as Eddie) was the elder of two sons of Joseph Edward and Lucy Ada Briggs nee Swann. His younger brother was Robert Alfred, and he also had two sisters, Annie Constance Irene and Alice Beatrice.

Edward was a gardener, like his father before him. In both 1901 and 1911 the census shows that family was living at The Terrace, Casterton.

During World War One Edward was in the Royal Navy and became a Stoker (later Stoker, 1st class when he signed on after the war). For the first six months he was on HMS Powerful, a training ship, and then in May 1917 he joined HMS Valiant.

After the war, Edward extended his Naval Service until 1929, when he was invalided out due to an astigmatism and went back to gardening. In due course he became Head Gardener at the Moor Hospital, Lancaster.

In 1931, he married May Briggs [sic] and they had one daughter, Margaret. Edward died in Lancaster in 1964 age 63.

BURTON, Sir Geoffrey Duke

born 2 February 1893, Casterton

died 2 July 1954, Sevenoaks, Kent

See fact sheet

picture by Walter Stoneman
© National Portrait Gallery, London

Geoffrey Burton was the youngest son of Rev. Arthur Daniel Burton, who was Vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Casterton for many years. At his baptism on Easter Day, 1893 (2 February) he was also given his mother’s maiden name, Duke. He went to Queen’s College, Cambridge.

Geoffrey was posted to Gallipoli in September 1915 as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers, and later became a Captain. He also served in Egypt and Palestine. In 1926 he married Viola Donne at Marylebone and they had two children, a boy and a girl.

Among other appointments he was Managing Director of the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) for 10 years, 1934 to 1944. Meantime in 1940 he was appointed Director-General, Mechanical Equipment, Ministry of Supply, and in 1942 he was knighted in the Birthday Honours. At some point he joined the Pittsburgh company Blaw Knox, and in 1952 he became Chairman of the UK Company.

Geoffrey died at Sevenoaks, Kent, in 1954.

CLARKE, Charles Edward

born 25 February 1901, Casterton

died 1958, Honiton, Devon

See fact sheet

Charles Edward (“Charlie”) Clarke was born in Casterton on 25 February 1901, the youngest of three children. His father, Robert Alfred Clarke, was a solicitor and worked for Pearson and Pearson in Kirkby Lonsdale. The Clarke family lived at Norwood –in fact the family had been living there since at least 1851.

Charles went to Queen Elizabeth School in Kirkby Lonsdale, and on leaving school at 15 or 16 he went to work for Marconi. In 1917 his elder brother Henry Cecil, who was serving with the Northumberland Fusiliers at the time, was killed, and sadly later that same year their father also died. Their widowed mother, Mary Agnes, later left Casterton and went to live in Barbon, at Heart o’ th’ Town.

In 1918, at the age of 17, Charles joined the Merchant Navy as a Senior Wireless Operator, and on July 23rd 1918, when he embarked on the S.S. Australplain in Liverpool, sailing to Australia via South Africa, he started writing a diary. The ship arrived in Fremantle on 5th November 1918, so he was there on Armistice Day and describes the joy and excitement of everybody there. They arrived back in Liverpool on 24 January 1919. Charles stayed at sea until about 1929/1930, when he married Elizabeth Reynolds, and at about the same time joined Imperial Airways as an Aircraft Radio Operator. They had one daughter.

COLLINSON, Cecil

born 2 March 1902, Casterton

See fact sheet

HMS Cardiff

Cecil was born on 2 March 1902 in Casterton, one of a large family. His parents were John (a blacksmith and farmer) and Agnes Collinson.

When Cecil was 15 or 16 he, like his elder brother Hector, joined the Royal Navy, and was in training until July 1919, when he joined HMS Cardiff. He was still only about 17. Until then he was training with HMS Impregnable (renamed HMS Powerful).

Cecil will no doubt have been told the story of the Cardiff and its moment of glory on 18 November 1918 when it had led the surrendered German fleet into the Firth of Forth, escorted on both flanks by ships of the British, American and French navies. This remarkable scene was depicted in a painting by Charles Dixon: HMS Cardiff leading the surrendered fleet, 18 November 1918.

After the war, in March 1920, Cecil signed on for 12 years, and a few months later “passed educationally for Petty Officer” and was promoted to Able Seaman.

However it appears that by August 1925 he had had enough of naval life, and he jumped ship when “Capetown” was in dock at Prince Rupert in Canada, and stayed there.

A more detailed report about the part played by HMS Cardiff In the surrender of the German fleet is on the National Maritime Museum website.

COLLINSON, Hector

born 8 January 1900, Kirkby Lonsdale

died 8 December 1981, Fleetwood, Lancashire

See fact sheet

HMS Barham at anchor in Scapa Flow, 1917

Hector was one of a large family who lived at Town End Farm (now Town End Garage). Their parents were John and Agnes Collinson. John (their father), evidently wrote wonderful poetry, often to be sung to the tunes of well-known songs, and his services were called upon by such as Rigmaden, Underley and Biggins for their estate dinners. Hector himself was a gardener. He enlisted in the Royal Navy on 15 August 1916 and trained on HMS Powerful before serving on HMS Victory and later HMS Barham and later still HMS Warsprite.

After the war he married Agnes Blacklaw in Edinburgh and they had two children, but sadly the marriage didn’t last very long and the pair divorced. Some time later Hector married Mary Ann Findley and they moved to Thornton Cleveleys, where Hector continued working as a gardener, looking after a doctor’s garden and doing small gardening jobs for other people. He had another daughter with Mary. Hector died in 1981 aged 81.

COLLINSON, Victor

born 1897, Casterton

died 1985, Carlisle

See fact sheet

in the above photograph, Victor is in front on the right seated on the ground

Victor was one of a large family living at Town End Farm (now Town End Garage). He had four brothers and seven sisters. His parents were John and Agnes Collinson, nee Askew. John was a Blacksmith and a local celebrity as a poet and singer of traditional folk songs.

Victor became a private in the 2/4 Battalion Border Regiment, and the photograph above is of him in Poona, India, with other men from the Kirkby Lonsdale area.

Evidently, many Border Regiment soldiers passed through Poona, especially 2/4 Battalion during World War One, who were part of the 6th (Poona) Division after they relieved the 1st Battalion who had been based in Maymyo, Burma, from 1910.

The young Victor was a Postman in Kirkby Lonsdale, and after the war (in 1920) he was appointed Sorting Clerk and Telegraphist in Carlisle.

Victor married Gladys Preston in 1923, and they had three sons. Tragically they lost the two older boys on 30 June 1940 when they got into difficulties and drowned in a deep creek of the Solway Sands.[1]

In 1947 Victor was appointed Post and Telegraph Officer in Carlisle.

He died in 1985 in Carlisle.

[1] With many thanks to Simon Drakeford for finding a piece in the Sunderland Echo and Shipping Gazette of 1 July 1940 which has enabled me to correct the story of exactly how the two boys drowned.

DEAN, Francis Wilfred

born 1881, Kirkby Lonsdale

died 20 April 1957, Seascale, Cumberland

See fact sheet

Frank and his wife Alice (nee Loder) on the occasion of their wedding

Frank (also known as “Pat”) was one of the five children of James Armistead and Elizabeth Dean. His father, James, was variously a shoe nail factor, sewing machine agent and market gardener. Three of Frank’s brothers were watchmakers, but he himself became a “rural postman” and later postmaster.

He married Alice Loder in 1913 at Kirkby Lonsdale Methodist Church, and they had one daughter, Winifred Alice.

On 6 December 1915 Frank enlisted as a private in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, but was invalided out in 1917 and spent some time in hospital in Wales.

In 1919 he was given the position of Postmaster in Seascale, but he always suffered with his legs from the wounds he received and he made himself a special high stool to use behind the counter in the Post Office, so that he could appear to be standing when serving customers.

Frank was an active member of both Seascale Parish Council (which he chaired for 20 years) and Millom Rural District Council. He was also chair of the local school governors and a prominent member of the congregation of the Seascale Wesleyan Church. He served in the Home Guard in WW2.

Frank died in Seascale in 1957 aged 75.

DENNISON, William

born 22 January 1886, Kirkby Lonsdale

died 1981

See fact sheet

William Dennison was born in Kirkby Lonsdale on 22 January 1886, the third son of William and Jane Dennison. He married Esther Ann Clark (b.1883) on 7 August 1911 and they had two children: William (1913) and Albert (1921), both born in Casterton.

William enlisted as a Private in the Border Regiment (Service no. 202690) on 22 November 1915. He was wounded by shrapnel in the chest and abdomen on 18 September 1918 and given an honourable discharge on 7 December 1918.

A bullet which lodged near his spine could not be removed, and as a result he suffered pain and some disability for the rest of his life.

(A younger brother, George Henry, (b.1890) was killed in March 1918 and is commemorated on Kirkby Lonsdale war memorial.)

William and Esther lived for many years at Elm Tree Cottage, Casterton. They kept goats (for milk) next to the railway, just above the bridge, beyond the cottage – and Polish bantams for eggs. They grew a lot of fruit and vegetables; Esther made butter, baked bread, cakes etc., and they competed in local produce and horticultural shows. According to a grandson “It was really serious stuff!”

William was a house painter, but was also groundsman for Kirkby Lonsdale Cricket Club for a time, and he and Esther were caretakers for the village hall for many years. He was a member of Kirkby Lonsdale Brass Band.

HAYTON, Arnold

born 1897, Casterton

died 3 July 1957, Royal Hospital, Salford

See fact sheet

The Hayton family with Arnold in the back row on the right

Arnold was born in 1897 to parents James (1868) and wife Elizabeth (1865) of Hole House Farm, Casterton. The 1911 Census tells us that Arnold (aged 13) was employed as a farm servant by John Willan at High Beckfoot, Barbon.

He enlisted as a private in the Border Regiment in November 1914 in Kendal, and served in France, attaining the British War Medal, the Victory and the 15 Star.

After the war he returned to the family farm. His nephew Henry says “He never married, but was very much a ladies’ man”.

In 1938 the family moved to Barwick Hall, Middleton. In January 1946 Arnold’s father died, and the farm was sold the following year. At the farm sale there was a big family disagreement and on the very same day Arnold left the family and never returned. It is thought he moved in with Mabel, a married sister living in Rivington. He was employed at a mill in Chorley, where he was partially disabled due to an accident at work, and was unable to work again.

Arnold died in July 1957 at the Royal Hospital, Salford. He was living in Horwich at the time.

HUTTON, Walter Scott

born 1894, Kirkby Lonsdale

died 11 January 1937, Casterton Hotel, Casterton

See fact sheet

Walter was born in Kirkby Lonsdale c.1894 to parents Frederick and Annie. He was evidently so named as his mother Annie (nee Scott) claimed to be a direct descendant of Sir Walter Scott. Walter was the eldest of their three children – his younger sister and brother were Amy and Edgar. His parents were the innkeepers of the Sun Inn in Kirkby Lonsdale.

The 1911 Census Summary Books tell us that his parents and Amy and Edgar (now 13 and 10 respectively) had moved to the George and Dragon, Casterton (later The Casterton Hotel, and later still – The Pheasant), but Walter was not with them at the time.

His brother Edgar later became the innkeeper.

Walter was a Corporal in the Border Regiment, and served in Maymyo, Burma (Myanmar).

In 1923 he married Marion Simms, and they lived at Kiln Bank, Whittington. They had no children. It is thought that he was a gamekeeper on one of the big estates.

Sadly one day in 1937 Walter (aged 41) was found dead from gunshot wounds after going rabbiting. The Northern Daily Mail (Friday January 15, 1937) said that “An open verdict was returned at a Kirkby Lonsdale inquest yesterday on Walter Scott Hutton (41), Kiln Bank, Whittington…”

JOEL, Reginald

born 1895, Trimdon, Durham

died 16 December 1936, Casterton

See fact sheet

photo courtesy of Joel family

Reginald was one of the four children of William and Annie Joel, and was born in Trimdon, Durham. He became a gardener, and when WW1 started he was living and working in Ravenstonedale. He joined the Border Regiment and later transferred to the Rifle Brigade.

Reginald did not live in Casterton until well after WW1, but he lived at Fell View for several years as Head Gardener at the Lowood School in the early 1930s, until his war service caught up with him and his health sadly deteriorated. His wife Ivy Isabella (nee Lee) nursed him at home apart from some time with chest trouble in the Meathop Sanatorium near Arnside. He died at Fell View in 1936 aged only 41, leaving Ivy to bring up their three young children (Marjorie, Dorothy and Margaret) on her own. Unfortunately the house they lived in was a tied cottage so they had to leave. She had no help from her own family, so it was a struggle for her to manage alone, but Ivy was a tough and determined woman. She went back to her native North Shields to find work.

Reginald is on the Roll of Honour in St. Oswald’s Church, Ravenstonedale, but is buried in Casterton churchyard.

MAKINSON, Evan

born 1898, Whittington, Lancashire

died 6 December 1964, Keswick

See fact sheet

Evan was the youngest son of William and Agnes Makinson. He went to Kendal Grammar School and prior to going into the army became a bank clerk at the London City and Midland Bank in Liverpool. In October 1916 he enlisted as a private in the 65th Training Reserve Battalion, was later posted to the 234th Infantry Battalion and then the 52nd Graduated Battalion, Welsh Regiment, and went to France with the British Expeditionary Force on 21 January 1918. He was wounded by a gas shell in November that year, invalided to England on the Gloucester Castle, a hospital ship, and was hospitalised in Aberdeen.

Evan married twice: first Caroline Margaret Dobson (“Peggy”), who sadly died young. They had two children: twins, a girl and a boy. Some years later Evan married again: Lilah, an Irish lady known as “Aunty Mac”, who evidently had a wonderful Irish sense of humour. Evan became a bank manager in Keswick. He loved playing golf, but sadly died on the golf course at Penrith at the age of 66 soon after he had retired.

MAKINSON, James Harold

born 1896, Skelsmergh, nr. Kendal

died 12 November 1950, near Johannesburg, South Africa

See fact sheet

Harold was born in Skelsmergh, near Kendal, and was one of three sons of William and Agnes Makinson of Old Manor, Casterton, who fought in WWI. There were also three older brothers, William, John and Richard, and two sisters, Esther and Alice. Their father William was a farmer.

James Harold was always known as Harold. He was very musical and could play the piano almost before he could walk. In the days of silent films he used to play the piano or organ accompaniment. He went to Lancaster Grammar School. During WWI he was a private in the King’s Liverpool and later the Royal Defence Corps, but in the latter part of the war he suffered from hyperthyroidism and was discharged in July 1919. In later days he taught music at Haileybury and Imperial Service College. He didn’t marry. In 1950 he travelled to Rhodesia to visit his sister Alice, but died on the way home on the train and his body was never brought home. He is commemorated in Middleton churchyard together with his parents, William and Agnes Makinson.

MAKINSON, Leonard Henry

born c. 1894, Skelsmergh, nr. Kendal

died 1861, Wigan, Lancashire

See fact sheet

Leonard (“Len”) was the fourth son of William and Agnes Makinson of Old Manor, Casterton. As well as Harold and Evan, who also fought in WWI, there were three older brothers, William, John and Richard, who were needed on the farm, and two sisters, Esther and Alice. Their father William was a farmer who was born in Ellel, Lancashire but married a lass from up the valley and by 1911 the family was living in Casterton. Len was a boarder at Kendal Grammar School and became an auctioneer and valuer in Liverpool.

He volunteered with the King’s Liverpool as a private and was later transferred to the Border Regiment, where he was a signaller. He was wounded in France on May 8th 1917 aged 23, shrapnel having entered the left shoulder, and penetrated the chest. He was given an honourable discharge on 10 July 1917.

Len married Gladys Hudson in West Derby in 1926, but they had no children.

MASON, Thomas

born 1897, Casterton

died 13 November 1954, Lancaster

See fact sheet

photo courtesy of Mason family

Thomas was born on 18 October 1897, the only son of Thomas (a cattleman) and Elizabeth Mason who lived at The Terrace. He had two sisters, Alice and Martha Jane, and also two stepsisters, Mary E. and Clara Ellershaw, who were living at Old Hall in 1883. All the children attended the village school.

During the war we understand that Thomas was in the Tank Corps. This would have been in the latter part of the war as it was only formed in 1916. Before that he may perhaps have been a driver in the Army Service Corps, as experienced drivers were needed in the Tank Corps. and these were recruited from the A.S.C.

Tanks were used in battle for the first time at the Battle of Fiers-Courcelette (partof the Battle of the Somme) on 15 September 1916. Many broke down, but nearlya third succeeded in breaking through. A few days later, at a War Office Conference, on Douglas Haig’s recommendation it was agreed to order 1000 more tanks.

In 1919 Thomas married Hilda May Willan in Whittington, where she and her sister Rose Ellen had been living with their Uncle Edward (landlord of the Dragon’s Head) and their Aunt Amelia. Thomas and Hilda moved to Bradford in about 1921.

They had seven children, most of whom were born in Bradford. Sadly one (Alan) died in infancy.

Sometime before 1939 Thomas and Hilda May moved to Morecambe, where he worked as a chauffeur/gardener. He died in November 1954, Lancaster aged 57.

POWLEY, William

born 12 February 1882, Levens, Westmorland

died 29 December 1931, Kings College Hospital, Denmark Hill, Surrey

See fact sheet

William Powley was born on 12 February 1882 in Levens. His father (also William) was a farmer and his mother Mary (nee Woof(f)) a laundress. He had two siblings: a sister, Maggie and a brother, James (both born in Casterton).

In 1891 he was living at Beckside, Casterton with his family, and attended the village school, but in 1901 although his widowed mother and brother James were still in Casterton, William was working as “Boots” at the Royal Hotel, Windermere. The hotel life must have suited him, as by 1911 he was one of the two assistant managers at the Hotel Metropole, Brighton. He was married by that time, to Kate Williams of Salisbury, and they had a small baby with a big name: Hector Wilhelm Maxwell. At the time of the Census Kate and Hector were staying with her parents in Salisbury.

In 1916 it appears that William was a 2nd Lieutenant with the Expeditionary Force Canteens. He was later a Gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery.

Sometime after the war William became the Manager of the Charing Cross Hotel in London. Sadly, however, he died of heart failure in December 1931 when he was 49 (still at the Charing Cross Hotel).

SPENCE (OR SPENCER), H

See fact sheet

This gentleman is most elusive. He did not appear to live in Casterton in 1881, 1891, 1901 or 1911, and there were no Spencers mentioned even in the 1911 Census Summary Book.

Our best guess (but very wild!) is a 2nd Lieutenant Henry Norman Spence who was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, but by 1915 he was living at an address in Hampstead. He was a Corporal (Motor Cyclists’ Section) in the Royal Engineers for a few months, but in 1916 he was posted to the Border Regiment as a 2nd Lieutenant, and went to France on 13 July 1916. There was a mention of an H.N. Spence in the Westmorland Gazette of 2 December 1916, when he was reported missing. It was later found that he had been taken prisoner.

Perhaps at some point during the war he became friendly with a Casterton man who was in the Border Regiment, and who may after the war have brought him home to Casterton. He was “repatriated” to Britain in December 1918, but was not in fact repatriated to his own country of New Zealand until December 1919. If by any chance he was living here until then maybe the village “adopted” him!

STACKHOUSE, Captain John Hall

born 3 May 1889, Giggleswick, Yorkshire

died 30 January 1939, Harrogate

See fact sheet

photo courtesy of Stackhouse family

John was the younger son of the late William Anthony and Marianne Frances Stackhouse of Ingfield Hall, Settle, later of The Grange, Casterton.

He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Sherwood Foresters, and was promoted to Lieutenant in 1916 when he was wounded in France. On his recovery he was posted (as Captain) to the Army Service Corps, resigning his commission in 1920. He then joined his mother (by then widowed) at Casterton Grange for a couple of years, before marrying Doreen Constance Thompson in 1923 and going to live in Harrogate.

His brother William was sadly killed in 1915 at Neuve-Chapelle (commemorated at Le Touret Memorial in France), so the family estate passed to John. Much of his time, therefore, would have been spent overseeing its management.

As well as having been wounded John was partially gassed, which weakened his lungs, and this contributed to his dying of pneumonia in 1939 at the age of 49. Apparently, that same year, papers were delivered to his house requiring his services in some capacity regarding WW2, the sender not realising he had died.

His sister Muriel bought Abbot’s Brow in Kirkby Lonsdale and lived there until her death in 1953.

STIDSTON-BROADBENT, Captain Reginald Conway (aka Broadbent, aka Stidston)

born 3 November 1886, Brockley, London

died 1971, Newlands, South Africa

See fact sheet

Reginald‘s father, Conway Stidston, was a draper from Devon. In the late 19th century the family moved up to Southport, and by 1891 Conway had taken over a drapers shop trading as Broadbents. In 1894 he officially changed the family surname by deed poll from Stidston to Stidston-Broadbent.

Reginald’s youngest brother, Wilfred, a Lieutenant in the Machine Gun Corps, was sadly killed by a shell in action in 1917. He is commemorated on the war memorial in Lymm, although by then his parents lived in Old Hall, Casterton.

Reginald (“Reggie”; later “Rex”) did not follow his father into the business, but went to Australia in 1903 and then to South Africa, where he became a planter, and later a hydrologist and hotel proprietor! During WW1 he served in the South African Army (Army Service Corps) as a Lieutenant and then a Captain, and was “mentioned in despatches”.

He made a brief visit to this country in 1919, when both his parents died (both in the September quarter). He sailed from Port Natal (Durban) to Southampton, arriving on 10 June, and on 21 November returned to Africa, this time to Chinde (Mozambique). I believe he travelled on to Fort Johnston, Nyasaland (now Malawi) where he must have settled, as this is where he married Elsie Walker (from Ilkley) in 1928 although the marriage was short lived, and he and Elsie divorced after only two years.

Reginald also served in WW2. He died in Newlands, South Africa in 1971.

[Researcher’s note: Members of this family sometimes called themselves Stidston, sometimes Broadbent and sometimes Stidston-Broadbent]

TAYLFORTH, Edwin

born 30 September 1896, Burnley, Lancashire

died 30 June 1948, Ulverston, Furness

See fact sheet

photo courtesy of Taylforth family

Edwin Taylforth at the wedding of his daughter Marian (“Peggy”), 1947.

Edwin (b.1896) was the eldest of three sons of Thomas and Marian Taylforth (nee Gould). He had two younger brothers: Thomas (b.1902) and Robert William (b. 1910), and a sister Elizabeth Jane (b.1899). His father was a farm bailiff, and the family moved from time to time to different farms. Edwin was born in Burnley, Lancashire, but by 1911 the family had moved into the neighbouring county of Cheshire. He followed in his father’s footsteps and by 1917 he was living and working at Fell Gate Farm, High Casterton. He probably met his future wife Evelyn Cross (b.1899) in Casterton. They married on 10 May 1917, but only about a month later he was called up, joined the Royal Garrison Artillery (140th Siege Battery) as a gunner and went to France.

Edwin took a black hard-backed exercise book to war with him in which he wrote and copied many poems. This notebook is now a treasured family possession.

After he was demobbed in 1919 he worked for Lancashire County Council, chipping roads, painting white lines etc. He led a quiet life, but still kept a few cows “to keep his hand in”, and continued to enjoy his poetry. He and his wife Evelyn lived in Coniston and had a large family.

TAYLOR, James Edward

born 1877 Kendal

died 25 June 1961, St. Luke’s Hospital, Huddersfield

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photo courtesy of Taylor family

James was born in 1877 in Kendal, the son of another James Taylor (a joiner) and his wife Jane (nee Lancaster). He had four sisters: Eleanor (“Nellie”), Jane (“Jinnie”), Mary and Fanny.

James worked for a plumbing firm in Kendal and used a bicycle to get to work, and it was while he was working at “Barbon Towers”, near Casterton that he met his future wife Annie Louisa Stainthorpe, who was a servant there. They married in 1909 and in 1911 they were living at Clergy Cottages, Casterton (behind the Vicarage). After a year or so they moved to Yew Tree. They had no children of their own, but by family arrangement adopted Annie’s brother’s daughter Alice as a baby in 1915, and brought her up as their own.

It looks likely that James did not enlist until 1916, when conscription came into force for married men. He was nearly 40 on enlistment and was sent to Ireland.

Several years after the war (c.1922) the family moved to Kendal, and at some point James began to work for the Post Office. He became sub-postmaster in the newsagent’s shop which he and Annie ran in Windermere Road, Kendal all through WW2. He evidently had a bad knee, and walked with a stick.

In 1956 Annie had a brain haemorrhage and she and James went to live with Alice and her husband William Backhouse in Huddersfield. He died in 1961 aged 83.

WILSON, Alfred James

born 16 May 1899, Barbon

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James was born in Barbon on 16 May 1899. His father Alfred was a gardener who married Eliza (nee Guest) in 1891 in Lancaster. They had two other children: William Edward (1891) and Mabel (1896). In 1901 they were living at Ash Meadow Cottage, Barbon (1903 at Brookside), and all three children went to Barbon National School.

From the school records it looks as though they all left in 1905, and that may be when the family moved to Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, where they were living in 1911. When sadly James’s elder brother William died of wounds in 1917 his parents had returned to this area and were living at Bonefield Bank (now the White House), Casterton.

William is commemorated at Hibers Trench Cemetery, Wancourt, France, and also on Casterton War Memorial.

We understand that James fought in WW1 but as yet have not been able to track down the details (there were many Alfred James Wilsons and/or James Wilsons). Any help with this and/or more about what James did after the war would be most welcome. The 1939 Register shows that he became a “Boilersmith, locomotive”. He married Mary Tolan in 1923 in Gateshead, and they had two sons: another James (1925) and Kevin (1930).

WILSON, Frank

born 28 September 1894, Casterton

died 1959, Manchester

See fact sheet

Frank was the youngest of the four sons of Thomas Airey and Maria Wilson of Fern Cottage, Casterton. When Frank enlisted in 1915 it appears that he was serving as a Territorial with the London Regiment; however he was soon commissioned into the 11th Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment as a 2nd Lieutenant.

He was transferred after a few months into the Machine Gun Corps (nicknamed ‘the Suicide Club’, owing to its high casualty rate); was posted to France on 27 June 1916 and was serving with them when he received an accidental gunshot wound (as follows):

Westmorland Gazette, 7 October 1916: “Frank, youngest son of Mr. T.A. Wilson of Fern Cottage, Casterton“, was “accidentally wounded by a revolver shot in the leg” on 22 September 1916, from which he was “making good progress towards recovery“.

After the war Frank married Mary Wilson Ross on 4 March 1922 in Glasgow. He was a civil servant working in Glasgow at the time. They subsequently moved to Manchester in late 1927 or 1928. He died in Manchester in 1959. Mary died in Scotland in 1960.

WILSON, John Tatham

born 2 January 1890, Casterton

died 2 January 1988

See fact sheet

photo courtesy of John Beasley

John (known as “Jack”) was the third son of Thomas Airey and Maria Wilson (nee Tatham) of Fern Cottage, Casterton. His father was a gardener and farmer. As well as three brothers he had five sisters: Elizabeth Ann, Agnes, Charlotte, Emily and Ellen.

By 1911 he had left Casterton and was working as a grocer’s assistant in Birmingham.

On 2 February 1912 he emigrated to Australia and lived in Denial Bay, South Australia where he was living when WWI began. Denial Bay is a small fishing and tourist village that lies on the bay of the same name, roughly 800 km from Adelaide.

Jack came back to the UK to fight for his country, and joined the Royal Garrison Artillery as a gunner. He later became a sapper in the Royal Engineers.

At the end of the war, after a spell with his family at Fern Cottage, he was repatriated to Australia, and sailed from Plymouth to Adelaide on SS Rugia on 18 July 1919.

Jack married Winifred Emma Parsons (“Winnie”) in 1921 at Denial Bay, and they hadone son, Rex Tatham, in 1923. They had a farm in Ceduna, which is also on Denial Bay. Jack named his farm “Lonsdale” and had sheep and grew wheat. He sold the farm in about 1951 and retired to Adelaide. Their son Rex never married, and died a bachelor in 2008.

WILSON, James O.B.E.

born 18 June 1885, Casterton

died 1975, St. Austell, Cornwall

See fact sheet

The three Wilson brothers, left to right: John Tatham, Frank and James

Jim, one of the four sons in the Wilson family of Fern Cottage, is not thought to have fought in WW1. He attested voluntarily to enlist under the Derby Scheme in 1915, but was not called up at the time. A numbered khaki armband with a red felt crown stitched on to it was worn by all those who had attested to enlist but had not yet been called up. The armband was intended to protect the wearer from the general abuse which was often directed at men not in uniform. It is highly likely that it was because of the position Jim held in the Cornwall Council that he was not called up to serve.

In 1914 he had been appointed County Land Agent for Cornwall, a position he held until 1950, and in 1938 was further appointed Executive Officer on the Counties War Agricultural Committee (later Chief Executive Officer). In 1943 he was awarded the O.B.E. for his work in turning a lot of the moorlands in Cornwall back into areas suitable for growing potatoes, and a lot more producing fresh food on all the County Council’s smallholdings, of which there were many.

Jim married Mary Walker in 1913 and they had two daughters.