Autumn leaves - and Barmby fallen

Autumn has arrived with a vengeance. Last night the wind howled, the house shook and the power went off. This morning the ground is carpeted with leaves and twigs and the plastic garden chairs have been retrieved from very near the greenhouse. One very large ash branch has fallen but luckily has done no damage.

I have restarted my local history classes this week in Howden and Goole. We are going to look at some of the names on the various local war memorials as we get nearer to November 11th -  one hundred years since the First World War ended.

One family - about whom I have written a longer piece in the forthcoming edition of the Howdenshire Magazine - is the Middleton family who lived at Howdendyke. There were six sons - four served. One - Thomas William - was discharged wounded and three were killed.

The Howden war memorial in St Helen's Square, unveiled in June 1920

I have been looking too at the names on the Barmby on the Marsh memorial. This memorial was originally in St Helen's church but since the closure of the church it now been relocated into the chapel.

It lists both  the men who served and those who were killed. I have been trying to research these names but would be grateful for any further information or pictures. I shall eventually put it on my website as part of a Barmby Marsh history page.


John Lancelot Arminson

George Boyce

William Bramley

Jesse Bramley

Tom Bramley

Richard Collins (killed in action) As yet I have not found anything about him

Fred Cook

Harold Cook

Harry Cook

Stanley Coop (killed in action)

Private 10/501, 10th (Service) Battalion (Hull Commercials), East Yorkshire Regiment, died of wounds 2nd July 1916, aged 21. His mother was Edith Coop

His name also appears on the Crowle memorial

Born in 1895 at Clapham Common, London, Stanley was the youngest son and one of four children of Isaac and Edith Coop (nee Sanderson).  His father was an accountant from Dewsbury.  Sometime in the early 1890s he opened up a London office and the family were living there when Stanley was born.

In 1902 the parents separated with Edith and the children moving to Yorkshire to live with her aunt at Barmby. Isaac was ordered to pay £1 a week maintenance but rarely did so but ‘had plenty of money for drinking’. He was summoned before the magistrates at Howden twice for non-payment, the second time in 1909 gaining him two months in prison.

Stanley was seriously wounded on 4th June 1916, suffering gunshot and shrapnel wounds to his back, left leg, and left knee joint. Taken initially to the 93rd Field Ambulance, he was evacuated the same day to No 23 Casualty Clearing Station and from here to No 10 General Hospital, Rouen. His family were notified by telegram that he was in a serious condition and that they were encouraged to visit. Unable to afford the fare to France, the Army issued them with a travelling permit.

Stanley died of his wounds in 10 General Hospital, Rouen on 2nd July 1916. He is buried in St Sever Cemetery, Rouen.

Albert Conway

Willie Corney

James Douglas

Alfred Eastwood .

Willie Fox

Robert Lloyd Falkingham

Willie Hutton

James Herbert Holland

Thomas Edward Holland

William Johnson

Thomas George Jackson

Wilfred Joy

Frank Joy

David Joy (killed in action)

David was  the son of Jesse Joy who was headmaster of  the school at Barmby and brother of Wilfred who was also later headmaster. David married Minnie Everatt in 1905 and they had two daughters Enid and Jessie. Before the war  they lived at Sand Hutton where David was head master of the village school. He was aged 35 when he was killed.

George Johnson

Alfred Leighton

Charles Leighton

Ernest Leighton

Arthur Leighton

Harold Leighton

Arthur Lowery

Christopher Lowery

Arthur Lofthouse

William Lofthouse

Clifford Plaster (killed in action)

Sidney Clifford Plaster also appears also on the Asselby section of the Howden war memorial. His father was a joiner  and Clifford was a gardener before he enlisted at Grantham on August 26th 1914. He was in the 9th battalion of the Prince of Wales Own West Yorkshire Regiment.   He was killed in  the Gallipoli landing on 7th August 1915 aged 18

Leonard Pridmore

Malvrin Pridmore

George Parkinson (killed in action)

George William Parkinson was  born at South Duffield 1884. In 1911 he was a farmer in Barmby  and listed with  his mother and brother and sisters.

He enlisted at  Howden, originally in  the East Yorkshires but later served with the  22nd battalion Northumberland Fusiliers  [Tyneside  Scottish]. He was killed  on 9th April 1917

Craven Parkinson

Cecil Pygas

George Clifford Sugden .

James Edward Spetch (killed in action)

He was a joiner. His parents ran the Langrick Ferry. He was aged 26 when he was killed.
It is sad to read that when after his death his property was returned to  his father Joseph at Langrick  it consisted simply of 2 razor strops.

This Mrs Rebecca Spetch, nee Sails, the mother of James Spetch. She regularly rowed to Selby to take goods to market.

John Shaw

William Tomlinson

Lazenby Tomlinson

Eric Vincent Talbot

Charles William Widdowson

John Henry Wilson

George Wilson