JOHN CYRIL HINDSON
Recently, Canon Alan Fell received from a friend, who had made a
house clearance in Stockport, a beautifully preserved Bible still in
its box, not quite so well-preserved. The Bible is covered in maroon
leather and has a fine gold leaf illustration surrounding the
inscription ‘The God of Peace be with you A.D. 1919. PAX’
On the inside is a bookplate which reads as follows:
In Memory of
John Cyril Hindson
Bombardier R.F.A.
Died Nov 30th 1918
This Bible was presented to his family, on the
occasion of the Signing of
Peace. June 28th. 1919.
by voluntary contributions
among his fellow-townsfolk
of Sedbergh
‘Their name liveth for evermore’
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission casualty details describe
John Cyril Hindson as the son of Mrs Frances Jane Hindson of Long
Lane, Sedbergh and a gunner with the Royal Field Artillery who died
on 30th November 1918. He is buried in Sedbergh Cemetery and has a
CWGC headstone. His medal card has the bare details that he was
entitled to a Victory and the British War Medals but does not
indicate the theatre of war in which he served. His photograph
appears in Craven’s Part in the Great War. His death certificate
shows that he was aged 20 and that he died in the ‘Military Hospital
Scotton RD’. Scotton is now included in Catterick Garrison. The
cause of death is given as ‘Influenza and Bronco Pneumonia’, so he
was a victim of the terrible influenza epidemic of 1918. The death
certificate states that his profession was ‘Gunner RFA Doctors
servant’.
He was baptised in St Andrew’s Church on 1st September 1898. In the
1901 Census, he was listed as aged two years; he and his mother were
living with her grandparents, John and Mary Ann Hindson, in Weavers
Yard. His grandfather, John Davidson Hindson (who was also living in
Weavers Yard), and his great grandfather were both wood sawyers and
his mother a ‘charwoman domestic’. The family originated in Old
Hutton. According to the 1881 census, John Hindson, sawyer and his
wife, Mary Ann, both aged 57, were living at Bridge End, Old Hutton
with John Hindson their son, a sawyer, aged 35 and Frances J Hindson,
their granddaughter, aged 9. This research was done by Shirley Tebay,
and Diane Elphick, both members of Sedbergh and District History
Society.
Among the microfilm copies of the Westmorland Gazette for 1919 the
following entry was found in the edition of November 15th under the
general heading of ‘Armistice Day’:
Sedbergh
At eleven on Tuesday morning a short service was held at the Parish
Church, at which a good number assembled. Gifts of a Bible, suitably
inscribed, have been handed to the widows or other near relative of
those who, from the Sedbergh District, have fallen in the war.
As, in total, 38 men of the town gave their lives during the Great
War, it is interesting that, as far as is known, this is the first
Bible which has come to light. If any reader knows of any others or
of any descendants of the Hindson family of Sedbergh, please do get
in touch with the editor or the Sedbergh and District History
Society.
John Cyril Hindson, who was probably known as Cyril as this is
pencilled on the case of the Bible, died ninety years ago this month
and he, together with all those men of Sedbergh, who gave their
lives in both World Wars, will be remembered at the
Service of Remembrance on 9th November.
Great War Bibles - a sequel
Readers may remember an article in the last newsletter about
John Cyril Hindson and the Bible which was presented to his family
following his death in the Great War. An appeal was made for news of
any other Bibles, given to families of other casualties, which might
have survived. Mrs June Pickles of Cromer in
Norfolk has been in touch with the Editor to say that her family has
one, which is identical save for the name and date on the bookplate.
This Bible was given to the family of her grandfather, Thomas (Tom)
Cragg, who was killed in action on
14th April 1918
while serving with the 1st Battalion the Duke of
Wellington’s (West Riding) Regiment. He was aged 40.
Thomas Cragg was born in Dent and was the son of Joseph Henry and Annas
Cragg. In 1881 Joseph was a grocer and agricultural labourer in
Gawthrop and Thomas was two years old. By the time of the next
census in 1891 the family had moved to Broad Yeat, Dowbiggin. On the
night of the census, however, Thomas was staying with his
grandmother at Low Hall in Dent.
Joseph and Annas Cragg lost another son in the Great War. Thomas’s
younger brother, James, was killed in action on
9th September 1917
while serving with the Northumberland Fusiliers; he was aged 33.
Thomas was married and, at the time of the 1901 census, he and his
wife, Anne, were living in Garston near
Liverpool. He was working as a sawyer’s labourer at a bobbin mill.
They later had three children, including Joseph Henry, the father of
Mrs Pickles.
Thomas Cragg has no known grave but his name is inscribed on the Tyne
Cot Memorial, which is about six miles north east of
Ypres in Belgium.
Also, he is remembered on his wife’s gravestone in
Sedbergh
Cemetery. She died on
19th September 1960,
aged 82.
The History Society has a copy of a beautiful card which was designed
in memory of Thomas Cragg. Around the edge are the words: ‘Their
bodies are laid in peace but their names live for evermore’. There
is a sketch of the Howgill Fells with the church steeple in the
middle ground. The wording is: ‘1914-1919. In Mem. Thomas Cragg’
with the first verse of Rupert Brooke’s poem, The Soldier,
which starts, ‘If I should die think only this of me ...’.
Grateful thanks are due to Mrs June Pickles for contacting the
Lookaround and to Shirley Tebay for the information from the
census records.
****************************************
|