Over to Bill....
Hi Tom/Nancy,
I took these two pictures last weekend while I was out walking. They show two small war memorials on the site of what was the old St George's boat house on the canal by the side of Captain Clarke's Bridge. One stone is in memory of Harry Hurst Warburton and the other commemorates three boat club members who were killed in WW2. These are R H Nash F Plant and Harry H Warburton One of the stones says that Harry Warburton was killed on active service in Italy, February 23rd 1946. Strange considering that the war ended in May 1945. Someone may be able to cast some light on this and tell us more about the other two people.
Incidentally, my Dad used to be a member of the boat club and he told me that they used to row up to the bottom lock at Marple and back.
Hope you can use it.
Regards. Bill.
UPDATE by Sean DaltonNASH, RONALD HARRY
Rank: Sergeant Trade: Flt. Engr. Service No: 1109844
Date of Death: 31/08/1943
Age: 21
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 7 Sqdn.
Grave Reference Coll. grave 7. B. 1-4. Cemetery RHEINBERG WAR CEMETERY
Additional Information: Son of Harry and Jane Nash, of Northwich, Cheshire.
Many thanks, Sean. :)
14 comments:
Harry Warburton, aged 29, was the son of Nicholas and Mary Warburton of Hyde. He was a trooper in the Royal Armoured Corps, 9th Queen's Royal Lancers. He died from war wounds 23/2/1946, and is buried in the Padua War Cemetery, Italy. Fred Plant, was the son of William and Ada Plant of Hyde. A Flying Officer in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. He lies buried in the Runnymede Memorial Park, Surrey.
Thank you, M.T. Maloney. It's so nice to see that these names on the memorial are remembered as real people.
Thanks for the information... I've drawn a blank on R.H. Nash... I've been looking for some pictures that Dave took and some scans from the Reporter he sent me once but again I've not had much luck there as well... I know they are disked.. will keep looking this week.
Tom - you sent me some photos you'd taken of CC bridge and these memorials back in March 2010 - I never got round to using them on my blogs - I'll post them shortly and link back here.
R.H.Nash (Robert Harry Nash) was the son of Harry Nash and Jane Hyde, married at St.George's in 1921. Robert was born the following year.
Thanks Gerald ! :)
I don't know if this is the same R.H.Nash, but there was a person of that name held at the Oschatz Prisoner of War Camp in Saxony. He was a Sapper in the Royal Engineers. It would have been helpful if the writing on the memorial stone had been copied.
I have taken several photos of the memorial stones and the surroundings where the boat club originally stood. The inscriptions on the two stones say:
THIS LAND WAS GIVEN
BY
MR AND MRS N WARBURTON
AS A MEMORIAL TO THEIR SON
HARRY HURST WARBURTON
KILLED IN ITALY
FEBRUARY 23RD 1946
WHILST ON ACTIVE SERVICE
WITH H.M.FORCES
and
ALSO TO THOSE WHO FELL
IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR
1939-1945
FLIGHT SGT R.H.NASH
FLYING OFFICER F.PLANT
TROOPER H.H.WARBURTON
The original memorial which stood there was erected to commemorate rowing club members who were killed in the First World War and inscribed on the base was these four inscriptions:
ERECTED BY ST GEORGE'S SUNDAY SCHOOL ROWING CLUB
FALLEN;
PRIVATE THOMAS H.METCALFE
PRIVATE W.WHITEHEAD
CORPORAL ARTHUR ROBINSON
PRIVATE WILLIAM WILSON
PRIVATE H.W.BANCROFT
BY THE FLAG THEY BATTLED FOR SO LONG, BY THE FAME THEY SUFFERED SO TO SAVE. HONOUR BE AND PRAISE TO THE GALLANT AND THE STRONG, HONOUR THE BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE.
IN REMEMBRANCE AND DEEP GRATITUDE TO THEIR CHUMS WHO FELL IN THE WORLD WAR 1914-1919
The second memorial stone shown here was obviously added to commemorate the three club members who died in the Second World War. The newspaper cutting I have suggests that the original memorial was destroyed by vandalism and the Second World War memorial was fished out of the canal at some point and set into the ground along with the one commemorating that the ground had been given by the parents of Harry Warburton.
Thank you for that Dave.. I found the pictures you sent and the cutting from the Reporter on a disk early this morning... ..
You'll note, by the way, that the original memorial gave the dates of the First World War as 1914 to 1919 (as does the War Memorial on Werneth Low). I always say this confuses both British and American people, as the British tend to think that it ended in 1918 and the Americans that it started in 1917. The Armistice was signed in 1918 but the Treaty of Versailles, which officially ended the war, wasn't signed till 1919.
Have finally tracked down R.H.Nash. He died 31st August 1943 in combat. He was a FLT Engineer in the Royal Air Force Reserve, 7th Sqdn. His service number was 1109844, he is buried in Rheinberg War Cemetery, Germany.
Well done.. I'd had a look on the Common Wealth War Graves site but could not find him... great work... thank you.
I've just linked here from a post on Old Hyde.
MT Maloney: Can I ask how you know Harry Warburton died from wounds? I can't find any mention of him in the North Cheshire Herald and the canal memorial says he was killed in Italy in 1946.
He served in the 9th Queen's Lancers (Royal Armoured Corps)and would have been involved in heavy fighting in Italy in 1944-45.
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