Huthwaite War Memorial
WWI Memorabilia
Parents or wives of all confirmed casualties were gratefully thanked by a Buckingham Palace letter accompanying by a personalised memorial. They become commonly known as either a Death or Widows Penny, despite massive bronze weight and size measuring 12cm diameter.
Joseph Thompson was my Great Grandfather, although we'd never get to know him except for memorabilia safely kept thereafter in Huthwaite through Elliott households.
Edge around this bronze Victory Medal identified 49639 PTE J.H. HALLAM ESSEX R. These were usually only issued to those furthermore receiving a 1914 Star, plus a British War Medal fully recognising fighting service abroad.
Mrs Jean Baker gifted this find, discovered among her late mothers button jar. Its unknown how Mrs Margaret Bonsor gained possession at least 50 years before, except her Bowring family had been Newcastle Street neighbours.
Wishing to pass this on to any rightful Hallam relative was claimed and personally handed to niece Colleen Hallam.
WWII Memorabilia
A 1945 veterans certificate recognises distinguished service of Driver Arthur Stones, my mothers uncle.
Malcolm (Mac) Clarkson got these items as a Huthwaite school boy and Sutton Road Methodist. The New Testament was an Active Service Edition, issued to comfort everyone serving in his majesties Forces. Issued Alan Smith February 1943, he gifted this memento xmas 1949 after returning to Carnarvon Grove following service on the Western Front.
Printed silk ribbons were once a fashionable way of remembering any loved ones. Mrs Nicol Dale in Wales found three such bookmarks relating Huthwaite names in her antique book shop following this family dedication .
Certificate signed by (King George VI Rex Imperiator) dates 8th June 1946, when apparently given to all school children as a memento of the nations joint efforts. The reverse side offers the following list, beneath which is room for noting any family names in memorial to their active services. Like many other local family members, the war effort made by Mac's elders was by continuing their reserved occupation.
IMPORTANT WAR DATES
1939
SEP 01 Germany invaded Poland
SEP 03 Great Britain and France declared war on Germany ; the B.E.F. began to leave for France
DEC 13 Battle of the River Plate
1940
APR 09 Germany invaded Denmark and Norway
MAY 10 Germany invaded the Low Countries
JUN 03 Evacuation from Dunkirk completed
JUN 08 British troops evacuated from Norway
JUN 11 Italy declared war on Great Britain
JUN 22 France capitulated
JUN 29 Germans occupied the Channel Isles
AUG 08 -OCT 31 German air offensive against Great Britain (Battle of Britain)
OCT 28 Italy invaded Greece
NOV 11 -12 Successful attack on the Italian Fleet in Taranto Harbour
DEC 09 -11 Italian invasion of Egypt defeated at the battle of Sidi Barrani
1941
MAR 11 Lease-Lend Bill passed in U.S.A.
MAR 28 Battle of Cape Matapan
APR 06 Germany invaded Greece
APR 13 -DEC 09 The Siege of Tobruk
MAY 10 Formal surrender of remnants of Italian Army in Abyssinia
MAY 20 -31 Battle of Crete
MAY 17 German battleship Bismarcksunk
JUN 22 Germany invaded Russia
AUG 12 Terms of the Atlantic Charter agreed
NOV 18 British offensive launched in the Western Desert
DEC 07 Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour
DEC 08 Great Britain and United States of America declared war on Japan
1942
FEB 15 Fall of Singapore
APR 16 George Cross awarded to Malta
OCT 23 -NOV 4. German-Italian army defeated at El Alamein
NOV 08 British and American forces landed in North Africa
1943
JAN 31 The remnants of the 6th German Army surrendered at Stalingrad
MAY Final victory over the U-Boats in the Atlantic
MAY 13 Axis forces in Tunisia surrendered
JUL 19 Allies invaded Sicily
SEP 03 Allies invaded Italy
SEP 08 Italy capitulated
DEC 16 Scharnhorst sunk of North Cape
1944
JAN 22 Allied troops landed at Anzio
JUN 04 Rome captured
JUN 06 Allies landed at Normandy
JUN 13 Flying-bomb (V.1) attack on Britain started
JUN Defeat of Japanese invasion of India
AUG 15 Paris liberated
SEP 03 Brussels liberated
SEP 08 The first rocket-bomb (V.2) fell on England
SEP 17 -26 The Battle of Arnhem
OCT 10 The Americans re-landed in the Philippines
1945
JAN 17 Warsaw liberated
MAR 20 British recaptured Mandalay
MAR 23 British crossed the Rhine
APR 25 Opening of Conference of United Nations at San Francisco
MAY 02 German forces in Italy surrendered
MAY 03 Rangoon recaptured
MAY 09 Unconditional surrender of Germany to the Allies ratified in Berlin
JUN 10 Australian troops landed in Borneo
AUG 06 First atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
AUG 08 Russia declared war on Japan
AUG 09 Second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
AUG 14 The Emperor of Japan broadcast the unconditional surrender of his country
SEP 05 British forces re-entered Singapore
05 Feb 12 by Gary Elliott Updated 03 Nov 21