A COMPLETE story can now be told about all 24 postal workers listed on a roll of honour after serving in the First World War.

The final one is now known to be Stanley James Clarkson, who was a postman and grocer’s assistant at Cotherstone before going off to the war in 1914 aged 23.

He was the son of railway signalman John Clarkson and his wife, Jane, of Pensbury, a fine detached house in the village.

As well as delivering letters, Stanley was an assistant in a grocery shop owned by his brother, John, who was three years the elder, at Featherstone House. They had another brother, Thomas, who was a railway clerk.

The grocery pair delivered supplies to many farms and cottages in Baldersdale and other parts of Teesdale.

Stanley became a corporal in the Army Veterinary Corps, helping to deal with some of the many horses used, injured and killed in battle zones in France. The corps did such a valuable job that “Royal” was added to its name in late 1918.

Stanley moved to Liverpool after the war and became a factory manager.

He married Emily Gertrude Wright there in 1925. The couple had a trip to India in 1926, during which Stanley was described as a merchant.

They were known in the family as Uncle Stan and Aunt Gertie. They didn’t have any children. Stanley’s great niece, June Luckhurst, of Ingleton, remembers him as a fine looking and amiable man who, like most former soldiers, never talked about the war. He died aged 60 at Waterloo, Liverpool, in November 1951.

Stanley had three sisters, Elizabeth, Bertha and Emily.

Elizabeth’s story was a tragic one.

She married Jack Hodgson but died on the day she gave birth to her only child, Jack, in 1911. The infant was brought up by his grandmother Jane, and eventually grew up to become June Luckhurst’s father.

There was another family tragedy when John Sr was killed aged 65 in 1916 when he was struck by a snowplough train as he walked to a railway signal box to start work. He was a highly respected Methodist official and preacher.

The Northern Echo:
Abbey Bridge, where a woman was killed in 1893

When Stanley was serving in France in the war he was listed as one of the soldiers sent parcels of goods by the Cotherstone war relief committee. This hard working team, led by Ernest Lingford, of the baking powder firm, sent regular supplies of gloves, mittens, mufflers, shirts, pyjamas and other comfort items to the troops.

Harold Hall, another ex-postman soldier recalled here last week, also received parcels.

Thanks go once more to Andy Denholm for help in gathering these facts. Royal Mail historian David Charlesworth is grateful that full details have now been uncovered in the past few weeks about three men needed to complete the list. He stated: “It is fitting that we now have full information about all the postal pioneers on our Barnard Castle post office roll of honour just in time for the war centenary,”

FOLLOWING a piece here about the Abbey Bridge tollhouse, a reminder has come about accidents that have caused death and injury on the opposite side of the river.

Vehicles have often come down the steep road too speedily and hit the stonework, and ice has caused several winter crashes.

A woman was killed there in the summer of 1893 when a pony-drawn trap she was in came to grief.

Louisa Dalgleish, 58, was on a visit from Jesmond with her husband, George, a draper. The cab was being driven by a friend, the Reverend JW Bowman. They were going to Rokeby when something fell from the vehicle, hit the pony’s hind legs and made it kick out before galloping down the bank at an alarming pace.

The animal tried to turn right to cross the Tees but the trap hit the wall and Mrs Dalgleish died from head injuries.

The pony was said to be normally quiet. The clergyman, who suffered severe head injuries but recovered, was driving it for the first time, but he was used to driving other ponies.

The jury returned a verdict of accidental death, but added a rider to draw the attention of the Morritt Trustees to the highly dangerous character of the road, which was privately owned at the time.

It also stated that Barnard Castle Highway Board, which was contracted to carry out repairs on the road, should be informed that improvements were needed. In modern times, traffic lights have been in use, but before they were installed there were problems with vehicles meeting on the bridge and being unable to pass each other.

FOSTER parents filled a crucial role in the dales in the past, just as they do in many places now, but the cost of clothing boys and girls was a worry for them around the end of the First World War. Some young ones were shabbily dressed when they went into foster care. Their stand-in parents were given an allowance of £1 every three months to buy new garments.

It wasn’t enough, and one worried woman sent a protest to the Auckland Guardians on behalf of others.

She had taken in a poorly-clad child from a cottage home overseen by the guardians and didn’t have enough cash to buy items needed.

The fosterers were paid a meagre sum for board and lodgings, but those all over the dales agreed it wasn’t sufficient to cover clothing.

The guardians decided every child boarded out should be given a new outfit worth £4 to start with, and the £1 was still paid every quarter for replacements.

The idea was taken up by guardians in other places. A sum of £4 doesn’t sound much, but back then it would make any boy or girl look smart. It was also agreed that each child in care should be given two shillings (10p) at Christmas. So things were looking up for unfortunate young ones.

There was also good news for folk who spent Christmas in the workhouse.

Well wishers often sent in beer, amounting to about a pint for each inmate. There was a suggestion this tradition should be halted.

The Northern Echo:
Corporal Stanley Clarkson on horseback in France during the war

But one guardian, the Reverend Father Myler, said a glass of ale could give a little bit of cheer to poor folk in their declining years, and would do no harm at all, so it was agreed the festive gifts should be accepted.

THE new country market at Consett, mentioned here last week, is to be held in the Methodist Hall on the second Saturday each month. Another new market is to be held in the town hall at Wolsingham on the third Friday (the first was yesterday). The Lanchester market is on the first Saturday of the month, not the third as previously stated. These markets, and the Barnard Castle one on Wednesdays, will be offering excellent produce.