This is a picture of Stockton man John Dunning in his naval uniform taken during the Great War.

Photograph courtesy of family member Penny Lindo.

This ‘Soldiers Penny’ was given to my Uncle Billy Bonner’s family.

98 years ago on the 23rd April 1917, William Bonner was killed. Billy was serving with the Durham Light Infantry when he was killed at the battle of Arras, northern France.
As well as being St George’s Day and Shakespeare’s birthday, the 23rd April was also William’s 21st birthday.

Photograph and details courtesy of Anthony Bonner.

Roger Stamp was born in Stockton in 1895.  He lived in Russell Street and attended Bailey Street School before working as a plater in Ropner’s shipyard.  In 1913, at the age of 18, he enlisted in the 5^th (Territorial) Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry.  When the Great War broke out he, with the rest of his battalion, was at the annual summer camp.  The territorials were recalled to their depot in Stockton where they all volunteered for service overseas.

On 17th April 1915 the 5^th DLI left Newcastle for Folkestone from where they sailed for France.  On the day he left for the front Roger began to keep a diary (much frowned upon by the Army) and continued to do so until he was invalided out of the army in 1918 after, in August 1917, being wounded for the third time.

He recovered from his injuries and after the war he emigrated to America where he worked as a gardener in Los Angeles.

Now, precisely one hundred years to the day that the events were first recorded, Stockton Library Service will be serialising Roger’s diary, day by day, exactly as he himself wrote them.  The diary gives a rare insight into the everyday life of a British infantryman in and out of the line in France and Flanders during the Great War.  You can see Roger’s diary as it unfolds at www.heritage.stockton.gov.uk

We are indebted to a relative of Roger, Linda Patterson, who originally transcribed the diaries and has very graciously given us permission to publish them.  We would also like to acknowledge the work done by Durham County Record Office and Durham at War in making these diaries accessible. The Durham at War project is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The medals of Private Benjamin Brown, who served with the Durham Light Infantry during the Great War.

Photograph courtesy of his son, Ben Brown now residing in Australia.

This is a photograph of my father Benjamin Brown who enlisted in the DLI at the start of WW1 by claiming he was older than the required 18 years for the Army, I am sure many other men did the same – switch their ages to go off to war in what they thought would be a great adventure. Once they had sampled the trench warfare at battles such as Mons, Ypres, Passchendaele, and many others they would have realised war was not an adventure but a terrible experience for all involved.

My father would not talk about the war, like so many others but sometimes when he had had a few pints we learned snippets of some of his experiences which were very interesting, sometimes funny and sometimes tragic, as was the story about the time when they were watching this German as they thought in a forward position spying on them, they all lined him up and shot him. When they advanced later that day they looked for the Germans body only to find it was a British Officer who obviously had been spying on the German lines. The only consolation for Dad and his mates was that six or seven of the DLI had shot at about the same time so they did know who had fired the fatal shot. The DLI were famous as the fastest marching Regiment in the British Army, many of the Regiment were from Stockton and District.

Photograph and details courtesy of Ben Brown.

A group of sappers from the 225th Field Company of Royal Engineers. The soldier on the left of the picture is Lance Corporal Smith.

Photograph and details courtesy of Denis Rigg.

This is my grandfather Sapper Joe E Drinkel of the 225th Field Company Royal Engineers taken in France, he had just come in from the field. In the Royal Engineers he was graded a Saddler.

The second photograph is George Harland, a good friend of my granddads. I was given this copy by his family. George was also graded a Saddler. Both George Harland and my Grandfather were Boot and Shoe makers in Stockton.

Photographs and details courtesy of Denis Rigg.

A composite photograph of the three Drinkel brothers. From left to right: Harry, a mechanic in the Royal Flying Corps (he was Mayor of Thornaby in 1951/2), Horace, a gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery, and Sapper Joe of the Royal Engineers.

Photographs and details courtesy of Denis Rigg.

Grandad Thomas Birtle was brought up by his maternal grandparents Thomas and Mary Ann Merrington. The 1911 census finds them living at 67 Beaconsfield Street, Norton on Tees. They lived there for quite a few years.

The first picture shows a very young granddad pictured in his Durham Light Infantry uniform in I think 1915. He joined up in September at the age of 16. The young child at his feet we believe to be a cousin but are not certain exactly which one. The Merringtons were born in the late 1850s in north Yorkshire.

At some stage granddad was transferred from the Durham Light Infantry (DLI) to the Highland Light Infantry (HLI) and by 1918 he was a sergeant. He always said that his being transferred was because he was a useful footballer and the HLI people welcomed him as an addition to their battalion football team. One of his new team mates played for Aberdeen FC in the 1920s and was capped by Scotland.

Having been in France for some time Grandad’s luck was bound to run out and he was shot through his left elbow in august 1918 near the French town of St Quentin. The second picture can be dated to between the time of his wounding and April 1919 when he was discharged from the army. Facing the camera he is on the left of the picture and you can clearly see his left arm has been wounded. You can also see, that as a proud Englishman, he is wearing his bonnet.

Photographs and details courtesy of Martin Birtle.

I took these two photographs of the refurbished War Memorial and it’s newly relaid surroundings which all looked very nice in the mid-morning sunshine on Yarm High Street this morning.

To accompany the Yarm photographs I called in at Egglescliffe and photographed their War Memorial too which also looked equally resplendent in the sunshine.

Photographs and details courtesy of David Thompson.

John William Dixon was born on Commercial Street, Stockton in 1896 and was killed in action on the 29th December 1915 near Ypres. Private John William Dixon was buried in Vlamatinghe cemetery, Belgium.

Photograph and details courtesy of William Bennett.

This picture shows four sergeants of the Durham Light Infantry at the front, probably somewhere in France or Flanders, during the Great War.  The man standing on the left is Herbert Jordison, grandfather of the donor Peter Jordison