THORNABY-ON-TEES CEMETERY
YORKSHIRE
ENGLAND
GPS Coordinates: Latitude: 54.54915, Longitude: -1.282727
Image above used with the permission of the CWGC
Location Information
Heading north on the A19 at Crathorne, follow the signs for the City Centre towards Thornaby. The Cemetery is just to the south of Teesdale Park on the A1130/ Acklam Road.
Historical Information
The cemetery contains war graves of both World Wars, the First World War burials being scattered throughout the cemetery.
During the Second World War there was a Royal Air Force Station at Thornaby-on-Tees and most of the servicemen buried in the war graves plot, in Plot O on the southern boundary of the cemetery, were airmen. The small number of graves not in the plot are scattered elsewhere.
The Cross of Sacrifice, erected as a central memorial to the dead of both world wars, stands at the opposite side of the cemetery to the plot, at the intersection of the two main paths leading from the two entrances.
Thornaby-on-Tees Cemetery contains 38 Commonwealth burials of the First World War and 86 from the Second. The war graves plot also contains 30 German war graves.
Total Commission Burials: 161.
World War One Casualties: United Kingdom 38.
World War Two Casualties: United Kingdom 64, Germany 30, Canada 13, New Zealand 5, Australia 4. Total 116.
Heading north on the A19 at Crathorne, follow the signs for the City Centre towards Thornaby. The Cemetery is just to the south of Teesdale Park on the A1130/ Acklam Road.
Historical Information
The cemetery contains war graves of both World Wars, the First World War burials being scattered throughout the cemetery.
During the Second World War there was a Royal Air Force Station at Thornaby-on-Tees and most of the servicemen buried in the war graves plot, in Plot O on the southern boundary of the cemetery, were airmen. The small number of graves not in the plot are scattered elsewhere.
The Cross of Sacrifice, erected as a central memorial to the dead of both world wars, stands at the opposite side of the cemetery to the plot, at the intersection of the two main paths leading from the two entrances.
Thornaby-on-Tees Cemetery contains 38 Commonwealth burials of the First World War and 86 from the Second. The war graves plot also contains 30 German war graves.
Total Commission Burials: 161.
World War One Casualties: United Kingdom 38.
World War Two Casualties: United Kingdom 64, Germany 30, Canada 13, New Zealand 5, Australia 4. Total 116.
Images in the gallery below used with the permission of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
3128 Air Mechanic 2nd Class
Eric Ian Crosthwaite
Recruits Depot, Royal Flying Corps
6th February 1915, aged 17.
H. H. C. C. 100.
The information below supplied by 'The Ellesmerian Club', the alumni organisation for Ellesmere College where Eric was a pupil.
Eric Ian Crosthwaite
Recruits Depot, Royal Flying Corps
6th February 1915, aged 17.
H. H. C. C. 100.
The information below supplied by 'The Ellesmerian Club', the alumni organisation for Ellesmere College where Eric was a pupil.
Eric Ian Crosthwaite was born on 22nd September 1897 in Yorkshire, the youngest of four sons of John Crosthwaite, who resided at Thornaby Hall, Thornaby on Tees and who was Mayor of Thornaby in 1899 and 1900. The Crosthwaite family was very influential in the locality at the time as they were major employers with the iron foundry business that they established.
Eric was privately tutored until May 1911 when he was sent to Ellesmere College. On his arrival he took up his place in the ‘Arthur’ dormitory and his desk in Form Upper II under the guidance of Mr. J. G. Sinclair. There were approximately one hundred and sixty pupils on the nominal roll.
Over the next two years he represented his dormitory in athletics and football and on the academic side of college life it is known that he was awarded the Form III Maths Prize in 1912. He enlisted in the Officer Training Corps – a fact he was proud to mention when he signed his Attestation Papers in 1915. He represented his dormitory at football in the 1912 season and at that year’s Sports Day he managed 2nd place in the Under 15, 220 yards flat race.
Eric left Ellesmere in June 1913 and went on to serve an apprenticeship as a motor engineer. His father died in May the following year, leaving a not inconsiderable estate. Eric signed his Attestation Papers on 13th January 1915 at South Farnborough. Six days later, aged 19 years and 120 days, Air Mechanic 2nd Class Crosthwaite, Service No. 3128 joined his training unit in the Royal Flying Corps at Farnborough. He was described as being of ‘fair complexion, with hazel eyes and dark brown hair ‘.
These were the very early days of aviation, indeed the Central Flying School (as the R.F.C. was originally known) had only been formed in May 1912 at Upavon, Wiltshire. Just two years later, at the outbreak of war in August 1914, the Corps had 116 planes and 23 vehicles available to them with forty one qualified Flying Officers. Various workshops and air mechanics / support staff ensured that the flying machines were kept airborne.
With the outbreak of war, and the realisation of just how important a part aviation could play in modern warfare, the development of new aircraft and flying techniques, coupled with the need to train new pilots in a very short period of time meant that accidents were far from infrequent.
Sadly, less than a month later, Eric was killed in an accident on 6th February. There are no details available as to exactly what happened or where other than a vague location of ‘at an R.F.C. Camp in Hampshire’. He was one of twelve casualties recorded for the R.F.C. that month – a few years later the monthly casualty toll would be in the hundreds.
Eric was buried in Thornaby-on-Tees Cemetery alongside thirty six other casualties of the conflict.
He was just one of the 9,378 airmen who died during the war whilst another 7,245 men were wounded. He was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.
Eric was privately tutored until May 1911 when he was sent to Ellesmere College. On his arrival he took up his place in the ‘Arthur’ dormitory and his desk in Form Upper II under the guidance of Mr. J. G. Sinclair. There were approximately one hundred and sixty pupils on the nominal roll.
Over the next two years he represented his dormitory in athletics and football and on the academic side of college life it is known that he was awarded the Form III Maths Prize in 1912. He enlisted in the Officer Training Corps – a fact he was proud to mention when he signed his Attestation Papers in 1915. He represented his dormitory at football in the 1912 season and at that year’s Sports Day he managed 2nd place in the Under 15, 220 yards flat race.
Eric left Ellesmere in June 1913 and went on to serve an apprenticeship as a motor engineer. His father died in May the following year, leaving a not inconsiderable estate. Eric signed his Attestation Papers on 13th January 1915 at South Farnborough. Six days later, aged 19 years and 120 days, Air Mechanic 2nd Class Crosthwaite, Service No. 3128 joined his training unit in the Royal Flying Corps at Farnborough. He was described as being of ‘fair complexion, with hazel eyes and dark brown hair ‘.
These were the very early days of aviation, indeed the Central Flying School (as the R.F.C. was originally known) had only been formed in May 1912 at Upavon, Wiltshire. Just two years later, at the outbreak of war in August 1914, the Corps had 116 planes and 23 vehicles available to them with forty one qualified Flying Officers. Various workshops and air mechanics / support staff ensured that the flying machines were kept airborne.
With the outbreak of war, and the realisation of just how important a part aviation could play in modern warfare, the development of new aircraft and flying techniques, coupled with the need to train new pilots in a very short period of time meant that accidents were far from infrequent.
Sadly, less than a month later, Eric was killed in an accident on 6th February. There are no details available as to exactly what happened or where other than a vague location of ‘at an R.F.C. Camp in Hampshire’. He was one of twelve casualties recorded for the R.F.C. that month – a few years later the monthly casualty toll would be in the hundreds.
Eric was buried in Thornaby-on-Tees Cemetery alongside thirty six other casualties of the conflict.
He was just one of the 9,378 airmen who died during the war whilst another 7,245 men were wounded. He was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.
R/101506 Warrant Officer Class II
Joseph George Louis Boisvert
Royal Canadian Air Force
19th September 1943.
Plot O. O. 15.
Joseph George Louis Boisvert
Royal Canadian Air Force
19th September 1943.
Plot O. O. 15.
R/74488 Sergeant
Clifford McCormick
Royal Canadian Air Force
17th April 1942, aged 25.
Plot O. N. 15.
Son of Hugh and Eva Carkner, of Ormond, Ontario, Canada.
His headstone bears the inscription "I Have Fought A Good Fight, I Have Finished My Course, I Have Kept The Faith II Timothy Chap. IV. V.7"
Clifford McCormick
Royal Canadian Air Force
17th April 1942, aged 25.
Plot O. N. 15.
Son of Hugh and Eva Carkner, of Ormond, Ontario, Canada.
His headstone bears the inscription "I Have Fought A Good Fight, I Have Finished My Course, I Have Kept The Faith II Timothy Chap. IV. V.7"
403566 Pilot Officer
Henry Kelso Dryden
Royal Australian Air Force
27th March 1942, aged 26.
Plot O. O. 14.
Son of Henry Christian Dryden and Hannah Dryden, of Bellevue Hill, New South Wales, Australia. B.Ec. (Sydney).
His headstone bears the inscription "Thou Wilt Keep In Perfect Peace"
Studio portrait of 403566 Aircraftman (later Pilot Officer (PO)) Henry Kelso 'Harry' Dryden, RAAF attached to No. 6 Operational Training Unit RAF. A native of Ariah Park, NSW, he enlisted on 3 February 1941. While attached to the RAF in the United Kingdom, PO Dryden was killed in an aircraft accident on 27 March 1942, aged 26.
Henry Kelso Dryden
Royal Australian Air Force
27th March 1942, aged 26.
Plot O. O. 14.
Son of Henry Christian Dryden and Hannah Dryden, of Bellevue Hill, New South Wales, Australia. B.Ec. (Sydney).
His headstone bears the inscription "Thou Wilt Keep In Perfect Peace"
Studio portrait of 403566 Aircraftman (later Pilot Officer (PO)) Henry Kelso 'Harry' Dryden, RAAF attached to No. 6 Operational Training Unit RAF. A native of Ariah Park, NSW, he enlisted on 3 February 1941. While attached to the RAF in the United Kingdom, PO Dryden was killed in an aircraft accident on 27 March 1942, aged 26.
J/12747 Flying Officer
Arthur Haydn Fletcher
Royal Canadian Air Force
29th March 1943, aged 21.
Plot O. M. 19.
Son of William Edward and Carrie E. Fletcher, of Lindsay, Ontario, Canada.
His headstone bears the inscription "God Took Him Home It Was His Will But In Our Hearts He Liveth Still"
Arthur Haydn Fletcher
Royal Canadian Air Force
29th March 1943, aged 21.
Plot O. M. 19.
Son of William Edward and Carrie E. Fletcher, of Lindsay, Ontario, Canada.
His headstone bears the inscription "God Took Him Home It Was His Will But In Our Hearts He Liveth Still"
R/117661 Sergeant
Gregory Manuel Georges
101 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force
17th December 1942.
Plot O. K. 17.
Son of Angelo Edward and Angelina Burrows Georges, of Whitman, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Gregory Manuel Georges
101 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force
17th December 1942.
Plot O. K. 17.
Son of Angelo Edward and Angelina Burrows Georges, of Whitman, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
R/66129 Warrant Officer Class I
John Clyde Haist
Royal Canadian Air Force
29th March 1943, aged 20.
Plot O. L. 18.
Son of Reginald W. Haist and Anna Flora Haist, of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.
His headstone bears the inscription "At The Going Down Of The Sun And In The Morning We Will Remember Him"
John Clyde Haist
Royal Canadian Air Force
29th March 1943, aged 20.
Plot O. L. 18.
Son of Reginald W. Haist and Anna Flora Haist, of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.
His headstone bears the inscription "At The Going Down Of The Sun And In The Morning We Will Remember Him"
R/115282 Flight Sergeant
Douglas Victor Kaye
Royal Canadian Air Force
29th March 1943, aged 21.
Plot O. M. 18.
Son of Arthur V. Kaye and Jean Kaye, of Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada.
His headstone bears the inscription "At The Going Down Of The Sun And In The Morning We Will Remember Him"
Douglas Victor Kaye
Royal Canadian Air Force
29th March 1943, aged 21.
Plot O. M. 18.
Son of Arthur V. Kaye and Jean Kaye, of Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada.
His headstone bears the inscription "At The Going Down Of The Sun And In The Morning We Will Remember Him"
R/74041 Flight Sergeant
Howard Bruce Shaver
Royal Canadian Air Force
4th September 1942, aged 22.
Plot O. M. 16.
Son of George MacRitchie Shaver and Susie A. Shaver, of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
His headstone bears the inscription "The Worthy Die That Lesser Souls May Live"
Howard Bruce Shaver
Royal Canadian Air Force
4th September 1942, aged 22.
Plot O. M. 16.
Son of George MacRitchie Shaver and Susie A. Shaver, of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
His headstone bears the inscription "The Worthy Die That Lesser Souls May Live"
J/7617 Flight Sergeant
Alan John Farquhar Symes
Royal Canadian Air Force
11th November 1943, aged 22.
Plot O. N. 20.
Son of Alan and Margaret Jean Farquhar Symes, of Rockcliffe, Ontario, Canada; husband of Margaret Symes (nee Soame).
His headstone bears the inscription "St. John Ch. XI Verse 25"
Alan John Farquhar Symes
Royal Canadian Air Force
11th November 1943, aged 22.
Plot O. N. 20.
Son of Alan and Margaret Jean Farquhar Symes, of Rockcliffe, Ontario, Canada; husband of Margaret Symes (nee Soame).
His headstone bears the inscription "St. John Ch. XI Verse 25"
R/87954 Sergeant
Frank Harris Wright
Royal Canadian Air Force
4th September 1942, aged 28.
Plot O. L. 17.
Son of Ernest and Hester Wright, of Sardis, British Columbia, Canada.
His headstone bears the inscription "They Shall Not Grow Old As We That Are Left Grow Old"
Frank Harris Wright
Royal Canadian Air Force
4th September 1942, aged 28.
Plot O. L. 17.
Son of Ernest and Hester Wright, of Sardis, British Columbia, Canada.
His headstone bears the inscription "They Shall Not Grow Old As We That Are Left Grow Old"
