St George's House,
Northern Police Orphanage. 1898-1956  Harrogate, Yorkshire, England.

                                               
                      War Memorial WW1

                      Thirty Seven old boys from St George's served during the First World War and of these, 10 gave their lives.
                  Many also served during the Second World War and 5 of those sacrificed their lives.

                     

                     
                      Above.William S. Meehan        Above: Kathleen Webster

          
           Cadets c.1944. From left to right, Tom Ruddick,
           Geoffrey Whitaker, Alfred Lewis, Frank Gilbert and
           Jim Shepherd.

                      Lt Col (Rt'd) Peter A. Geraghty MBE, BEM. 
  
                         
                      Peter A. Geraghty. Malaya 1956.                                        

                                    John Newton

                                        
                             John Newton, May 1952.               Gloster Meteor F.8
                             John gained his 'Wings' with the
                             RAF after training on Tiger Moths,
                             Harvards and the Gloster Meteor F.8
                                                                                           
 

    
                                                  Richard H. Peacock. D.F.C.  6/4/1923 - 30/1/2005 (Child number 402)

                                  
                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                        Pilot Officer R.H.Peacock  (191819) RAF  (VR) 640 Squadron
                                             Awarded D.F.C.  25/9/1945 - London Gazette.

                                      No. 640 Squadron was formed at Leconfield on 7 January 1944 from C Flight of
                              No.158 Squadron. Equipped with Halifaxes, it took part in the bombing offensive
                              against Germany until the end of the war and disbanded on 7 May, 1945.

                                                           
                                                            Handley Page Halifax B III.
                                     

                                                                                             CITATION

                                     Pilot Officer Peacock has completed numerous sorties against enemy
                                     targets during his first tour of operations. One night, in October,1944
                                     when detailed to attack Cologne, P.O. Peacock was forced to make
                                     a long bombing run through heavy anti-aircraft fire. Despite this, he
                                     continued with his task and bombed the target successfully.
                                     An excellent photograph was secured. This officer has displayed
                                     untiring gallantry and devotion to duty.  
 

                                                 
 
                
              Letter of congratulations to P/O R.H.Peacock written           Letter of congratulations to P/O R.H.Peacock 
              by Middlesbrough Chief Constable A.E.Edwards, dated        written by Preston Kitchen CBE, Town Clerk
              11 October, 1945.                                                         of Middlesbrough, dated 9 January, 1946 

              During the Second World War girls at the Orphanage knitted various articles for the serving men, made camouflage
              nets and in conjunction with the St George's Scout Troop, collected salvage in the neighbourhood to contribute and
              help in the war effort.    
 

St George's old boy Tom Berry (341) writes about some of his WW2 experiences.

                                                    The War Years           
                                     Tom Berry: Army Services Number 2581722

79th Armoured Division

I was called up for full time service in 1939, having joined the Territorial Army (Royal Signals) about a year earlier. After periods of service with AA Signals, Northern Command Signals and as Orderly Room Sergeant at 6th Armoured Division Signals I was posted with the same job to 79th Armoured Division Signals in 1943.

The Division was unique in that it's tanks were adapted to deal, initially, with the various problems of terrain and defence, which would face our troops attacking the coast of northern Europe. These included amphibious tanks, on the face of it a contradiction in terms, which could be launched from tank landing craft some distance from the beach and then 'swim' ashore. There were also flame throwers, tanks with circulating heavy chains which cleared a path through minefields, others with a large bobbin of reinforced 'carpet' which could be unrolled over soft ground to provide a useable road for vehicles. There were also a number of others adapted in different ways to provide passage for vehicles over various obstacles.

                    
       A tank, flailing.                                Tank carrying temporary 'road' surfacing.             A 'bobbin' tank

German 'V' Weapons

I think I probably heard the first of the V1's (buzz bombs) and V2's (rockets) which the Germans launched. It was fairly early in June 1944, the invasion of France was well under way, and the Division's tanks were proving their worth. The administrative troops which included my staff, were still in Southern England. Some time during the night I heard an aircraft going over which I took to be an American Flying Fortress limping home on one very dodgy engine. Suddenly the engine cut out and, after a few seconds silence, there was quite a big explosion. I assumed the Flying Fortress had not dropped all of its bombs on the mission and that the crew, of which there were about ten, were lost. However, the next day there was much talk about a pilotless plane and that no Flying Fortress had crashed. I subsequently heard and saw many V1's and there was no doubt that that was what I had heard for the first time.

                  
                German V1 (buzz bomb)                               German V2 Rocket

Some months later the Division headquarters occupied what had been an hotel a few miles south of Antwerp. One evening I was working in the office and had gone outside when I heard a deep rumble coming from the sky. Looking up towards the sound I saw a light coming down and, it seemed to be coming in my general direction. As I hadn't the faintest idea what it was, it seemed a good idea to squat down between two Jeeps which were parked fairly close together.  Fortunate that I did as, not too far away, there was an enormous explosion and part of the hotel's roof came down, but didn't hit me. Even more fortunate was the fact that the rocket, for that was what it was, landed in very soft ground and left a large crater, thus doing little other damage. If it had landed on a hard surface the outcome might have been very different.  I believe this must have been the first of these weapons to be used as the following day General Montgomery came to inspect the scene.
While we occupied this building we seemed to be on the regular flight path for the V1's. On one occasion the Adjutant had come into my office to talk about something or other when we heard a V1 approaching. As my desk was immediately in front of the window we moved into the corridor to finish our conversation. After a short while a little terrier came along the corridor and sat between my legs, absolutely shaking with fear. He was obviously well acquainted with V1's as immediately this one had exploded he trotted off quite happily.

Belsen Concentration Camp

The camp was liberated by British and Canadian troops in mid April, 1945, but few of the men can have imagined the horrors they were going to find there. They were accompanied by Richard Dimbleby who, in his report for the BBC, described the day at Belsen as the most horrible of his life. Michael Bentine, visiting shortly afterwards, described the camp as "the ultimate blasphemy".
There were tens of thousands of prisoners and another 13,000 corpses, in various stages of decomposition, lay unburied around the camp, both inside and outside the huts. Belsen did not have gas chambers to eliminate its prisoners, as some other concentration camps had, but it did have typhus and starvation. These took a dreadful toll, made so much worse by the terrible overcrowding. Among those dying within a few weeks before the liberation were Anne Frank and her sister Margot.  Anne's diary, describing the experiences of her and her family in occupied Amsterdam, was later published.
An immediate necessity was the burial of the dead and this was carried out in mass graves by very reluctant German and Hungarian guards. Apparently the people in a nearby village claimed ignorance of what had been going on, but the smell alone must have made them wonder. However they were left in no doubt when they were made to walk round the open graves and see for themselves the horror of tangled corpses which they contained.

German medical staff were made to clean and delouse the survivors, who were moved into a nearby German army camp. There were, however, serious problems with regard to food as the prisoners were unable to cope with a normal diet after their periods of starvation. Unfortunately, very many were beyond recall and, in spite of the efforts of the medical people, a large number died in the following few months.

My own impression of some of the male prisoners was of their striped uniforms hanging from coat-hangers, topped with skulls. There seemed to be so little flesh on faces or bodies.
As the only way of dealing with the infestation, our flame thrower tanks were given the job of burning down the prison huts.
This seemed a fitting end to the camp which had been the scene of sadistic cruelty and so much misery and suffering.

Tom Berry. 2009

                    Police Constable John Ashburne, who was born in Cumbria, served with the West Yorkshire Police Force,
                    Dewsbury Division. On his death in 1898, his two sons, Richard aged 11 & Alfred aged 8, were cared for by St
                    George's, then called The Northern Police Orphanage. Their arrival in 1898 was shortly after the orphanage was
                    opened as can be seen by their admittance numbers which were Richard (6) and Alfred (7).
              
                         The two boys emigrated to Canada in the early 1900's and both of them served in the Canadian Armed Forces
                    in the First World War. Richard was killed in France and is buried there, his grave is visited by members of his
                    family, most recently by Vaughn Ashburne, grandson of Alfred. Vaughn still possesses the Bible which Miss 
                    Catherine Gurney (founder of St George's House) presented to his grandfather Alfred Ashburne.  

                 Alfred Ashburne                                                          
                                  
                                                                                Medals awarded to Alfred Ashburne        Alfred Ashburne (aged 80)  

                                                              Richard Ashburne

                                                          
                                   Medals awarded to R. Ashburne                                                  Bronze Medal awarded to R. Ashburne


                                  The Memorial letter signed by King George, presented to Richard Ashburne's family on his death.
                                                                                                                        

                                                    
                                                                                                                                Vaughn Ashburne visiting Richard's grave, France.

                            See also the War Memorial 1914 - 18 shown below, which bears the name of Richard Ashburne   
    
                            Photographs and information kindly provided by Vaughn Ashburne. Further information about PC J. Ashburne
                      is available on the Police Connections page of this website.
 

                                                Corporal John Philip Bly, 2721129 RAFP
                                                               St George's old boy number 570

His father was Police Sergeant Philip Bly of the Lincolnshire Constabulary and John, himself, was a Police Cadet with the same Force. His father died, aged 49, in the December Quarter of 1944.
At the time John Bly lived in Wharfe Road, Crowle, Lincolnshire, he subsequently entered St George's in January 1945.
John spent part of his National service in Malta and lost his life in an air accident, aged 20, on 18 February, 1956, just a month prior to the completion of his National Service obligation.

In the St George's Annual Report for 1955 - 1956 is the following reference to John Philip Bly:

“One sad item of news we received in February was that Corporal John Philip Bly (Lincs), who left St. George’s in April 1952, was killed in the plane which crashed on Malta on February 18^th. We had a long letter from him in the previous August saying how he was looking forward to the completion of his National Service in March 1956, and hoping to become engaged to be married, and it seems hard to grasp that his promising young life had come to such a sudden end.”
                                                                           Signed: E. P. Duke Turner.  Lady Superintendent
 

                            
                  Avro York aircraft

The Military Report included the following:

Narrative:
Avro York G-ANSY took off from Malta-Luqa Airport at 12:21 for a flight to London Stansted. Shortly after becoming airborne the boost enrichment capsule in the carburetor of the no. 1 engine failed, causing a fire in the engine. It is presumed that the engine stopped producing power after 30 seconds of flight. The propeller was not feathered as the aircraft slowly climbed to 700-800 feet amsl (300-400 feet agl) with a 'crabbing' or 'yawing' motion to the left. Shortly after retracting the flaps, while still in a nose up attitude at very low flying speed, the aircraft stalled and dove to the ground.
The aircraft was engaged to fly Service Personnel from the Suez area to the UK and had stopped to refuel on Malta. In attempting to return to the airfield at Luqa the aircraft crashed killing all 50 passengers and crew on board.
 

     The War Memorial 1914-18    
 This memorial has been completely refurbished by Ripon Museum, where it is now displayed.
 It commemorates the boys from St George's who served with the Armed Services during
 the First World War. 37 served during the conflict of which 10 lost their lives, they are:

                        Richard Ashburne
                    Vincent Wilson Boyd
                    Henry Crawford
                    Albert Flood
                    Russell Halliday
                    George Philbey
                    Frederick P. Phillips
                    Joseph Rotherforth
                    Cyril Sykes
                    Frederick Winks

       The War Memorial 1939-45
This memorial has also been completely refurbished by Ripon Museum, where it is on display. The production of the memorial was carried out by the firm of Robert Thomson, the 'Mouseman of Kilburn' which is internationally renowned for his oak carvings all adorned with a hand carved mouse (look above the word House to see the mouse shape).

It was erected by the 'Old' Girls and Boys in Easter 1947. to commemorate the 5 boys from St George's who lost their lives while serving with the Armed Forces during the Second World War.                                         
                    Henry Hunter Bagot
                    George William Boston
                    Lawrence Stanley Bryan
                    Herbert George Edwards
                    Desmond William Pepper

It is not possible to mention all of those who have joined and helped the Services over the years, suffice it to say that their contributions, whilst  unspoken, are nevertheless quietly recognised and appreciated.

                                                                
 In the early part of 2007, when St Andrew's was undergoing refurbishment, the two plaques were officially donated by Katherine Martin former Chief Executive Officer at St Andrew's, to Ralph Lindley of the Ripon Museum, where they are available for viewing by the public.

                                                                                                   
                                                                                                    Deus vult