Sergeant George Lewthwaite MM

13220 - 11th (Lonsdale) Battalion The Border Regiment  

Born 1896 Ulverston. Died Dec 1942 aged 46 in Lancaster

Son of Arthur and Sarah (nee Ridley?) Lewthwaite, Blowick Patterdale

George Lewthwaite was born in Ulverston in 1896. His father was born in Kendal around 1872 and had moved around the county doing various jobs before he George was born.  He and his wife Sarah already had three children by the time George arrived, a daughter, Maggie, who was born in Shap in 1888, a son Thomas also born in Shap in 1889, and another son Frederick, born like George in Ulverston in 1892. Another son, Arthur, was born at Coniston in 1898 and it must have been soon after this that Arthur senior and his wife and family moved to Patterdale soon after George was born. They settled at Blowick on the far side of Ullswater and George started working as a labourer at Greenside.

George would have attended Patterdale School alongside his elder siblings and contemporaries such as Frank Brown, William & Thomas Hodgson, Harold Oglethorpe and Johnnie Pool. He wouldn’t have stayed with them long though as by the time his younger brother Mattinson was born in 1902 the family had moved again, this time to Troutbeck. In October 1908 George’s mother Sarah died, aged 44, in Keswick, where Arthur had moved, still working as a lead miner. In 1910 Arthur senior remarried, to Emma Jane Hardistry.

By 1911 Arthur senior, his new wife and Arthur’s youngest sons Arthur and Mattinson were all living at 3 Museum Square in Keswick, where Arthur senior was working still as a Lead Miner. By this time the elder children, including George, had all left home. George was living in Kendal, living with his grandmother and working as a farm labourer. His older brother Thomas was also in Kendal, working as a coach body maker.

On the outbreak of war it seems likely that George returned to Cumberland, and he joined the 11th (Lonsdale) Battalion of the Border Regiment in the autumn of 1914. The 11th Battalion was universally known as the Lonsdales after Hugh Lowther, the 5th Earl of Lonsdale, who raised the unit in September 1914. Nearly all the men came from Cumberland and Westmorland and it was one of the many so-called “Pals” Battalions and wore a distinctive cap badge of a winged griffin from the Lowther coat-of-arms. The Battalion trained at a camp built on Carlisle Racecourse, in the Midlands, Yorkshire and Hampshire before leaving for France in November 1915, from where it went straight to the Somme. Alongside George were other men with strong connections to the Dale, including Albert Stockdale.

The Battalion, like many other of the “Pals” Battalions, fought on the opening day of the Battle of Somme on 1st July 1916 and suffered appalling casualties - over 500 killed or wounded out of the 800 who went into action, including 23 out of the 26 officers, among them the commanding officer - Lieutenant Colonel Machell. Despite these losses the Battalion was reinforced and fought in many other battles on the Western Front from late 1916 onwards. George would have lived through all of this, and in April 1917 would have been involved in the Battle of Arras, which claimed the lives of both Albert Stockdale and his brother Sergeant William Stockdale. By now George too, had been promoted to Acting Sergeant, and it is likely that he won his Military Medal at the Battle of Arras. The award was reported in the Westmorland Gazette on the 28th April 1917. The report gives no details except to say “As a result of their gallantry in the recent fighting in France two Kendal men ..have been awarded the Military Cross”. The other recipient was Lance Corporal WG Swainbank, who was apparently a great “chum” of George’s and the pair had enlisted together back in 1914. The award was also announced in the London Gazette on the 25th May 1917.

George served with the Battalion until the end of the war, and his final discharge on the 24th April 1919. So far we have been unable to find out any information on what happened to George after the war, although we believe he died in Lancaster in December 1942 at the age of 46. He is remembered on the Glenridding Village Hall Roll of Honour alongside his brothers Thomas and Arthur (incorrectly shown as Alfred). The fact that the family had lived in the Dale only briefly is reflected in the errors on the board - the main one being Arthur’s name and rank, but also the fact George was listed as a Private not a Sergeant, and not showing his Military Medal. We also believe Thomas’ regiment is incorrect (see below).

In terms of the rest of George’s family we believe his father died in Cockermouth aged 56 in 1929. He had had two more children with his second wife Emma Jane, Irene (in 1915) and Olive (in 1920). Emma Jane died in 1953, Olive in 1950 at the age of just 29, also in Cockermouth, and Irene died in 1987 in Carlisle. What we know of Arthur and Thomas is shown below.

George’s youngest brother Mattinson married May McCourt in 1955 and died in Cockermouth in 1980 at the age of 79. His elder brother Frederick we believe may have died in Carlisle in 1968 and so far we have found no trace of his eldest sister Maggie.

If you have any further information on George or his family please contact us.

Lance Corporal Arthur Lewthwaite

35037 - 6th Border Regiment and

60464 - 23rd Northumberland Fusiliers

Born 1898 Ulverston. Died Dec 1969 Blackpool aged 70.

Son of Arthur and Sarah (nee Ridley?) Lewthwaite, Blowick Patterdale

Husband of Emeline Wright from Fylde

Arthur Lewthwaite was born in Ulverston in 1898, shortly before his father, also Arthur, moved him and his family to Blowick in Patterdale where he worked as a Lead Miner. The story of Arthur’s family and early life is told in the biography of his elder brother George Lewthwaite above.

By 1911 12 year old Arthur was living with his father, younger brother Mattinson, and his father’s second wife Emma Jane at 3 Museum Square in Keswick, where Arthur senior was working still as a Lead Miner.

It is likely that Arthur enlisted in the Army as soon as he was old enough in 1916. He joined the 6th Battalion of the Border Regiment which saw service at Gallipoli in 1915 but was in France by July 1916 in time for the Somme offensive which Arthur is likely to have been a part of, alongside his brother George with the 11th Battalion of the Border Regiment. The 6th Battalion joined the Somme offensive on the 27th of July 1916 and were in action at Flers-Courcelette and Thiepval. In 1917 they saw action on the Ancre and then moved to Flanders were they took part in the Battle of Messines. They were in action throughout the Battle of Passchendaele and in 1918 were in action during the Second Battle of Arras and the Battle of the Hindenburgh Line.

At some point, possibly towards the end of this period, Arthur was transferred to the 23rd Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers - the 4th Tyneside Scottish. He might not have known it having moved out of the Dale at such a young age, but their were plenty of other men from Patterdale and Glenridding serving with the Northumberland Fusiliers, including Harry Grenfell, Joseph Dargue and Robert Slee. At some point Arthur was promoted to Lance Corporal, the rank he held on demobilisation from the army in 1919.

After the war Arthur ended up in Fylde, in Lancashire, where he married Emeline Wright the first half of 1931. Sadly so far that is all we know of Arthur’s life after the First World War up until the time of his death in December 1969 at the age of 70 in Blackpool. He is remembered on the Glenridding Village Hall (where is is incorrectly listed as a Private) alongside his elder brothers George and Thomas.

If you can add anything to the story of Arthur or his family please contact us.

Private Thomas Lewthwaite

207433 - East Lancashire Regiment & 421374 - Labour Corps

Born  1889 Shap. Date of Death Unknown

Son of Arthur and Sarah (nee Ridley?) Lewthwaite, Blowick Patterdale

Thomas Lewthwaite was born in Shap around 1889, the eldest son of Arthur and Sarah Lewthwaite. The story of Thomas’ family and early life is told in the biography of his younger brother George Lewthwaite above. When his family to Blowick in Patterdale around 1898 Thomas would have attended Patterdale School alongside contemporaries such as John Bell, Ernest Lake, and Moffat Thompson.

By 1911 22 year old Thomas had moved to Kendal, where he was working as a coach body maker. It was from here that he is likely to have enlisted, joining the East Lancashire Regiment. Unfortunately we have no details of his time in the Army. All we know is that he served abroad from around 1916, in all probability in France, and ended up transferring from the East Lancs to the Labour Corps. This was a similar move to that made by other men from the Dale such as William Lake, who had also served previously in the Lancashire Fusiliers.

So far that it all we know about Thomas. We do not even know when he died. He is remembered on the Glenridding Village Hall Roll of Honour (where we believe his regiment is incorrectly shown as the Border Regiment) alongside his younger brothers Arthur and George.

If you can add anything to the story of Thomas or his family please contact us.