The Great War Memorial is a Celtic cross standing approximately 8 metres to the east of the church. It was originally described as standing on a knoll. In the mid 20th century the land between the cross and Ormesby Beck was in-filled so that it now looks down upon a gentler slope. It was designed by Hicks and Charlewood of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. The stem bears the following inscription to the front:
“Rest Eternal grant to them O Lord and let light perpetual shine upon them”
The memorial was unveiled on Thursday 11th August 1921 by Captain (later Colonel) JWB Pennyman and dedicated by Rev JH Heigham, Hon CF. The names of the fallen, etched into the plinth, are no longer legible due to erosion. They are:
Ainslie Robert-Pte. 407 Coy-Labour Corps
Brown William-Pte.-9th West Yorks
Brown Frank-Pte.-Yorks Lt Infantry
Flintoff Christopher-Pte.-4th Royal Fusiliers
Hansell William Dobinson-Gnr.-R.F.A.
Hawdon Noel Elliot--Chaplain to the Forces
Hawdon Rupert Ayrton-Capt.-R.G.A
Hawdon Cecil-2nd Lieut.-4th Yorks.
Kearon Charles Robert-Pte.-Northumberland Fusiliers
Mosman Hugh-2nd Lieut.-4th Yorks.
Oberon Robert Maurice-Pte.-4th Yorks.
O’Vastar Adalia Daniel--1st Artists Rifles O.T.C.
Sample Alfred James-Pte.-2nd Yorks.
Sanderson Robert Thomas-Cpl.-15th D.L.I.
Sanderson John-Rflmn.-Rifle Brigade
Stubbs John Duncan-Midshipman-H.M.S. Aboukir
Wood Geoffrey-2nd Lieut.-R.A.F.
The military Units of the men are as described on the framed memorial illuminated parchment in the chancel. They would be those that the men would have recognised, but are by no means all accurate or complete. For example ‘4th Yorks’ should be ‘4th Bn Alexandra, Princess of Wales Own (Yorkshire Regiment)’, later known as the ‘Green Howards’. Further information of those named above is available from Stan Grosvenor via the vicarage.
Ralph Jackson, whose family served the church for over three centuries and who knew all of them, said that 29 men from Ormesby served between 1914 and 1919. In addition to the 17 named above, there are 9 other men died in the Great War who were born in Ormesby and are listed in the records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, though not recorded as living in the village at the time of their enlistment.
It is not uncommon to find soldiers remembered in more than one place; John Duncan Stubbs is also listed on the Coatham School cross and Adalia Daniel O’Vastar and Geoffrey Wood are listed on the Middlesbrough High School memorial
“Pro patria mortui”
What is not so common, is duplication in other towns and villages. It is, perhaps, not so surprising in Cleveland, to find the names of Steel families, both in the town where they worked, and in the villages where they lived.
There are a number of individual memorials inside the church; information of these will be added later.
General repairs and refurbishment to the base of the memorial, its surrounds and steps, were carried out in 2006 and the gravel was replaced. A paved pathway was created from the main path up to the memorial, also in 2006.
On Church Lane, approximately 100 metres north, towards the village, is a pillar, set in a grassed semicircle and surmounted by a cross. This is not a war memorial; it is the remains of the Victoria Jubilee village lamp that originally stood at the corner of Church Lane and Ormesby High Street, opposite the Red Lion inn. On removal, the lamp was damaged beyond repair and replaced with the small plain cross.
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