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Local Heroes
 | If I was to mention the name of Scott of the Antarctic or Shackleton you would know the story of these brave men.
Not many have heard of a brave man buried in Redcar Cemetery.His name was Edgar William Tyler Greenshield.His epitaph reads 'A FRIEND OF THE ESKIMO'.
The Rev.Edgar Greenshield was born on the Isle of Wight in 1877 and attended the Church of England theology college where amongst other things he was taught to cope with medical emergencies,something that would prove invaluable in the coming years. He became a member of the Christian Mission Society and at the age of twenty three, set sail for the Arctic to bring the word of God to the Eskimo, at the request of his mentor and supervisor Rev Peck.He had to work his passage in a ramshackle boat that wasn't fit for the rigours of coping with the ice.He was shipwrecked many times and sometimes didn't know when he was coming home for a rest.Altogether he was ministering in this part of the World from 1901-1913.In 1914 during an extended rest he was sent to preach in Manchester.He visited a school one day to tell of his exploits and was introduced to the teacher who later became his wife.Later he resigned from the CMS and applied for Missionary work with the Mission to Seamen.His first posting was to Dover,then to Lerwick in Scotland afterwhich he was posted to India and with his wife landed in Calcutta. Later he was appointed to Teesside Mission to Seamen ministering to all nationalities who came into the port.His health by this time began to fail and his Doctor advised he moved to the coast.He moved to Redcar and lived in Chester Rd,.He was very popular for his sermons and preached many times in St Peters Church Redcar.He held the post of Chaplain till he died in 1938 at the age of sixty.The 'Friends of Redcar Cemetery'intend to present a framed photograph and a brief history of this remarkable man,to the Teesside Mission to Seamen at their Flying Angel Club in the near future. |
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They Gave Their Lives To Save Others
 | | The Picknetts,Richard 60,John,23 and Edmund 24 lost their lives trying to save the crew of a fishing trawler on January 9th, 1901.Seven members of the Picknett family answered the call and launched their boat.Unfortunately a line from the beach fouled their boat and three were pitched overboard and were lost,not knowing that the crew members had already been saved, The 200 ton steam trawler ‘Honoria’ was returning to Hull with a good catch of fish, when she encountered stormy weather and lost her bearings. Her skipper edged nearer the coast in the hopes of picking up a familiar landmark. It was bitterly cold, with heavy snow showers, and around 2.30am the trawler ran aground opposite Cliffe House at Marske. Her crew burnt distress signals, and the Saltburn and Redcar rocket brigades quickly arrived on the scene. The Redcar brigade soon had a line across, but this became fouled and the breeches buoy would not work. More rocket lines were fired, and the Saltburn lifeboat was brought along the sands. She was launched shortly after 5am, and managed to get alongside the stranded vessel, but in the darkness she fouled a rocket line and her bowman was pitched overboard. Fortunately his life jacket buoyed him up, and as he washed shoreward he was dragged from the breakers by anxious spectators.The memorial above was erected by public subscription to honour three brave men who gave their lives saving others. |
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Gunner Smith
Gunner Smith was accidentally killed in an accident while manning a gun at South Gare during the First World War.He was twenty six years old and was a member of the Yorkshire Regiment.The Colonel was the then Lord Zetland and he arranged for a Military Funeral and also arranged for a suitable monument to this young soldier.One interesting fact was that cannon balls were placed around his grave but these have disappeared over the years. |
Fl Lt Stewart Gordon Ridley RFC
 | Flt Lt Ridley was a member of a well known Redcar family.He was a fighter pilot in the Royal Flying Corps in the 1914-1918 war.His plane crashed in the Lybian Desert in 1916.His engineer on the flight was badly injured.Flt Lt Ridley left whatever meagre rations they had for the engineer and set off to seek help.Tragically both died.An Australian found the bodies and the plane and marked out Lt Ridley's resting place with a cross for a spotter plane to locate.The cross is now in St Peters Church Redcar.Flt Lt Ridley was buried alongside his engineer in Egypt.
On his memorial in Redcar Cemetery is a poem which starts 'He was a boy of April beauty'.The 'Friends Group' seeking the meaning of this poem,trailed the Internet and found it was written in 1923 by a well known poet John Drinkwater and was dedicated to Flt Lt Ridley.The poem is entitled 'Riddles RFC 1916' which must have been his nickname..
Riddles RFC 1916
by John Drinkwater
He was a boy of April beauty;one
Who had tried the world;who while the sun
Flamed yet upon the eastern sky,was done.
Time would have brought him to her patient ways-
So his young beauty spoke-to prosperous days,
To fulness of authority and praise.
He would not wait so long,a boy he spent
His boy's dear life for England.Be content;
No honour of age had been more excellent. |
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Rev Edgar Greenshield -Update
 | | The Friends of Redcar Cemetery will make a presentation of the photograph above to the Mission to Seamen at Flying Angel House Tees Dock on 24th April 2007 |
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