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Four years ago, we produced a special newsletter (Number 10, Summer 2014), which focused on war memorials created by Robert Thompson to commemorate those who lost their lives in the Great War 1914-1918. This year, as we commemorate the centenary of the end of that great conflict, we thought it would be fitting to look again at some of Robert Thompson’s memorial work as a way of remembering all those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. The memorials we have chosen to feature are all stonework and can be seen today in the North Yorkshire villages of Coxwold, Brandsby and Husthwaite. Although Robert Thompson’s chosen trade was as a wood carver and joiner, at this stage in his career, before his reputation was firmly established, he regularly turned his hand to working in stone.

Behind each of the names inscribed by my great grandfather on these memorials there is, of course, a story of a family’s grief, some of which are illuminated in this newsletter. Whether it is the two brothers who died on foreign soil within a matter of months of each other, or the young man, son and heir of an illustrious architect, who was lost at sea, these stone-carved echoes of lives long gone remind us of the layer upon layer of personal tragedy experienced by communities during the 1914-1918 conflict. Today, the memorials in Coxwold, Brandsby and Husthwaite, like so many others in our cities, towns and villages, continue to stand silently, bearing witness to the fallen whilst at the same time enhancing their surroundings with their dignified beauty.

Sending all our Mouseman friends across the world best wishes for 2019.

Ian Thompson Cartwright

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