Sources for Farrar Street Congregational Church

The War Memorial at Farrar Street Congregational Church, now the Trinity United Reformed Church, bears no names.

Part of the Wall of the Church Hall on Crookes Street (Photo by Nigel Croft, 28 May 2015)

But after some inscribed stones, particularly one with the words "York and Lancs", were spotted on the wall of the Church extension which opened in 1933, research was carried out to see if any of them commemorated Fallen soldiers. There are two which do.  Click on the links to see more information about these men.

Harold Wright
Harry Tock

In the course of the research the following sources for WW1 soldiers connected to Farrar Street Church were also discovered in Barnsley Archives. They were stored as item A/163/3/N which is two cardboard boxes of mixed items to do with the church, such as pamphlets, minute books, baptism certificate books and photographs.

List of "Old Scholars Killed on Active Service" from the 1919 'Coming of Age' Souvenir booklet for the Church.  Names of 6 men killed.

Harold Raymond Oldham Hebdon
Maurice Rowlands
Stanley Thorne
Newby Thornley
Harry Tock
Harold Wright
 
Church produced Christmas Card from 1915 listing 34 names on a Roll of Honour

Lance Corporal Wm Dale Drummer Harold Wright Bandsman Herbert Haigh Corporal Wilfred R Cleverley Sergeant Arthur H Wainwright Pte D. Maurice Rowlands Pte Robert Oakley Pte Clarence Mellor Pte Charles Horbury Pte William Cooper Lance Corporal G Broadhead Pte Stanley Thorne Trooper Gilbert Wheelwright Pte W Hewitt Pte H Field Lance Corporal W Glassby Lance Corporal F Chappell

Pte Walter Thornton Pte H Hydes Sergeant Fred Dobbs Pte Harold Mason Sapper Tom Pashley Sapper Harold West Sapper Lewis Redhall Driver E Percy Hebdon Driver C R Hartley Driver W Peace Trooper Stuart Oldacre Pte E E Parkes Pte Wm Kirk Pte Elliott J Kirk Pte George Scott Pte Alfred Thorne Pte Gordon Turner

Entry in the Church Minutes for 10 August 1920 giving the names of 9 men who were to be listed on their war memorial.  Later it was decided to list no names.

Hebdon, Field, Rowlands, Thorne, F. Broadhead, Tock, Wright, Thornley, Holt

(Assumed to be Harold R O Hebdon, Harry Field, David Maurice Rowlands, Stanley Thorne, Fred Broadhead, Harry Tock, Harold Wright, Newby Thornley and James William Holt.)

Finally a search of the Barnsley Chronicle in April 1915, looking for an obituary for D M Rowlands also turned up a cutting about a sale of work, which not only mentioned Pte Rowlands, but also a long list of other men connected to the church, some of whom are not on the Christmas card Roll of Honour above.

List of men in Barnsley Chronicle 10 April 1915

D M Rowlands (already Killed in Action)
W Dale, Royal Irish Rifles (wounded at Mons)
G Broadhead, W R Cleverley, A H Wainwright, George Scott (Barnsley Battalion)
Harold Wright, H Haigh, C Mellor, W Cooper, A Thorne, W Hewitt, H Field, Lance Corporals W Glassby and F Chappell (all of the 5th Y and L Regiment)
R Oakley, KOYLI
C Hornby, Royal Marines
S Thorne, 10th Highland Light Infantry
G Wheelwright, Yorkshire Dragoons
 

If your local war memorial doesn't have any names on it or it has not survived, don't give up, there are other sources out there, you just have to find them!

Harry Tock 1899-1918

Harry Tock is remembered on the side of the Church Hall on Crookes Street

Born:
1899 in Barnsley, Yorkshire

Son of:
George William Tock b.1866 in Barnsley  d.1939 in Barnsley
1911:  Builder and Stone Mason 29 Fitzwilliam Street, Barnsley
married in the Barnsley Registration District in Q2 1898 (9c 396)
Ada (maiden name White) b.1871 in Thornhill Lees, nr Dewsbury d.1955 in Barnsley

Position in family: The eldest of 7 children
1. Harry Tock b.1899  WW1 KILLED
2. Doris Tock b.1901
3. Fred Tock b.1902
4. Lucy Tock b.1904
5. Hilda Tock b.1905
6. Mabel Tock b.1909
7. George Tock b.1913

Home address, age and occupation:
1901: 25 Fitzwilliam Street, age 1
1911: 29 Fitzwilliam Street, age 11

Marriage: 
Harry was unmarried

Military Service:
Enlisted: **?**
Regiment and Battalion:    1/7th Btn Durham Light Infantry
Service number and rank:  98990  Private
Regiment and Battalion: 9th West Riding Regiment
Service number and rank: 35023 Privae
Awards: British War Medal, Victory Medal

Death:     4 November 1918 aged 19
Buried at:  Romeries Communal Cemetery Extension, France
Grave Reference:  VII. B. 3.

(Harry's parents paid for the dedication, "In Loving memory of our Eldest Son" to be added to his CWGC gravestone.)

Information from Commonwealth War Graves Commission:
Son of George William and Ada Tock, of 33, Fitzwilliam Street, Barnsley, Yorks.

Remembered:
Harry is remembered on an inscribed stone on the side of the Farrar Street United Reformed Church (see above) and on his parents' gravestone in Barnsley Cemetery.

Notes:

Lives of the First World War

This death notice was inserted in the Barnsley Chronicle on 30 November 1918 (thanks to Barnsley Archives).

"Tock - In affectionate rememberance of Pte. Harry Tock, W. R. Regt., the beloved son of George William and Ada Tock, who was killed in action November 4th, 1918, aged 19 years. 
No cards.
Mr. and Mrs. Tock and family sincerely thank all friends for kind sympathy in their sad bereavement.
33, Fitzwilliam Street, Barnsley."

Barnsley Chronicle 6 May 1933 (thanks to Barnsley Archives)

When the Sunday School Hall at the rear of Farrar Street Church was built in 1933 the main contractor was Mr Geo. W. Tock, of Barnsley, Harry Tock's father.  The stone dedicated to Harry is also recorded in a report in the Barnsley Chronicle from 17 June 1933 which lists many of the inscribed stones that commemorate contributors to the Sunday School project.

George William Tock's father, Henry Tock, was also a Stone Mason and originally came from Winterton in Lincolnshire.  The surname Tock seems to come from the Brigg, Goole and Thorne area of North Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire.