Henry Hiley's medals

Henry at Portsmouth 1940

In 1950 Henry received five medals for his service in the Royal Navy in WW2.

  

Above: the box in which the medals arrived Left: Letter from the Admiralty

Display frame for Henry's medals

The medals were:

1 1939-1945 Star 

Dark blue, red and light blue in three equal vertical stripes. This ribbon is worn with the dark blue stripes furthest from the left shoulder. 

This star was awarded for service in the Second World War between 3rd September 1939 and 2nd September 1945. Royal Navy personnel had to complete 6 months service afloat in active operational areas. 

The ribbon has three vertical stripes of dark blue, red and light blue. The dark blue stripe represents the Naval Forces and the Merchant Navy, the red stripe the Armies and the light blue stripe the Air Forces. The ribbon for this medal, along with those of the other Second World War campaign stars, is reputed to have been designed by King George VI, with the three equal bands representing the equal contributions towards victory of the Royal Navy, Army, and the Royal Air Force respectively.

 

2 Atlantic Star (with Clasp France and Germany)

Blue, white and sea green shaded and watered. This ribbon is worn with the blue edge furthest from the left shoulder.

This star is a campaign medal of the British Commonwealth that was awarded for service in World War 2. The star was awarded for six months service afloat, in the Atlantic or in Home Waters, within the period 3 September 1939 to 8 May 1945. The 1939-45 Star must have been earned before commencing qualifying service for the Atlantic Star. 

The France and Germany Clasp was awarded to those who subsequently became entitled to the France and Germany star. 

The shaded and watered blue, white, and sea-green stripes represent the colours of the Atlantic Ocean.

3 Africa Star 

Pale buff, with a central vertical red stripe and two narrower stripes, one dark blue, and the other light blue. This ribbon is worn with the dark blue stripe furthest from the left shoulder.

The star was awarded for a minimum of one day service in an operational area of North Africa between 10 June 1940 and 12 May 1943. Naval personnel anywhere at sea in the Mediterranean or in harbour in North Africa, Malta or Egypt between the above dates will qualify.

The sand of the desert is represented by pale buff, the Royal Navy (and Merchant Navy), British Army and Royal Air Force are represented by stripes of dark blue, red, and light blue respectively. 

4 Defence Medal 

Flame coloured with green edges, upon each of which is a narrow black stripe.

The Defence Medal was a campaign medal of the British Commonwealth, awarded for service in World War II. It was instituted to recognise both military and some types of civilian service. 

Flame coloured in the centre flanked by stripes of green to symbolise enemy attacks on Britain’s green and pleasant land, with narrow black stripes to represent the blackout.

5 War Medal 1939-1945 

A narrow central red stripe with a narrow white stripe on either side. A broad red stripe at either edge, and two intervening stripes in blue.

The War Medal was awarded to all full time personnel of the armed forces wherever they were serving, provided they had served for at least 28 days between 3 September 1939 and 2 September 1945. Sometimes described as the 'Victory Medal'.

The colours represent those of the Union Flag.

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Malta GC Commemorative Medal 

In 1993 Henry received a sixth medal. He was invited to receive it at a ceremony at the Malta High Commission in London.

Henry's Malta medal

The Malta George Cross Fiftieth Anniversary Medal is a commemorative medal created by the government of Malta and awarded by, or in the name of, the President of Malta. Established on 17 January 1992, it could be awarded to individuals who met the specified requirements of service and made application for award of the medal by 15 April 1994. The medal honours the collective award of the George Cross to the island of Malta during World War II. 

The medal was awarded for service during the qualifying period of 10 June 1940 to 8 September 1943 during and after the Siege of Malta.

The colours of the ribbon, two narrow stripes of white and red on a background of blue, are representative of the Malta flag and the George Cross.

Arctic Star 

Arctic Star

Henry died in 2007. In 2014 his son John applied to the Ministry of Defence Medal Office and received Henry's Arctic Star in January 2015.

The Arctic Star is a retrospective award, announced in late 2012, nearly seven decades after the end of the Second World War. It is granted for operational service of any length, from 3rd September 1939 to 8th May 1945 inclusive, north of the Arctic Circle on the Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea. The Arctic Star is intended to commemorate the Arctic convoys and is designed primarily for the ships of the convoys to North Russia and their Escorts.

The three colours represent the forces which were involved in the campaign, light blue for the Air Forces, dark blue for the Navy and red for the Merchant Navy, while the central white band, edged in black, represents the Arctic.

Look out next year for more posts about Henry's service in the Royal Navy

Heap and Parsons families

Recent posts have looked at the Heap and Parsons families and their connection to the Hileys. 

The pedigree chart below shows Ethel Heap's ancestors on her father's side (the Heaps) and on her mother's side (the Parsonses). 

The map below shows the movement of members of the Parsons family from Bolton by Bowland to Sabden and Newchurch and then to Cornholme (red arrows), and also the journey of the Heaps from Bacup to Cornholme (yellow arrow). Whalley and Accrington, where Parsons marriages took place, are also on the map, along with Walsden where Ethel and Harold Hiley lived after their marriage.

Further east is the Upper Calder valley and Halifax. The Yorkshire Hileys originated in the township of Sowerby and a branch moved west to settle in Todmorden and Walsden.

Click on the map to magnify it.

The Parsonses of Sabden (Part 4 The move to Cornholme)

Thomas Parsons left Sabden after finishing at Victoria Mill and moved to Cornholme, where he appeared in the 1871 census living with his two youngest daughters Martha and Sarah. He was working as a Warehouseman in a Cotton Factory and Martha (aged 27) and Sarah (aged 24) were both Cotton Weavers. This may well have been Frostholme Mill - see the recent posts about the Heap family of Cornholme.

Also shown working at the same time as a Warehouseman in a Cotton Factory was 19 year old Henry Heap, and four years later Martha married Henry in Christ Church, Accrington. Amongst those present at the wedding were Henry's father John (Cotton Manufacturer), Martha's father Thomas (Warehouseman), and witnesses Josiah Greenwood and Alice Crabtree. 

Image courtesy of Geoff Porter 

The post of 23rd October 2020 covered Martha and Henry's time in Cornholme.

Thomas Parsons died in 1881 and was buried in the graveyard at Sabden Baptist church along with his wife Susannah.

Grave of Thomas and Susannah in Sabden

Martha died in 1884 and was buried in Vale Baptist chapel in Cornholme. Buried with Martha were her daughter Edith aged 1 year and 7 months, and her sister-in-law Alice Crabtree (nee Heap), a witness at her wedding. Henry died in 1923 and was buried at Audenshaw Cemetery with his second wife Martha Annie.

Grave of Martha Heap in Cornholme

The Parsonses of Sabden (Part 3 Thomas Parsons Cotton Manufacturer)

Thomas Parsons, one of William and Mary's ten children, was born in 1807. He married Susannah Irving of Read in 1830 in Whalley parish church like his parents. 

At the time of the 1841 and 1851 censuses Thomas and his family were living in Sabden Bottoms. This is a small row of terraced houses at the end of the village of Sabden off Whalley Road, and now called Whins Avenue.

Thomas was a Grocer at the time and he and Susannah had eight children - Benjamin, William, Mary Ann, Edward, Selina, Jeremiah, Martha and Sarah.

Whins Avenue, Sabden, formerly The Bottoms

By the time of the 1861 census Thomas and his family had moved to Spen Brook, a small village a few miles away close to Newchurch in Pendle.

Thomas is described as a 'Cotton Manufacturer 288 looms employing 48 men 18 boys 25 women 20 children total 111'. He was now a widower and living with four of his children, including Martha.

Above - the mill today, part of a new housing development Left - coming into Spen Brook from Newchurch. The mill chimney is in the distance

Thomas was in partnership with Roger Osbaldeston as Cotton Manufacturers at Spen Brook Mill. Roger was from Blackburn and lived in Sabden, and had married Thomas's eldest daughter Mary Ann in 1855.

Roger and Mary Ann Osbaldeston

The following notice appeared in The Burnley Advertiser on 20th December 1862.

Partnership of Parsons and Osbaldeston dissolved

Newspaper image © The British Library Board. All rights reserved. 

With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)

On 22nd October 1864 The Morning Advertiser gave a list of 'Country Bankrupts' from The London Gazette. Included was: Thomas Parsons, Spen Brook, Lancashire, cotton manufacturer.

Shortly afterwards, Thomas was in business with his son Jeremiah in co-partnership together in the firm of Parsons & Son, cotton manufacturers at Victoria Mill, Sabden. Once again Thomas was listed as bankrupt, along with Jeremiah, in the London Gazette on 10th December 1866. On 13th April 1867 The Burnley Gazette carried a notice of a Sale by Auction under The Bankruptcy Act 1861 regarding Thomas Parsons & Son, Bankrupts, at Victoria Mills, Sabden, Near Whalley.

Victoria Mill was situated opposite Sabden Bottoms and is now the scene of a residential development.

Site of the old Victoria Mill, Sabden

Next time: The move to Cornholme

The Parsonses of Sabden (Part 2 William Parsons Calico Printer)

William Parsons married Mary Wilkinson in St Mary and All Saints parish church in Whalley in 1802.The couple lived in Sabden and had ten children of whom seven are named on William and Mary's gravestone in the Baptist Chapel burial ground.

Grave of William Parsons and family in the Sabden Baptist graveyard

How sudden and how awfull was the stroke

By which the slender thread of Life was broke

Oh may this admonition teach us all

How frail is Man how unforeseen His fall

The Sabden Calico Printworks was established in 1793 and textile printers came from the surrounding area to work there. William was a Calico Printer and may well have left Bolton by Bowland to find work at the Sabden Printworks.

The first church to be built in Sabden was the Baptist Church in 1797 and this was known as 'The Church at Pendle Hill'. Baptisms took place the following year and in 1802 William and Mary's first child John was baptised at the church.

The old Baptist chapel no longer exists but the graveyard remains and buried there are a number of Parsons families including William and Mary and many of their children.

Sabden Baptist original church
(courtesy of Sabden Baptist Church website)

The Sabden Baptist graveyard today

Next time: Thomas Parsons Cotton Manufacturer

The Parsonses of Sabden (Part 1 The Bolton by Bowland ancestors)

The posts in October 2020 told the story of the Heap connection with the Hiley family brought about when Ethel Heap married Harold Hiley in 1903. In 1875 Ethel's father Henry Heap had married Martha Parsons who was from Sabden near Clitheroe in Lancashire. The next few posts will give the story of Martha's family starting with her ancestors in Bolton by Bowland.

In 1748 John Parsons married Margaret Rausthorne in the Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul in Bolton by Bowland, a peaceful little village in the Forest of Bowland. The 1700s saw a number of Parsons family members baptised, married and buried at this church.

Bolton by Bowland parish church

It is not clear yet when John was born and whether he was from Bolton by Bowland or the surrounding area. The Rausthornes can be traced further back to John who was born in 1667. Margaret was born in 1719 in Bolton by Bowland and was the daughter of Thomas Rausthorne of Gisburne Forrest. John and Margaret had five children - John (who died in infancy), Elisabeth, Alice, John and Margaret. The second John was born in 1756.

John married Jane Scott, also from the same parish of Bolton by Bowland, in 1780, and once again in the parish church. John and Jane had six children, of which the second was William, born in 1781.

The baptism entry in the parish records shows that William was the son of John Parsons from Holden. Holden is a tiny hamlet a short distance from Bolton by Bowland.

Holden

At some time between 1790 and when he married in 1802 William moved south, round the side of Pendle Hill, to the village of Sabden.

Next time: William Parsons Calico Printer

Bombadier John Clifford Hiley

Remembrance Day 2020. We remember another Hiley killed in WW1.

John Clifford Hiley was born in Leeds on 6th August 1894. In 1911 he was living at home with his parents John (a Railway Guard) and Louisa, sister Ethel and brothers Clarence and Leonard. John Clifford was a Labourer. He married Mary Elizabeth Mylan in early 1914 in Hunslet, Leeds and a son John was born later that year.

John Clifford was a Bombardier with the Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Field Artillery in A Battery, 102nd Brigade. He was killed in action on 13th June 1917, aged 22 and is buried at Hop Store Cemetery near Ypres in Belgium.

John Clifford Hiley's grave
Included courtesy of International War Graves Photography Project #46770518 (Find A Grave)

Hop Store cemetery
From the website Rutland Remembers with thanks
https://www.rutlandremembers.org/location/1044/hop-store-cemetery

Swineshead

David Hiley married Dorothy Maud on 7th June 1720 at Halifax Parish Church. David was a weaver, Dorothy a spinster, and the couple were both from the township of Warley. David and Dorothy had three sons, Mark, James and David.

James and Mark both moved west from Warley along the Calder valley whilst David stayed in Warley. James was a webster (a weaver) and he married Martha Greenwood on 3rd October 1761 at Heptonstall. Their first child Mary was baptised later that year when the family were living in Castle, just east of Todmorden.

By the time of the baptism of  James and Martha's 4th child Bettey in 1768 the family were living in Swineshead New House on the road heading out of Walsden towards Lumbutts. They stayed there until James's death in 1795. 

Their address is given as Swineshead Cottage for Salley's baptism in 1772 and just Swineshead on the record of James's burial, and it is not clear which of the existing buildings they were living in at the time. Swineshead is now a listed building. Historic England describes it as built in the mid 17th century and then rebuilt in the early to mid 18th century.

The buildings at Swineshead:

The view down to Walsden from Swineshead

James's brother Mark had already made the journey west from Warley. Mark was a comber and he married Mary Law at Heptonstall on 26th March 1754. Their second child William was baptised while the couple were living at Swineshead Rough. The Rough is the land opposite Swineshead between Lumbutts Road and Langfield Moor.

The view from Swineshead across The Rough to Langfield Moor

The buildings at Swineshead, taken from The Rough looking towards Todmorden

'Top O' th' Rough'

The Heaps of Cornholme (Part 4 Henry Heap's family)

John Heap married Grace Brierley in 1840. They had 8 children between 1841 and 1862.

Their sixth child Henry was born in 1852 in Broadclough near Bacup. Some time in the mid 1850s Henry moved with his family to Cornholme. At about the same time James Ashworth and Mary also moved to Cornholme. Henry's family originally lived at Stubley Holme but then moved to Redwater Foot, opposite Frostholme Mill.

The 1871 census shows that Grace, now a widow, was living with her daughters Alice and Grace, and twin sons, George and Henry. Henry was shown as a Warehouseman in a Cotton Factory, probably Frostholme Mill.

Henry Heap

The 1881 census shows our Heap family living at 1 Birthright View. This address appears to have been renamed 1 Oakleigh Terrace before the next census in 1891. A photo of the house was shown in the last post (Part 3). But by now Henry was married and living with his wife Martha and daughter Alice Selina in Cliviger, the next parish to Stansfield.

Henry had married Martha Parsons in 1875. Martha was from Sabden near Whalley in Lancashire. Future posts will tell the story of Martha and her ancestors.

Henry and Martha's second daughter Ethel was born in 1882 but Martha died two years later. In 1891 Henry was living at 1 Oakleigh Terrace with his mother Grace, his daughters Alice Selina and Ethel, his twin brother George and sister Grace. In 1895 Henry married Martha Annie Holland. He is described as a Bookkeeper and then a Cashier in the next two censuses. Henry and Martha Annie had three children - Dorothy, George and Harry. He died in 1923.

Grace Heap died in 1894 and her sister Mary Ashworth in 1908. Douglas Wilson, a great great great grandson of Mary, has it on family authority that the widows Mary and Grace 'would sit by their firesides alternately smoking their clay pipes and no doubt chewing the cud'.

Ethel

Ethel is described as a Cotton Weaver in the 1901 census and was still living in Cornholme with her family. Two years later she married Harold Hiley (see Part 1).

Acknowledgement: 'Our Heap Family' by Rodney Heap

The Heaps of Cornholme (Part 3 Photos of Cornholme and the mills)

Photos of Cornholme and the Heap & Ashworth mills 
(taken in 2020)

Frostholme Mill on the right. In the distance, facing, is Oakleigh Terrace

Frostholme Mill

1 Oakleigh Terrace (end house)

Cornholme

Site of Caldervale Mill

Next post:  Henry Heap's family