MEMORIES AND INFORMATION - THE HOME GUARD IN YORKSHIRE

THE HOME GUARD
in the villages of
KILDWICK and FARNHILL
North Yorkshire

This is a page within the www.staffshomeguard.co.uk website. To see full contents, go to SITE MAP.

The villages of Kildwick and Farnhill lie between Skipton and Keighley in North Yorkshire.

A remarkable map survives showing the arrangements for their defence and probably dating from 1940. It is reproduced below.

From the same source comes an excellent image of a machine gun section from the unit defending the area.

Staffshomeguard is indebted to Mr. Peter Whitaker for providing this information and permitting its reproduction on this page.
In the same area as these villages lies the town of Haworth which hosts a thriving Home Guard reenactment group - see details of it here.

In this image (below) of a machine gun section within the unit (33rd West Riding (Skipton) Battn.) which defended this area of North Yorkshire, the man standing fourth from the right in the back row is Cpl. W. Norman Slingsby. He lost his life whilst on duty with the Home Guard on 15th October 1942 at the age of 36. He was involved, together with Sgt. Lofthouse (seen here next to Cpl. Slingsby, fourth left), in a road accident at Glusburn. He is buried in the churchyard at Kildwick (St. Andrew), his resting place marked with a Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone.

The photograph is believed to have been taken in the White Lion car park, Kildwick.

 

N.B. The contributor of these images and information, Peter Whitaker, is a member of 'C' Coy., WR 28th Battn. Home Guard reenactment group based in Haworth; please see (right) the unit in a convincing 1943 sepia image and see also details of the group here.