War memorials, North Yorkshire
War Memorials Elsewhere, -
Probus School (Old Probusians)
- The Church of St. Probus and St. Grace, Probus (Cornwall)
War memorials, North Yorkshire
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The Old Probians War Memorial in the Church of St. Probus and St. Grace, Probus (Cornwall) The Old Probians War Memorial in the Church of St. Probus and St. Grace, Probus (Cornwall)
Photo : Cornwall's War History Remembered

The Old Probians War Memorial in the Church of St. Probus and St. Grace, Probus (Cornwall) commemorates 26 names of those who lost their lives in the First World War. The memorial is a brass plaque with the following dedication;-
"IN LOVING MEMORY OF THESE OLD/ PROBIANS WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR/ THEIR COUNTRY IN THE GREAT WAR/ (NAMES)/ GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS".

Probus school was an eminent boy's boarding school that was demolished in the 1950s/1960s to make way for housing. Lewman Road in the village, leading off the appropriately named College Close, was named after a headmaster.
(ref : RootsChat.)

One Officer who served with the Yorkshire Regiment is commemorated on this memorial.

Captain Basil Every Gill. 2nd Battalion Yorkshire Regiment (Adjutant of). Son of Thomas Husband Gill, of Ward House, Walkhampton, Devon, and the late Beatrice Gill. Killed 18 October 1916. Aged 23.
Commemorated on Pier and Face 3 A and 3 D, THIEPVAL MEMORIAL.

From "Officers of the Green Howards, 1688 - 1931" by M L Ferrar;-
Born at Devonport, 24 November 1893, youngest son of Thomas Husband Gill, Solicitor of Penlee Cottage, Devonport.
2nd Lieutenant 12 May 1915; Lieutenant 28 July 1915.
Joined the 2nd Battalion in France in September 1915 and was shortly afterwards appointed acting adjutant. He was wounded at Mametz Wood on 16 July 1916 but remained at duty.
Killed 18 October 1916 on the Somme, near Fleurs.

The following biographical comments are provided by Robert Coulson in his Biographies of Officers of the Yorkshire Regiment;-
"Basil Gill was born in Devonport on November 24th 1893, the youngest son of a local solicitor and was articled to his father’s law firm when war broke out leaving to join the ranks of the 2nd Battalion Duke of Cornwalls Light Infantry.
He entered Sandhurst in December of 1914 and was commissioned on May 12th 1915 joining the 2nd Yorkshires in September 1915 after the Battle of Loos.
He was soon appointed adjutant of the battalion and on July 1st 1916 saw action on the Somme at Montauban and later at Trones Wood and Mametz Wood where he was wounded but remained at duty with the battalion.
On October 17th 1916 the battalion assembled in New Trench for an attack on the German position of Bayonet Trench on the Le Transloy Ridges.
Captain Basil Every Gill was killed in this attack on October 18th 1916 aged 23.
His body lost to the battlefield he is remembered today on the Thiepval Memorial.
His Divisional CO wrote of him,
“I knew him well and always regarded him as one of the finest boys in the division.
I know his regiment will miss him sorely and the service is poorer without him.
He had made a name for himself for his fine soldierly qualities and his unswerving devotion to duty”."

The Church of St. Probus and St. Grace, Probus (Cornwall)The Church of St. Probus and St. Grace, Probus (Cornwall)
Photo © Copyright Tony Atkin and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

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