RYEDALE Family History Group has published the second volume of the Castle Howard Estate Villages as part of its series of books on war memorials.

The book, which is the 12th in the collection, includes the war memorials of Barton-le-Street, Coneysthorpe, Bulmer, Slingsby and Welburn.

Mini biographies of each soldier recorded on the memorials has been fully researched and written by volunteer members of the group, mainly by Martin Knight and Peter Braithwaite and

with contributions by other members.

The book contains information about all 40 men who are commemorated on these war memorials.

In Slingsby, the memorial includes Fryton and South Holme. Out of the 20 men who were killed from those villages, half were pairs of brothers; five families lost two men each.

One of those was James Pearce who was a second Lieutenant with the second West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales Own).

He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal in 1918, and the London Gazette citation included the following: “For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty whilst in charge of a convoy. Owing to the heavy shelling the animals became straggled and many bogged, with exceptional coolness and total disregard of personal safety he moved up and down, helping and cheering the men and undoubtedly saving many animals by his gallant conduct.”

Peter Braithwaite, chairman of Ryedale Family History Group, said: “It is very rewarding to be part of the research team, bringing the lives of these courageous men to the attention of a modern audience, a 100 years on.

“We can identify with these men, they had families, many worked locally and some were connected to the estate of Castle Howard.

“I would like to thank the many people who contributed items to this project, such as family photographs and who shared their own research such as Michael Collins for his work on Bulmer casualties, also to Dr Christopher Ridgway for images of Michael Howard, and finally to Nicholas Howard for writing the foreword and paying tribute to the men who did not return, which included his Great Uncle.”

The book is available through Ryedale Family History Group and local outlets.

If anyone would like to be involved in this project, or in the work of Ryedale Family History Group, contact the secretary through the website ryedalefamilyhistory.org