Harrogate's Stonefall Cemetery to host special guided tours for International Women's Day and Commonwealth Day

Had York not suffered a terrible bombing raid in April 1942, Private Dorothy Thompson would have expected to be married that May.

The Harrogate woman had joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) around 1940 and by 1942 she was billeted in York.

However, in the early hours of April 29, 1942, the city suffered the raid, with bombs falling from 40 German planes for almost two hours.

One of the bombs fell on a pair of semi-detached houses on Nunthorpe Grove, numbers 23 and 25. They were destroyed alongside the neighbouring pair, numbers 19 and 21.

Pte Thompson had been living at number 21 and was discovered several days later at the bottom of a bomb crater. Aged just 24, she was the first member of the ATS in the Northern Command to be killed by enemy action.

She is one of the six female casualties commemorated at Stonefall Cemetery at Harrogate and visitors will get a rare chance to hear more about her story and that of the five others.

To jointly mark International Women’s Day and Commonwealth Day, when the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is offering free themed guided tours at the cemetery in March.

The guided tours for International Women’s Day (March 5 and 6, and the day itself on March 8) will put a spotlight on the six women, who also include those who served in the Territorial Army Nursing Service and Sister Florrie Prest, from Bilton, who was at Dunkirk, Africa and also on hospital ships in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

During the tours for Commonwealth Day (March 12 to 14, the latter of which is the actual day of commemoration) the public will be able to learn more about the casualties from across the Commonwealth who are buried at Stonefall.

These include the Hannah brothers, who served in the Royal Canadian Air Force but died just a few months apart, as well as Sergeant Isikeli Doviverata Komaisavai – known as ‘Ratu Dovi’ – a descendent of the last King of Fiji, who fought for Britain but died after a diagnosis of lung disease and was laid to rest at Stonefall.

The tours are a part of the CWGC’s Ordinary People Extraordinary Times Around The World campaign.

Elizabeth Smith, public engagement coordinator for the North East of England, said: ‘The Commonwealth War Graves Commission cares for 170,000 war graves from both World Wars at more than 12,500 locations in the United Kingdom.

“The Air Force plot at Stonefall Cemetery is unique in the North of England due to its size and resemblance to our sites overseas. The themed guided tours at Stonefall Cemetery will give local people a chance to reconnect with their history, to learn about the work of the CWGC, and discover the remarkable stories of the men and women who are buried in their community.”

The Commission aims to honour the men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died in the First and Second World Wars, ensuring they will never be forgotten. Funded by six Member Governments, its work began with building, and now maintaining, cemeteries at 23,000 locations all over the world.

During the Second World War almost 1,000 service personnel were buried at Stonefall Cemetery. Many of them came from across the Commonwealth and they include more than 600 Canadian and almost 100 Australian service personnel alongside casualties from East Africa, the Caribbean, New Zealand and Fiji.

The free themed guided tours will take place between Saturday March 5 and Monday March 14.

Bookings can be made at www.cwgc.org/our-war-graves-your-history/what-s-happening-near-you/