Bedford House Cemetery
D.L.I. Memorial Book
Pauline Priano has submitted the following:-
Norman Reed Sterling was born 1897 in Shildon, Co Durham, one of 5 children ( 2 boys and 3 girls) born to Alfred Daniel Sterling (b. 1864 Westgate, Weardale- d. 1928 Sedgefield, Co Durham) and his wife Mary Jane Manners (b. 1869 Bishop Auckland, Co Durham- d. 1958). Alfred and Mary Jane were married August 18th 1890, Alfred was employed as a barber in Shildon however by 1911 they had moved to 14 Eden Terrace, Chilton Buildings, Ferryhill where he subsidised his income working also as a coal shifter below ground at the colliery. Norman now 14 years old was also employed as a coal screener removing stones, slates and brasses from the coals as they came from the hewers. He would have worked in this way for 12 hours a day.
At the outbreak of war Norman enlisted in Spennymoor as Private 1875 in the Durham Light Infantry assigned to the !st/6th Battalion, part of the Northumbrian Division. They moved to Boldon Colliery in early August, then Ravensworth Park and by October were based in Newcastle for training. Early April 1915 the Division was warned it would go on overseas service. Entrainment began April 16th and on the17th it landed at Boulogne. By the 23rd the Division had concentrated in the area of Steenvoorde in Belgium and was rushed into battle just as the German army attacked nearby Ypres.
Private 1875 Norman Sterling died of wounds sustained near Ypres in Belgium May 15th 1915 aged just 18 years. He was firstly interred at L’Ecole de Bienfaisance British Cemetery but was subsequently exhumed at the end of the conflict and brought into Bedford House Cemetery, West Vlaanderen, near Ypres, grave enclosure 2 VI. A. 49..
As his sole beneficiary his mother received all his effects, she also commissioned an additional inscription to be placed on his headstone at a cost of 11s 6d (eleven shillings and six pence) which reads, “The Souls Of The Righteous Are In The Hands Of God”. Norman was awarded the 1914/15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
In God’s Safe Keeping. Rest In Peace
Norman Reed Stirling is remembered at Chilton on C107.01, C107.04 and C107.12
