Full medal write up
A small 22cm x 15cm photo album labelled George P Stokes, which starts with 5 postcard sized photos relating to the German bombing of Scarborough on December 16th 1914. Album then moves on a couple of similar sized photos entitled ‘Leeds City Special Constables November 1914’. Presumably
Stokes was one of these before joining the RNAS as the rest of the WW1 photos are all RNAS and then RAF. Photos then move onto RNAS/RAF. All are airship related with quite a few Hydrogen related so, again, presumably this is the area Stokes served in. There are a number of aerial shots, so he may have been aircrew but my feelings are he was probably ground crew. The second half of the album is titled ‘Continental photos 1900 -1922, and is a mixture of scenic and postcards. Total of 74 photos in album, 32 are directly
WW1 related.
BOMBING OF SCARBOROUGH DEC 16TH 1914
‘The Scarborough Raid of 16 December 1914 was the most controversial part of the German raid on the Yorkshire coast on 15th – 16th December 1914. At the time Scarborough was an undefended town, lacking any gun emplacements. The harbour was not suitable for warships, nor was it close to significant military targets. This was not true of the entire Yorkshire coast. To the north the mouth of the Tees and Hartlepool were defended by gun batteries, as was the mouth of the Humber……………….’