As Remembrance Day approaches Harry Mead praises a magnificent act of homage to those whose names are engraved on the war memorials of Whitby and the North York Moors.

THERE was John Robert Smith (1894-1917). "His was one of those simple honest lives that are always a blessing to the community." There was Fred Hodgson (1899-1918). "He joined up before his 18th birthday... He was one of the bright and promising boys at Danby School. He died from shell gas poisoning."

There was Robert Mounsey (1876 -1918). "For 15 years he had been head gardener in the employ of Lord Downe. He loved his home and he loved his work. He told the hospital chaplain: "I have put up a good fight, but I can't win through'."

These and other touching pen portraits of First World War victims from Danby in the North York Moors appear in a remarkable but little-known memorial book kept in the parish church. Now its contents will enjoy wider circulation through an almost equally exceptional publication.

In a magnificent act of homage, Whitby publisher Cordelia Stamp has chronicled every war memorial in Whitby and its far-spread rural hinterland. Complete with names, photos of the memorials (some in colour), and a selection of poems, they form the subject of a book, which takes its place alongside them as a fitting tribute to the war dead.

Cordelia, a long-time Whitby resident, would have liked to have done more. But she says: "Since there are over 50,000 war memorials in Britain, it was hardly possible for this one veteran to attempt more than one small area, and even that has proved to be a bigger task than first anticipated."

Danby's memorial book isn't the only treasure revealed by her research. The memorial tablet in Ruswarp church is surmounted by a bullet-pierced crucifix recovered from the battlefield of Ypres. The pulpit in St John's church, Whitby, bears the names of the church members who fell in the two world wars.

Most ambitiously, Castleton's traditional-looking church, consecrated in 1926, is a memorial to the dead of 1914-18. "Live thou for England. We for England died," proclaims its dedication plaque.

The variety of inscriptions goes well beyond the predictable "We Will Remember Them", found in Grosmont church. Hinderwell's impressive - and beautifully cared for - clock-tower memorial bears the lines:

Pass not this stone in sorrow but in pride,

And live your lives as nobly as they died.

A plaque in Fryup village hall grandly states: "From Fryup homes in the Great War they served their country. The topling crags of duty scaled... We are a people yet.'' At Lealholm, the 12 war dead are solemnly introduced: "These passed out of the sight of men by the path of duty and self-sacrifice." Unusually, the memorial also lists the 44 local men who served and survived in the First World War. "Let those that come after see to it that their names be not forgotten," adds a somewhat stern instruction.

Recently removed from Whitby's redundant Brunswick Methodist Church is a memorial board that not only states the victims' occupations but presents the dead in date order of their death. In the First World War nurse Margery Anderson died just two days before the Armistice. In the Second World War cook W. Stuart perished between VE Day and VJ day - the final victories in Europe and Japan. Cordelia notes that a search is on for a suitable place to display this perhaps unique memorial.

Cordelia found recording the names "the saddest part of my research...The list is endless and heart rending". The tender years of many victims moved her most. "I so often wonder about their mother and how she took the news."

As Cordelia jotted down the names from Glaisdale's memorial cross, overlooking the Esk Valley, she thought of lines in a poem by her late husband, Tom, a Whitby ironmonger, who died in 1991, aged 74. Inspired by Frank Sutcliffe's photographs he wrote of:

...countrymen who sturdy stand

And look at us across the years,

With such calm eyes, so free from fears.

"In time of trouble many people turn to poetry for solace," notes Cordelia. So alongside familiar lines from Laurence Binyon and Wilfred Owen, she also offers Tom's poem Armistice Day, 1982, in which he reflects:

Two major wars have left their mark

In broken lives and bitter grief,

And some prepare for yet a third,

Although it seems beyond belief.

To complete her record Cordelia presents a brief account of Whitby's Rohilla hospital-ship tragedy of 1914. The communal grave of the 91 dead in Whitby Cemetery is inscribed: "I saw a new heaven and a new earth and there was no more sea."

Founded by Tom and Cordelia more than 20 years ago, their micro publishing business, Caedmon of Whitby, has made a notable contribution to the appreciation of the district's rich history with excellent books on Captain Cook, the whaling Scoresbys, the fishing industry and other topics. But Silent Witnesses is arguably the best of all - an outstanding personal achievement, of which those it honours would be proud. The great pity is that not everywhere in Britain has such a record.

* Silent Witnesses: War Memorials of Whitby and District by Cordelia Stamp, Caedmon of Whitby, £6.50, or £7.50 by post from 128 Upgang Lane, Whitby, YO21 3JJ. Tel: 01947 604646.