Eileen STONES 1922 – 1946

W/36474 Serjeant Eileen Stones, Auxiliary Territorial Service [ATS] died 26 November 1946 aged 24.  She is buried in West Auckland Cemetery [1] and commemorated on West Auckland War Memorial.

Family Details

Eileen Stones was born 1922[2] the daughter of John George and Minnie Foster,[3] the sister of Donald, Elizabeth, Alice and probably one other sibling [record officially closed].[4]  In 1939, the family lived at Leazes Terrace, St. Helen’s Auckland where her father John worked as a colliery stoneman, Donald was a warehouse boy, Elizabeth and Alice were still at school.  Eileen was not recorded as living there.[5]

In 1942, Eileen married William Stones.[6]  It is believed that he was born 28 May 1919, the son of William and Bessie Stones, brother to John, Corah, Ruby and possibly 2 other siblings [records officially closed].  In 1939, the Stones family lived at East View, West Auckland and William worked as a painter.[7]

Service Details

The service record of Serjeant Eileen Stones and the circumstances surrounding her death have not been researched.

The National Service Act 1941 called upon unmarried women between 20 and 30 years old to join one of the auxiliary services – the ATS, Women’s Royal Naval Service [WRNS] the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force [WAAF] and the Women’s Transport Service.  The first ATS recruits were employed as cooks, clerks and storekeepers then the service was expanded to include orderlies, drivers, postal workers and ammunition inspectors.  Women were barred from serving in battle but took over many support tasks such as radar operators, members of anti-aircraft crews, military police, searchlight operators, specialist camera work in gun batteries and signal operators on lines of communications.  By VE Day there were over 190,000 members of the women’s ATS.

Burial [8]

W/36474 Serjeant Eileen Stones is buried at grave reference F.2, West Auckland Cemetery.  Her headstone bears the epitaph:

In Loving Memory

Of My Dearly Beloved Wife Eileen

Gone But Not Forgotten

REFERENCES

[1] Commonwealth War Graves Commission

[2] England & Wales Birth Index 1916-2007 Vol.10a p.459 1922Q3 Auckland

[3] CWGC

[4] 1939 England & Wales Register

[5] 1939 England & Wales Register

[6] England & Wales Marriage Register 1916-2005 Vol.10a p.421 1942Q4 Durham Western

[7] 1939 England & Wales Register Note: the most likely match.

[8] CWGC