Lt. Col. Stanley Counter NORSWORTHY

1881 - 1966  (85 years)

• Name	Stanley Counter NORSWORTHY  [1, 2]
  Prefix	Lt. Col.
  Born	13 Dec 1881	Ingersoll, Oxford, Ontario, Canada   [3, 4]
  	NORSWORTHY--In Ingersoll, 13th inst., the wife of Mr. J. C. NORSWORTHY, of a son. Stanley Counter NORSWORTHY, male, born 13 December 1881, son of James Counter NORSWORTHY and Mary Jane CUTHBERT. Father a Broker; registered by his father, residing in Ingersoll, on 27 December 1881.
  Gender	Male
  Military Service	1915  [2, 5]
  	He signed his attestation paper 3 June 1915 in Montreal, Quebec. He was a banker prior to the war. He named his father, James C. NORSWORTHY, as next of kin. He was described as age 33 yrs., 6 mos.; height: 6 ft; medium complexion, brown eyes, and dark brown hair. In the Battle of the Somme he was 2nd. in command of his battalion and at Courcelette, September 16th, was wounded and passed two months in hospital. He was awarded the Military Cross in this connection and with the following official report: "For conspicuous gallantry in action. He took personal supervision of the operations in the front line, displayed great courage and initiative. Later, though wounded, he remained at duty. He set a fine example of coolness and devotion to duty throughout". He returned to France, January 2, 1917 as Acting Commander of the Battalion during the winter of 1917 and through the Battle of Vimy Ridge - for which latter action he was granted the D.S.O. On November 22, 1917, Major NORSWORTHY was invested at Buckingham Palace, by H.M. the King, with D.S. O. and M.C.(Book)
  Honours	1918	Gower Street United Church, St. John's, Newfoundland   [6]
  	His name was added to the Gower Street Honour Roll which was unveiled at the church on 24 November 1918.
  Address	1954  [7]
  	Gage Road, Montreal, Canada
  	Address in April of 1954 when he provided information on John NORSWORTHY's family for inclusion in the book, The Genealogy of the COUNTER Family.
  Died	25 Dec 1966	Montreal, Quebec, Canada   [3]
  Commemoration	2014	Gower Street United Church, St. John's, Newfoundland   [6]
  	On Sunday, November 16, 2014, Gower Street United Church initiated a program of commemoration that will last for approximately the next four years. On roughly every second Sunday through to the end of 2018, a brief write-up on one of these individuals, similar to this one, will appear as an insert in the Bulletin and there will be a reference to that person in the service. In this way we hope to recognize their contribution to the war effort, the many sacrifices they made, some with their very lives, and the debt of gratitude we owe to each of them. "Despite his short time in St. John's, Stanley Norsworthy seems to have made a distinct impression on the people of Gower Street Methodist Church. His name was included in the Gower Street Honour Roll, unveiled at the church on November 24, 1918, although it is spelled Noseworthy, a much more common name in Newfoundland. His name also appears on the Roll of Service at Ridley College, along with those of his two younger brothers, Alfred, who was killed in action on March 29, 1917 at Vimy Ridge, and John, who survived the war, and died in Montreal on January 7, 1975".
  Buried	Ingersoll Rural Cemetery, Ingersoll, Oxford, Ontario, Canada   [3]
  	In loving memory of Stanley Counter Norsworthy, DSO, MC, 13 December 1881 - 25 December 1966. Buried with his parents at Ingersoll Rural Cemetery, section C, row AA, stone 7.
  Person ID	I4267	Nosworthy
  Last Modified	17 Jan 2019

  
  

  Father	James Caunter NOSWORTHY,   b. 2 Jul 1846, Widecombe-in-the-Moor, Devon, England ,   d. 4 Nov 1936, Ingersoll, Oxford, Ontario, Canada  (Age 90 years)
  Mother	Mary Jane CUTHBERT,   b. 14 Sep 1852, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 27 Feb 1891, Ingersoll, Oxford, Ontario, Canada  (Age 38 years)
  Married	26 Apr 1878	West Oxford Township, Oxford, Ontario, Canada   [9]
  	NORSWORTHY--CUTHBERT--At Croft Hyrme [?], West Oxford [township], by the Rev. John McEwen, on the 26th ult., James Counter NORSWORTHY, Esq., to Miss Mary CUTHBERT. (Website) James C. NORSWORTHY, 30, Banker, England, Ingersoll, s/o John & Mary, married Mary Jane CUTHBERT, 25, Canada, West Oxford, d/o Alexander and Jane. Witnesses: Thomas VALIAN, of London, Ontario and Henrietta CUTHBERT of West Oxford, 25 April 1878. (Archives) [Henrietta would have been Mary Jane's sister.] [3, 8, 9]
  Address	250, King St East, Ingersoll, Oxford, Ontario, Canada   [10, 11]
  	The NORSWORTHY home was originally constructed as a yellow brick farmhouse, the building and surrounding 200 acres became part of the Mary Jane (Miss May) Cuthbert's dowry when she married James. (Newspaper) It was built in the Queen Ann style in the early 1850's and boasted of turrets, bays, chimneys of cut brick, multi-coloured brickwork, slate roofs and stain glass windows. This is generally an irregular shaped home with no plain surfaces. The 21 room home is three stories high. There are 6 bedrooms, a double drawing room, living room, library, dining room, kitchen, etc. The foundation is said to be 43" thick. The cellar was composed of many rooms - a preserve room with cupboards, a root cellar, wine cellar, coal cellar and furnace room. "Cool rooms" for foods, ventilated by early type air conditioning was composed of vents in the basement walls which drew in the air from outside all around the house - the first natural air conditioned home in Ingersoll. This home was the only one in town that had running tap water, in all the rooms. A cistern was built, with pipes going through the kitchen roof, and these were connected to the cistern about 5 feet above the height of the house. When the pipes were connected, taps were installed in each room for the gravity-forced water. As the cistern's level dropped, more water was pumped up from the well. Mr. and Mrs. J. Robbins are the present owners of this beautiful home, and they try to keep it in it's original state.(Ingersoll) As late as 1978 the history of this home continues to be told. On 4 August 1978 an article appeared in the local newspaper: THE HAUNTED NORSWORTHY HOME by Helen W. Foster Behind an impressive screen of shade trees, the NORSWORTHY home broods over Ingersoll. James Counter NORSWORTHY came with his parents to Canada from Devonshire, England in 1852 and eventually established himself as "Banker and Broker, Insurance and Loan Agent" on King Street. Originally Crown Land, the 200 acres was granted in 1806 to Ebenezer Whiting, one of Ingersoll's early settlers. The present owner of the home, Jessie Robins, believes that the house was built in the 1850's and it came with the dowry of NORSWORTHY's first wife, Mary Jane. The marriage was announced in the Ingersoll chronicle, May 2, 1978 (should be 1878), "Thursday evening last, our townsman J. C. NORSWORTHY was united in marriage with Miss May, eldest daughter of Mrs. Cuthbert of West Oxford in the presence of a number of invited guests. Mr & Mrs NORSWORTHY left on the midnight train for New York. We wish them every happiness." The following week there appeared a letter with the bold headline ADVICE TO THE NEWLY MARRIED MAN FROM AN EXPERIENCED BENEDICT - The long column of free advice contained, among other things. "Don't scold your wife and don't beat your children, if you have any... Bathe often, look after your health..and never go home drunk. Keep clear of your wife's relations...Yours, John. " Just who "John" was and why he felt empowered to give such advice is lost in the pages of time. NORSWORTHY elaborated upon the plain red brick Ontario farmhouse until he had a structure worthy of the dignity of the position that he held in town. The result is a melange of styles that nonetheless present a picaresque view to the observer. A veranda, usually thought to give a house a fashionable urban air, is graced with solid Doric columns. The left side is enclosed with stone and has beautiful stained glass windows. There are sumptuous glass windows throughout the home both exterior and interior. The right veranda sports a bandshell design, topped with a very Victorian pinacle. Above the pillared portico is a stately circular balcony which in turn is topped by a curiously curved gable. Although the pointed arches suggest Gothic, the window is curved Romanesque. The rounded design is echoed in the carved wooden fans of the flanking gavels and in the tri-windows on either side of the house. An Italianate tower is not only a decorative addition but practical as well. It housed a water tower and the giant steel tanks are still in place. The main door has a transom extending over the strengths. It is less sound structurally than a shortened transom, but a pleasing arrangement and a typical pattern in Ontario. The interior of the home is magnificently finished in wood and is said that Norworthy had a carpenter in residence for over a year to complete the work. Frank Leake, a noted local woodcarver, did the elaborate mantelpieces. Interior doors are all equipped with locks and each one has a keyhole cover, a delightful eccentricity of a moneylender who held mortgages on hundreds of properties in town. The ghost of NORSWORTHY's first wife, Mary Jane, is said to have haunted the house. Owner Jessie Robins attests to hearing and being aware of a "presence" in the home for many years. She believes that Mary Jane, who died of diphtheria in 1891 while nursing her sick children, was looking for her daughter. The mysterious Lady in Grey has not been seen on the balcony since the daughter Nellie died a few years ago. (Focus Magazine)
  Photos » Slide Show		Sketch of Norsworthy home 250 King St. East, Ingersoll. The home originated as part of the dowry of Mary Jane Cuthbert.
  		"Norleigh", home of J.C. Norsworthy Photo originally belonged to Nellie Ruth Herman, nee Counter.
  		Counter family visiting J.C. Norsworthy Top L to R: Charles Walton Counter; (presumably) his wife, Jessie; J. C. Norsworthy; lower L to R: John Scott Counter; (presumably) his sister Nellie Ruth. Photo originally belonged to Nellie Ruth Herman, nee Counter.
  		250 King St. East, Ingersol, Ontario in 2008
  Family ID	F1197	Group Sheet

  
  

  Family	Georgina Maud SANKEY,   b. Abt 1889, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 1976  (Age ~ 87 years)
  Married	26 Jul 1916	London, Middlesex, England   [3]
  	Text of Notice: HYMENEAL NORSWORTHY-SANKEY The marriage took place on Saturday in London, England, of Georgina Maud, daughter of the late Major Villiers SANKEY and Mrs. SANKEY, Toronto, to Captain Stanley Counter NORSWORTHY, of a Montreal Highland battalion, son of Mr. J. C. NORSWORTHY, of Ingersoll. Miss SANKEY, who had been studying nursing in New York, left about a year ago for work overseas. [3, 5]
  Children	1. Edward Cuthbert Villiers NORSWORTHY,   b. 31 Aug 1917, London, Middlesex, England ,   d. 22 Mar 2002, Montreal, Quebec, Canada  (Age 84 years)   2. Beatrice Mary NORSWORTHY,   b. 1 Dec 1919, Montreal, Quebec, Canada ,   d. 18 Dec 2012, Montreal, Quebec, Canada  (Age 93 years)   3. Lieut. Hugh Hoyles NORSWORTHY,   b. 7 Oct 1921, Montreal, Quebec, Canada ,   d. 26 Jan 2013  (Age 91 years)
  Photos		Family of Stanley Norsworthy Georgina Norsworthy with Edward, her oldest son, and infant Beatrice. Although not inscribed, it is based on a previous photo of Georgina.
  Last Modified	17 Jan 2019
  Family ID	F1207	Group Sheet

  
  

• Photos » Slide Show		Norsworthy boys Believed to be (L-R) Edward, Alfred, John and Stanley; sons of James Counter Norsworthy and Mary Jane Cuthbert
  		Norsworthy sons Blackwatch Regiment 1914-1918. L-R: Edward, Weldon, Alfred, and Stanley.
  		Stanley Norsworthy

  
  

  Documents

  Birth registration: Stanley Counter Norsworthy Stanley Counter, son of James Counter Norsworthy and Mary Jane Cuthbert.

  
  

  Headstones

  NORSWORTHY The bust of EDWARD CUTHBERT NORSWORTHY sits on top of the Norsworthy monument, and faces his home, Norleigh. It was commissioned after his death by his father, James C. Norsworthy.

  
  

• Sources

  [S53] Census of Canada, 1901, (31 March 1901). [S121] Attestation Paper, Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force, (original images online at Canadian Archives.). [S162] Website. [S50] Civil Birth Registration. [S348] Book: A Canadian Family in the Great War 1914 - 1918, J. Castell Hopkins, (Published privately, Toronto, 1921. Copy in Parish of Widecombe-in-the-Moor Family History Center Library.). [S676] Personal communication. [S328] Book: Genealogy of the Counter Family, William Charles Counter, (Published by Edward F. Counter Co.; Reprinted by Higginson Book Co., Salem, Mass. Full text online at Brigham Young University; microfilmed 24 June 2000.). [S317] Ontario Archives. [S109] Civil Marriage Registration. [S280] Book: Ingersoll: Our Heritage, Harry Whitwell, (1978). [S217] Newspaper.