Herbert Cartwright

Sergeant Herbert Cartwright was a WWI veteran who answered the call again at age 58 when the Home Guard was formed in 1940. A veteran of the Somme, he brought invaluable combat experience to Manchester's Home Guard units, training younger men in fieldcraft, marksmanship, and the improvised weapons that were all that stood between Britain and invasion in 1940. He organised the defence of key industrial sites around Manchester and drilled his platoon until they were considered among the best-trained Home Guard units in the country. At 62, he was manning an anti-aircraft Lewis gun during the Manchester Blitz of December 1940, helping to defend the city he had already fought for in 1916. His example shows that age was no barrier to patriotic service.