Mooi River Garden of Remembrance-burial look-up

[J from Canada]

Greetings,

I have just discovered that an ancestor- Private George Robert Maylard 7199   3rd Battalion Kings Royal Rifle Corps died of enteric fever on April 30, 1900 and was buried at the Mooi River Garden of Remembrance.  If there is a very very kind rootschatter who lives in the area (I understand that Mooi River is a small town about an hour and a half from Durban) and could go to the Garden and see if George Maylard has a gravestone there, that would be so marvellous. Also, if you could take a photo of the gravestone and maybe one or two of the general area, I (and several other family members) would be so grateful.

I live in Canada (with other family members in England) and am extremely unlikely to be able to visit.

Joanna

[SAWGP]

Hi There,

  Here are the photo's you were looking for.

Regards
SAWGP

[J from Canada]

Dear SAWGP,

I cannot thank you enough for your great kindness in taking these photographs for me. How marvellous to have made this final connection and to have such wonderful images to share with my Maylard relations. I am very grateful indeed.

I'm curious about the file name for the second photo- "Bruntville ABM Memorial"- actually I just want to confirm that George Maylard is buried at Mooi River Garden of Remembrance and not at somewhere else entirely called "Bruntville.." .

Many many thanks,
Joanna from Canada

[SAWGP]

The Mooi Rivier Boer War cemetery is located at Bruntville, in a low cost housing development next to the freeway (4 km from Mooi Rivier), with approx 300 Imperial soldiers buried at the Military Cemetery with another 3 being buried at the churchyard in nearby Weston. The No 4 General Hospital was established at Bruntville (the site is now a Petrol Station) and most of the casualties in the cemetery came from the Hospital, after having died of disease (about 230 of the 300).

Regards
SAWGP

[J from Canada]

Dear SAWGP,

Many thanks for this additional information which is greatly appreciated. I am very grateful to you and your organization for providing a descendant with these critical details which add so much to one's family history.

Joanna from Canada

[prince2010]

SAWGP, do you have the co-ordinates for the GardenofRemembrance?

I went to the small graveyard and chapel the other side of the hill from Bruntville/Mooi River (past and opposite the campsite if you know the area) on the Greytown road, but there was nothing similar to either of the pictures you posted above.

Was I in the wrong place? There weren't 300 graves there so it must have been the wrong one.

Sorry J from Canada but I thought I could get some recent fotos for you. I will try find the correct graveyard and go again.

[J from Canada]

Thanks very much, that is very kind of you to offer. The SAWGP stands for the South African War Graves Project and they are not a regular rootschatter.

J from Canada

[prince2010]

I have been looking on Google and Google earth but cannot find the military cemetry. I will ask someone who lives in the area and arranges battlefield tours.

[prince2010]

J in Canada, I happened to be in the same area again today and this time I found the military cemetery, unfortunately I didn't have my cmera with me but here are some pics taken with my mobile phone.

The gardens and graves are in surprisingly good condition so there is obviously somebody looking after the site. It is winter here and very very dry, the grass had recently been burnt but I think it was a controlled fire as there appeared to be no damage caused.

As SAWGP said, the site is at Bruntville near the town of Mooi River (1.5 hours inland from Durban). If you use Google Earth and go to 29/1313'00.07" South and 30/00'44.31" East and I would estimate this is where Private Maylard rests. The military cemetery is in the tree on the right and a civilian cemetery on the left.

As you can see on Google Earth, the cemetery is about 3/4's surrounded by a low cost housing development. I hope that the superstitions of the locals means they don't touch any of the graves. This also makes it dangerous to visit the cemetery.

If you want copies of the original pictures please PM me an email address and I will send them to you (about 20 photos of 1 meg each). Excuse the quality, but they are taken with a mobile phone cam.

(Photos to follow )