Author Topic: WW1 graves  (Read 622 times)

Offline joan

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WW1 graves
« on: Monday 01 April 19 22:27 BST (UK) »
I have discovered that an ancestor of mine was killed in WW1 in Flanders and is buried there.  He was a John J. Davies born 12th June 1896 and died 1917.  I am curious that the headstone on his grave cites that there are two people buried there, John and a J. Dallas who died 19th June, J. Dallas was in the Royal Artillery and JOhn in the Welsh Regiment and both their regiment badges are carved into the headstone was it a common practice for graves tol be shared?  have not come across this before.

Thank you for any help  Joan D'Arcy

Offline Kiltpin

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Re: WW1 graves
« Reply #1 on: Monday 01 April 19 23:25 BST (UK) »
If the bodies were so mutilated, that they could not tell one from the other and they were found together in the same bomb hole ... 

Regards 

Chas
Whannell - Eaton - Jackson
India - Scotland - Australia

Offline joan

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Re: WW1 graves
« Reply #2 on: Tuesday 02 April 19 10:25 BST (UK) »
Thank you, I must admit I never thought of something like this, so awful, but thank you again Joan

Offline Viktoria

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Re: WW1 graves
« Reply #3 on: Tuesday 02 April 19 10:49 BST (UK) »
I agree,it seems the only possible reason as all graves were “rationalised “
by that I mean graves in cemeteries where the bodies were buried randomly were either moved to another or all aligned in straight rows. This for at least one reason,ease of maintenance and also so relatives could consult the register at the cemetery gates and see their loved one was in row G grave 26 for example.
One of the last little “ battlefield “ cemeteries was on the road from Passendale to Ypres at Chateau Lawns,
Just twenty or so bodies ,randomly placed but exhumed and moved to a bigger cemetery as late as ,well we visited a grave there at the 50 th anniversary of Passendale which was 1967,October. So after that.
To see the bodies buried like that ,was even more moving than the straight rows ,so very many,in the neat and tidy ones.
I wonder why two men from different regiments were together,perhaps they were already wounded and on their way to a field dressing station when the road on which the ambulance was travelling was shelled.?
It is very sad indeed.
Viktoria.


Offline jim1

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Re: WW1 graves
« Reply #4 on: Tuesday 02 April 19 11:56 BST (UK) »
It wasn't until the 1920's that the War Graves Commission began to re-inter men in the Cemeteries we see today. By this time of course they were dealing with skeletal remains. There may have been others buried with them who were unidentified & buried as men "known unto God".
Your man & the Artilleryman were identified but their skeletal remains weren't individually identifiable so were buried together.
I've seen 8 in one grave so not uncommon.
Warks:Ashford;Cadby;Clarke;Clifford;Cooke Copage;Easthope;
Edmonds;Felton;Colledge;Lutwyche;Mander(s);May;Poole;Withers.
Staffs.Edmonds;Addison;Duffield;Webb;Fisher;Archer
Salop:Easthope,Eddowes,Hoorde,Oteley,Vernon,Talbot,De Neville.
Notts.Clarke;Redfearne;Treece.
Som.May;Perriman;Cox
India Kane;Felton;Cadby
London.Haysom.
Lancs.Gay.
Worcs.Coley;Mander;Sawyer.
Kings of Wessex & Scotland
Census information is Crown copyright,from
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

Offline jim1

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Re: WW1 graves
« Reply #5 on: Tuesday 02 April 19 12:43 BST (UK) »
Just to add a bit to the above & apologies if you already know, your man was in the trench at Fusilier farm which is square C.14.c. on this map (top right).
https://maps.nls.uk/view/101464903
On the 11th. the trench was raided & 4 men were "slightly wounded" so John was more severely wounded than first thought.
They were relieved the following day.
James Dallas was in C Battery 315 Brigade RFA not sure where they were on the 10th. when he died.
It's possible they were at the same dressing station or field hospital.
Edit:
315 Bde. RFA were at Messines Ridge June 1917 which is about 15 mls. from St. Juliaan so must have both died at the same Field Hospital.
Warks:Ashford;Cadby;Clarke;Clifford;Cooke Copage;Easthope;
Edmonds;Felton;Colledge;Lutwyche;Mander(s);May;Poole;Withers.
Staffs.Edmonds;Addison;Duffield;Webb;Fisher;Archer
Salop:Easthope,Eddowes,Hoorde,Oteley,Vernon,Talbot,De Neville.
Notts.Clarke;Redfearne;Treece.
Som.May;Perriman;Cox
India Kane;Felton;Cadby
London.Haysom.
Lancs.Gay.
Worcs.Coley;Mander;Sawyer.
Kings of Wessex & Scotland
Census information is Crown copyright,from
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

Offline John915

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Re: WW1 graves
« Reply #6 on: Tuesday 02 April 19 14:17 BST (UK) »
Good afternoon,

I recently went to Tyne Cot and the Menin Gate with our RBL standard. At Tyne Cot, just inside the entrance, there are a number of graves that are not in neat lines like the majority. They are all placed randomly in singles, prs or groups.

During WW1 there was a casualty clearance station there and these graves are all men who died after arrival but before being seen. They were simply buried where they died and it was decided to leave them were they were but with a CWGC headstone put in place.

John915
Stephens, Fuller, Tedham, Bennett, Ransome (Sussex)
Rider (Fulham)
Stephens (Somerset)
Kentfield (Essex)

Offline Viktoria

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Re: WW1 graves
« Reply #7 on: Tuesday 02 April 19 14:59 BST (UK) »
There are a few German soldier’s graves there too.
We were there for fiftieth commemoration of Passendale as I said.
A woman was frantically searching ,for her father,we directed her  to the book at the entrance which is how you find a grave but she was with a tour and had to rejoin her coach.
On out way to Ypres  we stopped a tiny little cemetery where the graves were random,and we found her father.

Royal Inniskillin Fusiliers.Killed October 1917.
As far as I remember he was John Strachey,and I though I would always remember it as there was a poilitician of that name but we found no trace of him with  CWGC.
It is a mystery.
Later the cemetery had gone and soldiers re buried in the other cemeteries in that immediate area,Chateau Lawns, Woods ,Grounds  of Potijze Chateau.
 near St Julian.
Viktoria.

Offline joan

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Re: WW1 graves
« Reply #8 on: Wednesday 03 April 19 12:06 BST (UK) »
Thanks to all who have replied to my question, I am very grateful for all the information.  When one thinks about it I suppose it makes sense about multiple burials in view of the number of deaths that must have occurred  in a very short time but I guess it is not something you like to think about.

So thank you all once again, Joan D'Arcy