Netley Military Cemetery Part Two: The Church of England Plot

Last post we took a look around the small Second World War plot, seen here close to the fence in the left background, and the post-war graves nearby.  This time it’s the row of headstones on the left, and the mass of headstones on the right, the main Church of England plot, that we are going to explore. 

The Church of England plot consists of twelve rows of burials on our right, and this single row on the left, among which the earliest Great War burials in the plot – but not the cemetery – are to be found.  All the early burials in the different Great War plots in this cemetery, let’s not forget, are men of the pre-war, professional British Army; had they lived, they would have found themselves referred to as Old Contemptibles in later years.  Incidentally, in addition to the information taken from the headstones, anything else that I have discovered about the men whose graves are pictured in these posts, gleaned from various sources (first name, age, rank in the case of the German burials, where wounded, manner of death) I have added to the text.  And as we pay our respects at some of these graves, please spare a thought, as ever, for the peripheral men, those whose headstones do not feature in the forthcoming photographs, or only appear in the background, unmentioned by me.  They all have stories too.

The single row begins with these two graves, on the left, Gunner Thomas Boreham, Royal Field Artillery, aged 21, who was accidentally crushed between the buffers of two railway trucks whilst unloading equipment on Southampton Docks on 15th September 1914, dying the following day, and on the right, Drummer Cecil Burnett Edwards, Lincolnshire Regiment, who died of wounds on 18th September 1914 aged 21.  These two men are, respectively, the third & fourth earliest burials in the Church of England plot.

The 1st Bn. Lincolnshire Regiment were involved in heavy fighting early in the war.  Arriving in France on 14th August 1914, the diary extract above gives details of their first serious encounter with the Germans ten days later at Frameries, just a couple of miles south west of Mons, during which, alongside thirteen men killed, they suffered 88 wounded and 29 missing.  Two days later, on 26th August at Inchey (over twenty five miles from Frameries), they suffered further casualties,…

…including another forty wounded,…

…and another 23 men were wounded on 10th September 1914, during the Battle of the Marne,…

…although, if you want my opinion, I would think it most likely that Drummer Edwards was among the wounded at either Frameries on 24th August or Inchey on 26th.  The next headstone…

…is that of a young German soldier, 19-year old Jaeger Willi Kessler (left), who died on 18th September 1914 and is the earliest German burial in the cemetery, and the fifth earliest of all the men in the Church of England plot.  On the right, Private Andrew Russell, Cameron Highlanders, who died of a bullet wound to the chest on 22nd September 1914, three days after his admission to Netley, aged 30.

Much as it would have been interesting to find out exactly what the Cameron Highlanders were up to in the early weeks of the war, the Battle of the Aisne saw to it that the details are lost forever.

The row continues with Private E. Clayton (nearest camera), Manchester Regiment, who died on 23rd September 1914, Corporal Harry George Chatfield, Scots Guards, who died of wounds on 25th September 1914, aged 30, and Guardsman A.P. Kitching, Coldstream Guards, who died on 24th September 1914.  The cross behind is not a war grave,…

…as this man of the Indian Ordnance Department died in 1912.

On the left, the grave of Private Sidney Joseph Drake, Royal Fusiliers, who died on 30th September 1914 aged 26, and on the right, Pioneer S. Warner, Reserve Signal Company, Royal Engineers, who died on 1st October 1914.  The cross in the background marks the grave of a sergeant major of the 2nd Dragoon Guards who died in his sixties in January 1913.

Looking back the way we have come.  Third from the camera, Corporal Henry Walter Mead, Royal Field Artillery, who died of wounds on 4th October 1914, aged 24, and next to him, Private William Shaw, Royal West Kent Regiment, who died on 6th October 1914 aged 29.  Closest to the camera, Private Wilfred Crossfield, Scots Guards, died of wounds on 8th October 1914,…

…and I would imagine is among the almost one hundred men listed as wounded in the right-hand column of the 1st Bn. Scots Guards war diary for mid-September 1914 (as, quite possibly, was Corporal Harry Chatfield, the Scots Guardsman whose grave we saw a few photos back).  And so it goes.  I could show you war diary after war diary documenting the demise of the old British Army through the retreat from Mons, which began on 24th August 1914, the Battle of the Marne in the first half of September, the Battle of the Aisne in the second half of the month, and the First Battle of Ypres from mid-October until the end of November.  And there are many more men buried here who are casualties of those battles and the battles of 1915, and in particular, Second Ypres, Gallipoli & Loos.  If you bear in mind that the British medical services were, once away from the immediate battlefield, pretty proficient, with hospital ships crossing the channel from very early in the war to evacuate men with serious wounds back to Blighty as quickly as possible, you can work out for yourselves, on many occasions, the likely place, or at least area, where these men were wounded.  And you might be right, and you might be wrong, but chances, are, more likely the former than the latter.

From left, Private Jesse Brinton, South Wales Borderers, who died of wounds on 11th October 1914 aged 24, Gefreiter Adolf Wehmann, who also died on 11th October 1914, and was also aged 24, and Driver George A. Phillips, Royal Army Service Corps*, who died on 10th October 1914 aged 29.

*So, here we go again.  The Army Service Corps became the Royal Army Service Corps at the very end of the Great War, after hostilities had ceased.  Why, then, do A.S.C. men who died during the fighting have ‘Royal’ on their headstones, despite the fact that the men themselves would never have heard of a ‘Royal Army Service Corps’ during their lifetimes?  Answers on a postcard, and I will try not to mention it again.  At least this post.

On the left, an unknown German soldier who died on 22nd October 1914, in the centre, Gunner C. P. Holloway, R.F.A., who died on 20th October 1914, and in shadow on the right, another German, G. Mayer (rank unknown), who died on 21st October 1914 aboard the hospital ship H.M.H.S.* Patrick.

*His Majesty’s Hospital Ship.

According to the Graves Register, there are sixty seven German soldiers buried in this cemetery, along with two interned civilians (one German, one Austrian).

Soldat Peter Pland, who died on 22nd October 1914, and Private Oswald Owen Vincent, Royal Sussex Regiment, who died of wounds on 23rd October 1914, aged 18.

The row ends with the grave of Musketier Fritz Borner, who died on 28th October 1914 aged 20.  And just behind these final graves in the row, out of shot to the right,…

…these two headstones, on the left Private G. H. Oakman, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, who died on 15th September 1914, and on the right, Private A. R. Pearce, Dorsetshire Regiment, who died on 14th September 1914, are, as you can see from the GRRF below, the earliest two burials here in the Church of England plot.

Both the D.C.L.I. and the Dorsets fought through the retreat from Mons and the Battle of the Marne, which commenced on 6th September 1914 and turned the tide (or at least stopped the retreat), these two men most likely wounded during the Marne fighting.

The men in the remaining twelve rows beyond the gap are pretty much buried in chronological order, the headstones in the front row hiding behind the tree on the far right…

…among the earliest, with the latest, yep, in the last row.  The grave nearest the camera is that of Private Albert Johnson, Lincolnshire Regiment, who died of wounds on 4th November 1914.

You get a better idea of the size of this plot from here, although if we are going to do this in any kind of logical way,…

…we need to start in the shadow beneath the tree,…

…where we find that the first grave in the row…

…is another German, Jaeger Gustav Miche, who died on 27th October 1914, aged 21.

Next to him lies Private Charles Cottis, East Surrey Regiment, shot in the left hand and evacuated to Netley, where he died from tetanus on 28th October 1914, ten days after admission, aged 29, and continuing along the row,…

…the German on the far right is Musketier Friedrich Grossmann who died on 5th November 1914 aged 23, and the two British casualties are, centre, Guardsman Henry W. Snell, Grenadier Guards, who died on 6th November 1914 aged 27, and left, Private Seth William George Spooner, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), who died of wounds on board H.M.H.S. Asturias on 5th November 1914, aged 26.

Two more German casualties, on the left, Leutnant der Reserve Ernst Schmidt, who died on 14th November 1914, and on the right, Musketier Wilhelm Hartemann, who died on 10th November 1914.  The man in the centre is Private James Thomas Honor, Royal Fusiliers, who died on 15th November 1914.

Musketier Ernest Niessmann, on the right, died on 21st November 1914 aged 31, and   Guardsman George Henry Peacock, Coldstream Guards, on the left, died of wounds on 23rd November 1914 aged 25.

Musketier Rudolf Stahl, aged 29, on the left, died on 30th November 1914; on the right ‘Ein Deutscher Soldat’.  Four of the German soldiers buried in the cemetery are unidentified, and the cynic in me wonders whether their identity papers were discarded, as pockets were rifled for valuables at some point during their evacuation to Blighty.  This unknown man died on 24th November 1914.

Private Frank Stringer, Lincolnshire Regiment, closest to the camera, died on 3rd December 1914,…

…and the first row ends with two men who died of wounds in the days leading up to Christmas 1914.  Lance Corporal Frederick Robinson, 3rd Hussars (second left) died on 20th December 1914 aged 20, and at the end of the row, Private Alfred Sadler, Northumberland Fusiliers, died the following day, on 21st December 1914.  And at this point, it would have made my life a lot simpler had the next burials been those immediately behind in row two.  Unfortunately, the next burials, chronologically, although they are indeed in row two, are at the far end of the row, so you’d better get used to a ‘one row forwards, one row backwards’ tour.

So these three burials at the end of the second row are all from May 1915 and are the latest burials in the row.  On the right, Private T. Sansom, Somerset Light Infantry, who died of wounds on 8th May 1915, in the centre Sapper J. W. Hamilton, Royal Engineers, who died on 17th May 1915, and closest to the camera…

…Acting Serjeant Arthur Frederick Bellringer D.C.M., The Rifle Brigade, who died on 18th May 1915 aged 24.  His Distinguished Conduct Medal was awarded ‘For gallant leading in the attack at Neuve Chapelle on 12th March 1915, and subsequently for his gallant conduct in collecting the wounded in front of our trenches.’  Sadly, this citation would not appear in the London Gazette until 3rd June 1915, a fortnight after his death.

Continuing down row two, this is the grave of Private Wilfred Harrison, Canadian Infantry (Manitoba Regiment), the earliest of forty two Canadian Great War burials in the cemetery as a whole.  Wounded in the arm on 22nd April 1915, the first day of the Second Battle of Ypres, he died soon after at Netley from tetanus, aged 32, although the date of his death on his headstone, 30th April 1915, corresponds with none of his easily available papers, all of which say 28th April 1915.

Jaeger Friedrich Schulze died on 24th April 1915,…

…Rifleman Alfred Ferdinand Silvester, Queens Westminster Rifles, who was wounded at Houplines on 6th March 1915, died at Netley eight days later on 14th March, aged 27,…

…and Lance Corporal A. C. Fuller, Military Foot Police, Military Police Corps, died on 8th March 1915, aged 33.

Lance Corporal Frank Cyril John Hill D.C.M., Royal Berkshire Regiment, who died on 27th February 1915 aged 25.  The citation for his Distinguished Conduct Medal, published in the London Gazette on 15th January 1915, reads ‘For gallantry on 31st October in leading some men through a gap in a hedge on the enemy’s front, under a heavy fire, being wounded in so doing.’

Sapper Frederick Maurice Erwood, Royal Engineers, who died of cerebro-spinal meningitis on 19th January 1915, aged 21.  The inscription on this sad little stone ends with ‘Never forgotten by his sweetheart Lucy’.

And, at the start of the row, and seen behind Gustav Miche’s headstone (in the first row) earlier on, this cross marks the grave of ‘Boykie’, the only son of Joseph & Violet Dyson, who died in November 1914 aged six.  I know no more.  Behind, the third row begins with more burials from May 1915,…

…this the grave of Private George Harper, North Irish Horse, who died from spinal meningitis on 24th May 1915 aged 21.  Only nineteen at the start of the war, he had fought through the retreat from Mons and the subsequent actions before he was taken ill.

The row continues with burials from June & July 1915.  Rifleman H. Fisher, First Surrey Rifles, died on 3rd June 1915,…

…Unteroffizier Erich Ruggeberg on 11th June 1915 aged 18,…

…and Private Walter John Horton, Highland Light Infantry, on 18th July 1915 aged 35.

One of five Joneses in this section of the cemetery, this small memorial stone marks the grave of Private Horace Newby Jones, 18th Bn. Australian Infantry, who died of wounds – his right arm had been amputated, his leg horribly broken – on 13th September 1915.  The inscription simply says ‘wounded Anzac, died Netley’, and Private Jones is far from the only Gallipoli casualty, both Australian & British, buried here.

Looking back down the third row, the burials at this end all from September 1915.  Closest to the camera, at the end of the row, Private John T. Farnworth, East Lancashire Regiment, whose ‘death took place after he had eaten poisonous food’ according to the Burnley News, died on 19th September 1915, aged 29.  Farnworth would have been at Gallipoli in 1915, and British soldiers were warned that food found in Turkish dugouts was not to be eaten*, and although I have no idea in this case, perhaps Private Farnworth fell victim to hunger pangs.

*the same with German dugouts on the Western Front.

Row four,…

…and a look back at the first three rows.

Serjeant Arthur Cubitt Dodd, Surrey Yeomanry, who died on 28th October 1915 at the University War Hospital, Southampton, aged 37.  A number of men buried in this cemetery died in other hospitals in Southampton.

Corporal David Roberts, 8th Australian Light Horse, almost certainly another Gallipoli casualty, who died of sickness on 28th September 1915, aged 26,…

…and another at the start of row five, this the grave of 19-year old Private Edward William Bernard Creighton, Norfolk Regiment, who died of dysentery on board R.M.S.* Aquitania returning from the Dardanelles,…

*Royal Mail Ship.

…as did the man buried next to him, Private William George Read, Army Service Corps, aged 24, both men dying on 3rd December 1915.  The Aquitania was the third of the Cunard Line’s huge liners, after the Mauretania & Lusitania, and had only been in service for a matter of months before she found herself converted into a hospital ship for the Gallipoli campaign.

On the left, the grave of Rifleman Charles G. Vincent, Hampshire Regiment, who died on board H.M.H.S. Britannic on 9th January 1916 aged 19.  ‘Greatly missed by his comrade Jack.’, and on the right, Private Thomas Childs, Worcestershire Regiment, who died of frostbite, following the amputation of his left foot, on 7th January 1916.  The 4th Bn. Worcester Regiment had fought on Gallipoli in 1915, and Private Childs would have been with them.

The burials in the row continue through the first half of 1916, these two headstones near the end of the row Private Albert John Bridgman (left), The Welsh Horse, who died on 12th June 1916 aged 43, and on the right, Company Serjeant Major Charles Edward Turner, 15th Bn. Canadian Infantry, who died of wounds on 9th June 1916 aged 22.  The Canadians lost heavily at Mount Sorrel & Hill 62, to the south of the Menin Road near Hooge, in the actions between 2nd & 14th June 1916 – some 8,430 Canadian soldiers became casualties, of which over a thousand were dead, and double that missing – and CSM Turner was almost certainly one of the many wounded,…

…injured on 3rd June 1916, and ‘Struck Off’ on 7th June.  As we know, he would die two days later.

There are eleven Great War New Zealand burials in this cemetery, five in the Church of England section.  The grave that begins (or rather ends) the sixth row, on the left here, is that of Private Norman Elmo Anstis, Wellington Regiment, N.Z.E.F., who died, of wounds received at Messines, on 5th August 1916, aged 22,…

…and is also the headstone at the end of the row on the left closest to the camera, as we look at the Cross of Sacrifice, round which we took a spin last post.

Further down row six, a curious headstone, with what might appear, at first sight, to be incorrectly cut corners*.  Private A. Mackie, Royal Scots, died in the University War Hospital in Southampton on 15th July 1916, aged 32.

*I don’t actually know why, either, but could it be that he had been in hospital since long before the start of the war, long enough to have been discharged from the Army, but remained at Netley until he died in 1916?  And would that therefore preclude a correct CWGC headstone, I wonder?

Another of the four unidentified Germans buried in the cemetery, this man’s date of death 13th July 1916,…

…and this cross marks the grave of Private Donald Campbell Wood, London Scottish Regiment, wounded on the Somme (because his headstone tells us so) on 12th July 1916 and evacuated back to Blighty, where he died at the University War Hospital in Southampton on 18th July, aged 21.

As we are now heading back through July 1916 as we view this row, the men buried here are most likely all casualties from the first days and weeks of the Battle of the Somme.  And, naturally, not just the British casualties.  I would bet that these Germans, three of four wounded German soldiers who died aboard H.M.H.S. Panama* in the English Channel on 11th July 1916, were also wounded on the Somme.  From the left, Gefreiter Jürgen Rohwedder, who died of a gunshot wound to the shoulder aged 23, Soldat Y. Eirgel, who died of wounds to the head & hand, and Soldat Michael Merkl, aged 21, who died of wounds to the left leg.

*Previously the Panama had been a hospital ship in the Mediterranean during the Gallipoli campaign the previous year.

Near the start of row six, these two men both died on 8th July 1916.  On the left, Private John Edwin Balme, West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Own), who died ‘from wounds received in France’, aged 26, and on the right, Private L. H. Jessop, Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment), who died on 8th July 1916.

Looking back down row six towards the Cross of Sacrifice,…

…before the row continues with two memorials to a single soldier.  Serjeant Henry George Young, Royal Field Artillery, was one of the forty thousand or so British soldiers wounded on 1st July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme.  Evacuated to Britain he would die, according to his records, on the short ambulance journey from the docks at Southampton to Netley.  It was 8th July 1916, and he was 23.

One of how many men, of those forty thousand wounded on that single day, who would die, sooner or later, from the wounds they received, I wonder?  We shall never know.

Next to him, Private Percy H. Willoughby, Lancashire Fusiliers, who died aboard H.M.H.S. Lanfranc whilst at sea, aged 32, on 5th July 1916, and on the right, Private Albert Philpott, Hampshire Regiment, who died on 25th June 1916 aged 30.

On to row seven, these August 1916 burials including another German, Soldat Johann Lackmann (far right), who died on 11th August.  The Australian burial second right is Private George Philip White, Australian Army Medical Corps, who died of wounds on 1oth August 1916; five days earlier his brother Herbert had been killed in action at Pozières on the Somme.

On the left, Private Henry Underhill, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, who died on 21st August 1916 in the University War Hospital in Southampton, aged 45, and on the right, Private Joseph Russell, Manchester Regiment, who died of wounds on 12th August 1916 aged 37.

On the left, the grave of Albert Bornschein, who died on 15th September 1916, and despite the military grave, it seems he was a civilian internee.  On the right, somewhat obscured by the shrubbery, Private Frank Brooks, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), who died on 12th September 1916 aged 39,…

…and nearby, another Queensman, Sergeant Joseph James Kitts, who died of wounds in the University War Hospital in Southampton on 6th October 1916, aged 33.

As we get near the end of the row, these men died in October 1916, and are probably still Battle of the Somme casualties.  The German grave…

…now on the left, is that of Musketier Friedrich Molle, who died on 11th October 1916.  Next to him, Private Jack McLeod, Canadian Mounted Rifles, who died from gunshot wounds to the head in Southampton University War Hospital on 9th October 1916, and on the right, Private Albert Ernest Frampton, Wellington Regiment, N.Z.E.F., who died of wounds on 6th October 1916 aged 27.

Nearby, this is the grave of Private Edward Cyril Drury, King’s Liverpool Regiment, who died of wounds on 13th October 1916, aged 18.  The memorial consists of a base upon which stand three stone blocks, and if you look carefully at the top block, it’s pretty clear that it is a more recent addition, presumably where once there was a cross,…

…a fact confirmed if we look at the other side, the top block added much later, in memory of Lieutenant Colonel Samuel C. Drury, 1891-1981.  It also says ‘Brother’, and if you now look at the main inscription on this side, you will see the name of Quarter Master Serjeant Maurice William Drury, Royal Engineers, who died at Boulogne on 23rd October 1918 aged 24.  And thus three brothers are united here in memory.  One presumably served under age and died at just 18, one made it as far as the last few weeks of the war, but died aged 24, and one survived until his 90th year.  The vagaries of fate.

The end of row seven, the Drury memorial in the centre,…

…and at the end of row eight,…

…this is the grave of Private Clive Russell Bray, 9th Bn. Australian Infantry, another man whom we know died of wounds.  In fact he had been wounded before, in April 1916, and almost a year later he was shot in the chest, hand and his left leg was amputated before he was evacuated to Netley, where he survived for six days before dying on 13th March 1917, aged 28.

Further down row eight, the CWGC headstone on the left marks the grave of Serjeant Richard Belsey M.M., 170th Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers, who died of heart disease in the Welsh Hospital, Netley, on 19th November 1916 at the age of 43.  He had served with the 9th Lancers in the Second Boer War at the turn of the century, and received the South Africa Medal with numerous clasps, along with the Military Medal in the Great War.  The non-CWGC headstone…

…marks the grave of Private William Auckland, King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, who died of wounds at sea aboard another hospital ship, H.M.H.S. Aberdonian, on 13th November 1916, aged 39.

Company Serjeant Major Lawrence Adrian Renou D.C.M., 52nd Bn. Australian Infantry, who died of wounds caused by a gunshot wound to the head on 6th November 1916 aged 24.  He received the D.C.M. for gallantry in action, although his citation was not published until 14th November 1916, a week after his death.  ‘He carried out patrol work during a heavy bombardment. Later, in order to build a barricade, he filled sandbags for one and a half hours under very heavy fire. He showed a splendid example of courage and determination throughout.’

The burials in row nine begin with casualties from May 1917, an unknown German soldier here on the right who died on 18th April 1917, and on the left, Private Edward James Coleman, Hampshire Regiment, who was 53 when he died on 22nd April 1917.

May 1917 casualties in row nine, the previous two headstones among those in shadow, the third & fourth in the row.  Closest to the camera, Saddler W. Davenport, Royal Army Service Corps, who died on 12th May 1917, and next to him Serjeant E. T. Hellier, Royal Defence Corps, who died on 11th May 1917.

Seen in the background a few shots back, this headstone marks the grave of Sergeant Joseph Lane Kimberley M.M., Royal Garrison Artillery, who died of wounds received in France on 13th May 1917 aged 29, his original grave marker now resting on his current CWGC headstone, and continuing down the row,…

…the headstone nearest to the camera is that of Private G. Webster, R.A.S.C., who died on 15th June 1917, and next to him,…

…a retired serjeant in the R.A.M.C. who died in July 1917.

On the left, Lance Serjeant Ernest Gordon Rowley M.M., Royal Fusiliers, who died on 27h July 1917, and on the right, Private Ernest Arnold Marlow, Army Service Corps, who died from emphysema on 27th July 1917, aged 43.

Soldat Friedrich Holzapfel (right), who died on 21st August 1917, and Rifleman Edgar Powell, The Rifle Brigade (second from camera), who died on 27th August 1917, aged 35,…

…and further down the row, flanking the cross, on the left, Gunner Ernest William Shaw, R.F.A., who died on 20th October 1917 aged 19, and on the right, Private Thomas Atkinson, Durham Light Infantry, who died on 8th October 1917 aged 36.  Whether these men and those buried in the row around them are Passchendaele casualties, your guess is as good as mine, but again, the possibility is quite high, I would have thought.

The one lady certainly isn’t.  This cross marks the grave of the wife of an R.A.M.C. sergeant major (presumably among the staff at the hospital) who died in October 1917.

On the left, Corporal Arthur James Duncan M.S.M., Army Service Corps*, who died on 22nd November 1917 aged 21, and on the right, Private Edward Reddicliffe, Worcestershire Regiment, who died at the University War Hospital in Southampton on 18th November 1917,…

*I am tempted to point out that, for once, correctly, we have an A.S.C. headstone without the prefix ‘Royal’.  But I won’t.

…and at the end of the row (left), another German grave, that of Infanterist Paul Richter, who died on 13th January 1918.

Row ten, and, on the left, Serjeant H. W. Hatcher M.M., Tank Corps, who died on 5th October 1918, and on the right, Gunner Robert Cook, R.G.A., who died on 4th October 1918, after which…

On the left, Private Joseph Edwin Buttivant, 29th Bn. Canadian Infantry, who suffered gunshot wounds to his back and leg on 10th August 1918 during the Battle of Amiens, after which his left leg was amputated.  Arriving at Netley on 27th August, he would die of heart failure on 2nd September 1918.  The German grave is that of Leutnant der Reserve Fritz Sprienger, who died on board ship on 3rd September 1918, and the two men on the right, almost obscured by the shrub, are both men who died in the British Red Cross Hospital (Red Cross huts constructed in the Netley grounds, as opposed to the hospital building itself); Lance Corporal William John Kaniers, 1st Australian Pioneers, wounded by a gunshot to the elbow on 23rd August 1918, who died of tetanus a week later, on 30th August 1918, aged 27, and Gunner George Frederick Pratt (furthest right), Royal Field Artillery, who died on 18th August 1918.

Row ten continues with, on the left, Private Herbert George Perkins M.M., 45th Bn. Australian Infantry, who had fought at Messines in June 1917, where he won his Military Medal, and who died aboard H.M.A.T.* Essequibo on 13th June 1918 from a bullet wound to the left lung which caused a haemorrhage and subsequent heart failure.  He was 37.  In the centre, Private Edwin Severn, Royal Army Service Corps, who died on 12th June 1918, and on the right, South African Driver Alfred Frederick Langford, Cape Auxiliary Horse Transport, who died of tuberculosis on 3rd June 1918.

*His Majesty’s Ambulance Transport.

Row nine on the left, row ten on the right, and, for the first time, I think, if you look in the right background, you can see more rows of CWGC headstones – three, actually, making up the Non-Conformist section – that we shall be visiting next post.  The headstones in row ten closest to the camera…

…are seen again here, these men March 1918 casualties.  Closest to the camera, Private Joseph Simpson, North Staffordshire Regiment, who died at the University War Hospital in Southampton on 9th March 1918 aged 28, in the centre, Private W. Evans, Royal Irish Regiment, who died on 9th March 1918 aged 25, and on the left, Private John Skyring Cross, 56th Bn. Australian Infantry, who died of cerebrospinal meningitis on 20th March 1918 aged 19.

And here we are at the start of row ten (just two rows to go), with, on the left, Sapper Vuko Gokich, Canadian Railway Troops (ex-Montenegrin Army, before he emigrated), who was wounded, with gunshot wounds to the neck, on 30th November 1917, and who died at the University War Hospital Southampton on 18th January 1918 aged 39, and on the right, Private Edwin Arthur Mean, Devonshire Regiment, who died on 17th January 1918 aged 32.

During the final months of the war, it was hardly surprising to find more wounded Germans among those surrendering or being captured as the Allies advanced.  From right, Soldat Georg Schumacher, who died on 1st November 1918, Ersatz-Reservist Albert Kadow, who died on 31st October 1918, and Soldat Gustav Kanz, who died on 6th November 1918,…

…followed by two men who died on the day the whole thing finally came to an end, 11th November 1918, Musketier Max Bolkow and Soldat Alwen Zeun (centre & right).  Musketier Otto Kerl, on the left, died a few days later, on 17th November 1918.

The men buried in the remainder of row eleven, and in row twelve behind, are all men who died between the war’s end and the 31st August 1921, the final date to qualify for a CWGC headstone; Lance Bombardier Henry Charles Smith, Royal Garrison Artillery, buried closest to the camera, died of sickness on 11th August 1919 aged 31.

Soldat Curt Beutler was a prisoner-of-war who died on 9th September 1919.

The penultimate row ends with this memorial to 53-year old Alaby Vibert Hobbs, who had served in the Royal Artillery between 1880 & 1897 – including ten years in India – and had been discharged because of rheumatism.  He and his family lived at Netley where he worked in some capacity, hence his grave being added here when he died on 16th October 1919.

On to the final row,…

…where the grave on the left, that of Driver T. A. Hanwell, Royal Horse Artillery, who died on 7th August 1921 is, date-wise, the final CWGC burial in the Church of England section.  On the right, Private W. Bellows, Royal Army Service Corps*, died on 9th July 1921.

*I have (just about) held my tongue throughout most of this post, as promised.  However, I should point out that by July 1921 the A.S.C. was indeed the R.A.S.C.  Hooray!  Although Private Bellows had been transferred to the Labour Corps prior to his death.

On the left, Private William Henry Hollis, South African Infantry, paralysed after receiving gunshot wounds to his legs and back at the Butte de Warlincourt on the Somme on 12th September 1916.  He would die of his injuries over four yers later, on 1st January 1921.  Next to him on the right, Driver James Hughes, Royal Engineers, who died on 20th December 1920 aged 39.

On the left, Company Quartermaster Serjeant William George Davies, Labour Corps and Royal Army Service Corps, who died on 27th June 1920 from tetanus (not, I think, war-related in this case), but who had suffered from shellshock since some time in 1918.  He was 39.  In the centre, Private Edward Adnum, R.A.M.C., who only joined up in February 1919, and who would find himself part of British operations in the Black Sea during the Russian Civil War.  He fell ill and was evacuated back to Netley where he died on 12th June 1920.  On the right, 2nd Air Mechanic F.H. Bonas, Royal Air Force, who died on 28th April 1920.

And finally, from left, Private Charles Taylor, Royal Sussex Regiment (transferred to Labour Corps), who died on 14th April 1920 aged 32, Private Charles Edward William Savin, East Kent Regiment (The Buffs), who died on 8th April 1920 aged 23, and on the right, Private T. Jenner, Northamptonshire Regiment, who died on 29th February 1920.

The eight hospital ships mentioned in the text, all in their Great War livery.  Top row: H.M.H.S. Aberdonian & R.M.S. Aquitania; second row: H.M.H.S. Asturias & H.M.H.S. Britannic; thrd row: H.M.A.T. Essequibo & H.M.H.S. Patrick; bottom row: H.M.H.S. Lanfranc & H.M.H.S. Panama.  Only two of these ships failed to survive the war.  The Britannic, younger sister of the Olympic & Titanic, was sunk by a mine off the Greek island of Kea on 21st November 1916 with the loss of thirty of her crew of over a thousand; apparently, she was the largest ship sunk during the Great War.  And on 17th April 1917, the Lanfranc, still plying the evacuation route between Le Havre & Southampton, was torpedoed without warning by UB-40 and sunk, killing thirteen British and fifteen German wounded, five crew, and one member of the R.A.M.C. staff.  Among the survivors were 152 wounded German soldiers.  The Asturias, although torpedoed in 1917 and beached by her crew, was raised, towed to port and later repaired and refitted as a cruise ship.

Final view, looking roughly east across the Church of England plot, and on the right, the first two headstones in the Non-Conformist plot, the subject of our next post.