Netley Military Cemetery Part Five: The Officers’ Plot

With the Boer War graves we visited last post bathed in sunlight on the left, it’s time to visit the Officers’ Plot, seen here on the right.

The two brown headstones immediately in front of us, both 1930s burials, are worth taking note of…

…as they are quite distinctive and you will see them, mainly in the background, of quite a few of the forthcoming pictures, giving you some sort of idea of our whereabouts as we explore this small section of the cemetery.

Most of the headstones face away from us,…

…so we’d best clamber up the slope so we can see the inscriptions on the way back down.

We don’t actually have that far to go.  Beyond this memorial to an officer of the 47th Sikhs who died in January 1904, the remaining scattered marked burials are more 19th or early 20th Century burials, and time dictates that they must remain anonymous, at least to us.

No, we need to turn round at this point and begin with this first row of graves, which actually begins off-picture to the left…

…with the CWGC headstone pictured here (and below).

Second Lieutenant Ralph Portland Akerman, 11th Bn. London Regiment (actually 11th (County of London) Battalion (Finsbury Rifles), London Regiment), died of wounds at the Welsh Hospital on 3rd October 1915 aged 27.

The Welsh Hospital, part of the Red Cross hospital (below) constructed in the Netley Hospital grounds during the Great War, was called thus as it was funded by donations from the Welsh public.

After a small gap, the next burial in the top row (you can see one of the brown headstones we saw at the start down the hill to the left),…

…is that of Lieutenant Colonel William Frank Everett, who had served for many years with the 6th Australian Light Horse, but had been posted to the Remount Department in Cairo when he fell ill.  Evacuated back to Blighty, he arrived in Southampton on 15th August 1915, only to die two days later.  He was 50.

The inscription reads ‘In loving memory of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas McCulloch M.B., R.A.M.C., in charge of medical division at Royal Victoria Hospital 1911 to 1914.  Died June 25th 1915 aged 54.’  His son, Second Lieutenant Robert Arthur Douglas McCulloch, The King’s Royal Lancaster Regiment, who was killed near Ypres on 2nd May 1915 aged 19, is also mentioned on the headstone.  The CWGC says he died the following day; whichever day it was, his body was lost and his name can now be found on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing.

The next memorial gives us no clues, on this side, as to the identity of the person buried here,…

…and, with respect, ‘In memory of my beloved mother’ was not exactly what I expected to find on checking the reverse.

A third cross, again blank on this side,…

…reveals this to be the grave of Major Freeling Ross Lawrence D.S.O., 14th Hussars, who died on 9th March 1914, aged 41.

Further along the top row, and two more crosses, once again with the information we seek on the other sides.

The men buried beneath these two crosses died in the years preceding the Great War, this man a Royal Engineer who died in June 1910,…

…and this man an Indian Army captain who died in 1911.

Behind the crosses, these are the three graves at the start, or the end, of the second row.  Furthest from the camera, its cross now lying prone on the ground,…

…this memorial marks the grave of Second Lieutenant James Thursby Roberts, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) Regiment, and the inset shows how this memorial once looked.  Shot through the neck, fracturing his spine, during the first attack on High Wood on the Somme on 14th July 1916, he was evacuated to Blighty where, despite an emergency operation on arrival at Netley, he died on 20th July 1916.  He was 20.

And this is the grave next to James Roberts,…

…with what is quite clearly a German CWGC headstone (the inset photo was found, left on the grave, some years back),…

…and an inscription in German, and when did you last see a German family memorial to a son lost in war, such as this, in an English cemetery?  Leutnant Otto Paul Scholz died on 14th December 1916 aged 26 (‘regierungsreferendar’ literally translates as ‘government trainee’, whatever that may be).

Blank on this side,…

…this is the grave of Lieutenant John Arthur Geoffrey Vowler, Leinster Regiment, accidentally wounded in the head in April 1916 in France while cleaning a revolver.  Sent home to recover, he returned to France, attached to the Machine Gun Corps, in May 1917.  By July, however, he was once again hospitalized, his old wound causing him to lapse into a serious condition; despite evacuation to Netley, he would die of a burst abscess in the brain on 19th July 1917 aged 20.  His brother, Captain Darrell Francis Stephen Vowler, Notts & Derby Regiment, died of pneumonia, probably a flu victim, on 28th February 1919.

The grave of Captain Francis Yarde Foley, A.S.C. attd. R.A.F., who died of illness, contracted on Gallipoli, at the British Red Cross Hospital at Netley on 12th May 1918, aged 27.

This CWGC headstone marks the grave of Lieutenant Reginald Harrington D.C.M., 59th Bn. Australian Infantry, formerly 4th Australian Light Horse, who died of wounds* on 10th June 1918, aged 29.  His D.C.M. citation reads ‘At Delsaux Farm on the 18th March, 1917 C.S.M. Reginald Harrington displayed conspicuous bravery, coolness, and devotion to duty, while “B” Company 59th Battalion was advancing to drive the enemy out of Delsaux Farm, C.S.M. Harrington volunteered to go ahead and reconnoitre the position. He did so and took up a position commanding the best observation, but which was a most exposed and dangerous one. While lying there observing C.S.M. Harrington was wounded, but remained at his post [for] three hours, afterwards giving extremely valuable information. He was exposed to heavy and accurate machine gun fire and to constant sniping. The action greatly contributed to the success of the operation, which resulted in the position and important documents being captured.’

*he was gassed in April 1918.

And this, although unfortunately no longer easily legible, is Reginald Harrington’s original family grave marker, before his CWGC headstone was erected.

The two graves that follow Harrington’s both have CWGC headstones,…

…the first that of Lieutenant Leslie Farries Gordon M.C., 50th Bn. Canadian Infantry.

Gordon (pictured) was awarded the Military Cross in a Corps Order dated 10th October 1918, his citation (above) appearing in December.

Not that he would ever know it.  Injured by a gunshot wound to the back on 11th August 1918, he was evacuated to Rouen and then Blighty, although he would never make it, dying on board H.M.H.S. Carisbrook Castle on 15th August 1918 aged 30.

The second CWGC headstone is that of Captain Thomas O’Connor D.S.C., R.A.F., who died on 2nd September 1918.  Originally an officer in the Royal Naval Air Service, before its amalgamation in April 1918 with the Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force, he was killed in the crash of a Felixstowe F2a flying boat on 2nd September 1918.

This white cross, blank on this side,…

…marks the grave of one Gladys Bell, quite possibly, I would have thought, one of the nurses at Netley, but it is too difficult to decipher the inscription apart from the fact that she died in October 1918.

The top row ends with the grave of Major Richard Hugh McGillycuddy M.C., R.A.M.C., attached to the 9th Bn. K.O.Y.L.I. during the Battle of Loos in 1915, invalided home in the spring of 1916, and later medical officer on various transport or medical ships, who died at sea of pneumonia on 20th Oct 1918 aged 34.

And so on to the third row, which begins behind the grave of Major McGillycuddy with this headstone, marking the grave of Lieutenant Colonel Evelyn Aldridge, Royal Garrison Artillery, who died on 30th March 1919 aged 38,…

…and continues with a CWGC headstone, Major Thomas Francis Salmon, India Miscellaneous List, who died on 4th December 1919 aged 54.  The India (or Indian) Miscellaneous List was an appointment, under what was known as the ‘Unattached List’, whereby British Army men were seconded to Indian Army duty.  Or something like that.

Lieutenant Colonel Harry S. Wright C.M.G., Royal Army Service Corps, who died on 30th September 1919 aged 49 (above & below).

This memorial, on the grave of Colonel Edwin Beddy, 29th Punjab Infantry, who died on 8th May 1919 aged 82, also remembers his youngest son, Lieutenant Rafe Langdon Beddy, Royal Gurkha Rifles, who was wounded on Gallipoli where he died on 4th June 1915 aged 29.  He is buried in Pink Farm Cemetery, towards the south of the Gallipoli peninsula.

Possibly deliberately toppled, for safety reasons, this illegible (see below) headstone marks the grave of Lieutenant F M Wakefield, Dorset Yeomanry (Queen’s Own), who died on 2nd January 1919.  Note the CWGC headstone behind the tree on the right,…

…because this is as close to a close-up as you are going to get.  Sorry.  Lieutenant Arthur Henry Boothe Hulley (pictured), R.F.A., died on 4th December 1918 aged 35, certainly from disease, most likely the flu.

The grave of Lieutenant Colonel Henry Arthur Carroll, Royal Munster Fusiliers, who died at the Red Cross Hospital at Netley on 31st October 1918 aged 44.  A veteran of the 2nd Boer War, he was in command of a composite battalion in Mesopotamia in 1915, and twice mentioned in despatches, but was invalided home in 1916, where he commanded an Officer Cadet Battalion up to his death.

The third row ends with the grave of Major John E. Maynard M.C., London Regiment (City of London Rifles), wounded on 23rd August 1918 leading his battalion in action and evacuated to Blighty, where he died at Netley on 17th October 1918.

The same two graves from behind, Major Maynard pictured on the left, Lieutenant Colonel Carroll on the right.

The penultimate row…

…begins with the grave of Captain Rainsford F. Gill MD, R.A.M.C., presumably a member of the Netley staff, who died on 6th March 1920 aged 55.

The first of two CWGC headstones in this row, Captain Arthur Adrian Nevill Hayne, Canadian Infantry, died on 24th April 1920, aged 38,…

…next to him, this is the grave of the wife of a Royal Army Service Corps captain,…

…and the second CWGC headstone is that of Major George Darling Wright, 98th Infantry, Indian Army, who died, aged 40, on 26th May 1920.

Next, the first of three crosses in a row…

…marks the grave of Captain Charles Roland Kidd, R.A.M.C., who died on 8th July 1920 aged 44.

The second cross is blank on this side…

…but, with a little sneaky photo enhancement, the inscription on the other side is just about legible; ‘In thanksgiving for Annie Vincent Price M.B.E. of Bristol. M.M.S. at Netley Hospital Red Cross Section 1916-1921. Called June 2 1921 aged 58’.  A decorated nurse, it would seem, although I know not what M.M.S. stands for.

The third of the crosses marks the grave of Lieutenant Colonel George Douglas Lister, The Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), who died on 23rd November 1921 aged 47.  Lister had fought through the Second Boer War at the turn of the century, and was a captain when badly wounded and captured by the Germans at Mons in August 1914.  He spent nearly four years in captivity before being repatriated in June 1918.  He later commanded 1st Bn. The Queen’s Own in India in 1920, but he contracted two severe illnesses whilst there, necessitating his return to England, and leading to his subsequent death at Netley in 1921.

The final two burials in this row…

…are Captain Vincent Baxter Walter M.C., R.A.S.C., who died on 13th February 1922 aged 42,…

…and Lieutenant Colonel Edward Harold Wildblood D.S.C. & Bar, Royal Tank Corps (late C.O. 1st Bn. Leinster Regiment), who died on 12th March 1926 aged 47.  His son, a pilot officer, was killed during the Battle of Britain.

Barring the first burial, in the foreground – Major Jack Mutimer (possibly ex-17th Lancers) died on 16th July 1929 aged 49 – the final row consists of military personnel who died in the 1930s.  The white memorial…

…marks the grave of Group Captain William Robert Bruce O.B.E., Royal Air Force, who died on 21st January 1932 aged 50,…

…followed by Captain G. H. Crouch, Royal Corps of Signals, who died on 24th January 1932 aged 35,…

…and then the two brown headstones we saw at the start, Captain Edward Thomas, Indian Army Ordnance Corps, who died on 25th April 1933 aged 53,…

…and Lieutenant Colonel Harold Dening, who died on 14th December 1933.

This unusual headstone is that of Major William McElrea Snodgrass M.C., R.A.M.C., wounded on the Somme in 1916, who served abroad throughout the twenties before being posted to the staff at Netley in 1931.

He died, having caught an infection while performing an operation, on 1st February 1934, aged 43.

The final grave in the row is Lieutenant Frederick William Hall M.B.E., Royal Army Ordnance Corps, who died on 17th May 1934 aged 48.  His five-month old son, who died in 1922, is also mentioned on the headstone.

And that is the Officers’ Plot, and all we now have to do is turn to our right,…

…and through the trees…

..is the final section of the cemetery, the Roman Catholic burials that we strolled past in Part One of our visit.