Netley Military Cemetery Part Six: The Roman Catholic Plot

So here we are, back at the hill we saw when we first entered the cemetery.  The earliest Great War burial is to be found here, but before we explore the hill, if we skirt the bushes on our left, we’ll find some graves that we passed during the introductory post that we ought to visit first. 

Fourteen military graves in all,…

…all Roman Catholic, ten Belgian, one German & three British,…

… with a fifteenth grave here on the left,…

…that of the three-month old son of a Royal Army Medical Corps staff serjeant who died in the 1920s.

The fourteen military graves are all men who died in November or December 1914,…

…the first Belgian grave we encounter that of Soldat Edouard Quost, who died, according to his headstone, on 19th November 1914,…

…and according to this GRRF, on 13th November 1914; both headstone and form do mention that he was a member of the Civic Guard.  There are, in total, fifteen Belgians buried in this cemetery, all in this section,…

…but we do know that, at one point, there were twenty four.  This war memorial in Southampton Old Cemetery (photos above courtesy of the IWM), five miles to the north west of here, remembers not only Belgian casualties buried within the Old Cemetery (the names listed on the front panel, on the left above, with some of the graves scattered nearby), but also (top right) Belgian casualties buried at Netley, the memorial, according to the lower plaque, erected in May 1916.  At which time there were twenty one names listed as buried at Netley which, along with three unidentified men, makes up our total of twenty four.  The graves of nine of the names on the memorial, those of Ducastell, Gillis, Githers, Damnay, Noe, Ferlia, De Laethauwer, Lombaerts & Van Haeck, are no longer here, their bodies removed from Netley in 1923, and I assume repatriated, although I don’t know that for certain.  Why else would they have been removed, and yet others remain?

Back to the Belgian casualties still here, and next, as we follow the front row, this is the grave of Soldat Adhémar Jules Bertiaux, who died on 7th November 1914, aged 21, and the first British burial in the row, on the right,…

…Private Edward Hunt, Dorsetshire Regiment, who died of wounds on 6th November 1914, aged 22.

The row behind begins with these two Belgians, Soldat Victor Janssens, who died on 9th December 1914 aged 21, and Soldat Jean-Joseph-Ghislain Hainaut, who died on 22nd November 1914, aged 27,…

…and continues with a German, Gefreiter Victor Pallasch, who died on 22nd November 1914.

Wounded German prisoners of war breakfasting at Netley – note the two armed British guards.

Back to the front row.  Soldat Gaston Billiet (left & pictured) died on 4th November 1914, aged just 19.  Apparently, he was actually a Soldier/2nd Class Chaplain, and he died of wounds to his abdomen, arm & legs received at Pervijze, where we visited some time back. On the right, Soldat Jan Salien died on 1st November 1914 aged 29, and in the centre,…

…Soldat Desiderius Van Broeck, who died on 1st November 1914, aged 23, and who once shared a grave…

…with one of the men (presumably) since repatriated, Private (Soldat) D. Van Haecke, of whom today there is no sign.  The Belgian headstone behind…

…is that of an unknown soldier, his headstone featuring the word ‘unknown’ in both Flemish, ‘onbekend’, and its French equivalent, ‘inconnu’, as is the case with all unidentified Belgian burials,…

…and the row continues with, on the left, the grave of Private Richard Gould, Highland Light Infantry, who died on 19th November 1914, and on the right, Soldat Maurice Faucon, who died on 17th November 1914, aged 25.

The burial at the end of the front row is another unidentified man, and next to him, the final burial we have yet to see in this small plot,…

…Private John Edward Blanchard, The King’s Liverpool Regiment, who died of wounds on 31st October 1914 aged 23,…

…these the two graves closest to the camera as we look towards the main Roman Catholic section on the hill in the background.  And on the way there, the next graves we shall be visiting are beneath the trees on the left,…

…both of which are early August 1916 casualties, Private J. Corcoran, Royal Irish Regiment (left), who died at the University War Hospital in Southampton (below) on 5th August 1916, and Rifleman J. Mearns, Royal Irish Rifles (right), who died on 1st August 1916.  The three headstones behind,…

In the background of the previous shot, these three headstones are, from left, Corporal Harry Court, Durham Light Infantry, who died from gunshot wounds to the right thigh on 25th September 1916, Private Sidney B. Andrews, 6oth Bn. Canadian Infantry, another man who died in the University War Hospital, on 21st September 1916 aged 27, a week after admission for a gunshot wound to the thigh which had turned gangrenous, and Private Martin McGrath, Royal Munster Fusiliers, who died of wounds on 15th September 1916 aged 24.

The same headstones from the rear.  The CWGC headstone furthest right…

…is seen again here, just left of centre, as we make our way up the hill,…

…and marks the grave of Private John McMahon, Royal Munster Fusiliers, who died on 2nd September 1916 aged 20, and the white cross seen in the last two shots…

…is an earlier burial, that of ‘4497 Trooper Quinn, 2nd Dragoons, who died July 28th 1903 after long agony patiently endured aged 23 years’, which suggests, I would have thought, that he was most likely a Second Boer War casualty.

The view from the top,…

…with the cemetery entrance down beyond the tree on the left.  The two headstones in the left foreground…

…include, on the right, the earliest Great War burial in not just this section of the cemetery, but in the cemetery as a whole.

Lance Serjeant William Curley, Irish Guards, died on 20th August 1914, just sixteen days after Britain declared war.  The Irish Guards did indeed see very early action in the war, arriving in France early on the morning of 13th August 1914*, but not early enough for Lance Serjeant Curley to die from wounds.  I have no knowledge of the reason for his death, nor his age, although apparently he already had been discharged, only to die two months later, which suggests long-term illness.

*The Irish Guards first found themselves under fire on 23rd August 1914 on the Mons-Harmignies road, five men being wounded.  Bet you didn’t know that.

The headstone next to Private Curley is that of Private (Shoeing-Smith) Robert Thomas Dobbyn, 5th Lancers,…

…who died ‘of enteric following wounds received in France’ on 7th September 1914, aged 30.

The 5th Lancers war diary for August 1914, their first casualty being a horse killed as they left Le Havre on 19th August…

…and entrained for Jeumont, around two hundred miles away, and a dozen miles south east of Mons, arriving in good time to participate in the retreat that began on 24th August.  That same day saw their first action and first human casualties,…

…and they would suffer more during the Battle of Le Cateau on 26th August; it would seem quite possible that Shoeing-Smith Dobbyn was among them.

The row continues, after a small gap, with the graves extending down the far side of the hill.  The first headstones beyond the gap…

…are those of, on the right, Private Uriah Macey, Essex Regiment, who died on 22nd September 1914, and on the left, Jaeger Otto Schulz, who died on 27th September 1914 aged 28,…

…followed by, from right, Private P. Hendry, Highland Light Infantry, who died of wounds on 17th October 1914, Private Alexander Brown, South Lancashire Regiment, who died on 20th October 1914 aged 28, and Private Humphrey Gallavin, Dorsetshire Regiment, who died of gunshot & shrapnel wounds to the head and body on 23rd October 1914.

With Private Gallavin’s headstone now on the far right, the next two burials are German, Soldat Gerhard Eickel, who died on 24th October 1914 aged 26, and, closest to the camera, Soldat Anton Wolfe, who died the following day, on 25th October 1914, aged 23.

Looking back along the front row, this Belgian grave…

…the third, and final, unidentified Belgian buried here.  Next to him, however, again after a small gap,…

…are two more identified Belgians, on the right, Soldat Renaat Soetaert, who died on 29th October 1914 aged 24, and on the left, Caporal René Georges Ghislain Haverland, who died on 27th October 1914 aged, if his birth date of 12th April 1897 is correct, just 17.

The row ends with two burials from considerably later in the war; on the right, Lance Corporal J. Chappell, York & Lancaster Regiment, who died on 10th July 1916, and on the left, Private F. Curran, Manchester Regiment, who died on 13th July 1916.  And while we’re here, and because I don’t have a better picture, the single headstone behind at the start (or end) of the second row…

…is another later burial, Russian-born Canadian Private Victor Sadowinski, 13th Bn. Canadian Infantry, who died of sepsis after being shot in the back.  Admitted on 12th July, he died on 22nd July 1916, aged 31.

However, before we visit some of the other graves in the second row, this view shows that we have a few more to see here before we do so.  Private Sadowinski’s headstone, at the start of row two, is actually now the fourth in line on the left, with the first row (including the three Belgian headstones we have just seen) in front of him.  The four headstones closest to the camera are all later burials from 1916, the man buried in the foreground…

…Corporal David Burns, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, who died on 31st May 1916 aged 29,…

…and the three men buried behind him, on the left, Private Thomas O’Keeffe, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, who died of wounds on 8th July 1916 aged 40,…

…Soldat Leopold Min, who died on 29th October 1914, and Private John James O’Brien, Manchester Regiment, who died of wounds on 27th October 1914.  Back to row two now, Private Sadowinski’s grave closest to the tree on the left, and if you look to his right, there’s a considerable gap before the next headstone in the row just creeps into the picture top right,…

…and when we get there, these men are all spring 1915 casualties.  Private Ernest John James, 16th Bn. Australian Infantry (left), was wounded in the thigh at Gallipoli, and died on 28th May 1915, Signaller Joseph Arthur Comeau, Canadian Field Artillery (central non-CWGC memorial), was admitted to Netley with serious shrapnel wounds on 13th May 1915, and would die of his injuries two weeks later on 26th May, aged 19, and on the right, Private J. Kelly, Leinster Regiment, who died on 23rd May 1915, aged 20.

The first of ten German burials in this row, the chipped headstone of Karl Kasper, an 18-year old German civilian prisoner-of-war who died on board a Royal Navy trawler on 19th April 1915, aged 18.

On the left, Private J. H. Hewlett, East Kent Regiment (The Buffs), who died on 4th April 1915 aged 22, and on the right, the second German in the row,…

..Jaeger Anton Lück, who died on 3rd April 1915 aged 18.  Curious how some of the German headstones have chipped edges, isn’t it?  Those misbehaving lawnmowers.

The German burials in row two continue.  From left, Soldat Josef Remberger, who died on 2nd April 1915 aged 26, Grenadier Hans Mischlewsky, who died on 21st March 1915 aged 21, and Soldat Johann Pentner, who died on 20th March 1915 aged 24.

Next to Soldat Pentner, now on the left, Musketier Friedrich Reischmann, who died on 12th March 1915 aged 19, and after a small gap,…

…another German, Musketier Alfred Baumlin, who died on 28th February 1915 aged 25.  Next to him, Second Corporal William Reynolds, Royal Engineers, who died on 9th February 1915, with another German on the right, Musketier Georg Huber, who died on 7th February 1915 aged 22.

With Huber’s grave now on the far left, the next two men, Private J. Crean, Connaught Rangers,…

…and Private M. Hennessy, aged 23, Royal Irish Regiment, on the left, both died on 3rd February 1915.  On the right, the grave of Kriegsfreiwilliger Max Buggle, who died on 2nd February 1915.

Max Buggle, seen here in action, was actually the goalkeeper for VfB Stuttgart (still in the German top division to this day) and was wounded on 31st October 1914 at Messines.  Captured and evacuated to Blighty, he survived for several months before succumbing to his injuries on 2nd February 1915.  On the right, the headstone of Private William Hargreaves, East Lancashire Regiment, whose real name was apparently Langtree, and who died of gunshot wounds to the head on 25th January 1915.

With the headstones of Buggle & Hargreaves now on the left, this non-CWGC headstone you saw in some of the earlier shots is the grave of Bandsman A. Scarlett, Connaught Rangers, who died on 2nd February 1913 aged 24; ‘This stone was erected by his comrades in the band.’, after which the second row behind ends with…

…the grave of Musketier Bernard Biernath, here on the left, who died on 27th December 1914, and three British soldiers,…

…all December 1914 casualties.

The burials at this end of the third row are from the summer of 1915, Private John Sweeney (closest to camera), Welch Regiment, who died on 6th June 1915 aged 40,…

…Private H. Helder, Middlesex Regiment, who died on 6th August 1915, and next to him,…

…and here on the right, Private T. Gallivan*, West Yorkshire Regiment, who died of wounds on 16th August 1915 aged 19.  On the left, Private William Henry O’Donnell, Canterbury Regiment N.Z.E.F., who also died of wounds, on 17th September 1915, aged 29.

*what are the chances of finding a Gallavin, as we saw earlier, and a Gallivan, as here, in the same plot?

On the right, Private Daniel O’Neill, Connaught Rangers, who died of wounds on 14th October 1915 aged 35, and on the left, Serjeant M. Francis, Leinster Regiment, who died on 17th October 1915,…

…and continuing down the row, nearest the camera, Corporal Austin Hugh Murphy, R.A.M.C., who died on 6th November 1915 (his headstone appears to say 5th, for some reason) aged 31,…

…and here, from left, Private M. Hollerin, Royal Scots, who died on 26th December 1915, Private J. Currie, Gordon Highlanders, who died on 19th December 1915, and Pioneer Edward Fleming, Royal Engineers, who drowned on 16th November 1915.

The cross remembers Staff Serjeant Alexander William Scouler, Army Pay Corps, who died on 25th January 1916 aged 32, and the CWGC headstone on the left is that of Quartermaster Serjeant C. E. Pattison, R.F.A., who was 62 when he died on 7th March 1916.  Yes, 62.

The row ends with, on the right, Corporal George Alberts, R.A.M.C., a staff member at Netley who died on 11th April 1916, Piper Charles McCabe, Royal Scots, who died of dysentery on 28th April 1916, and finally, on the left, Rifleman Henry Chalkley, Royal Irish Rifles, wounded in the abdomen on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, who died on 24th July 1916, aged 18, at the University War Hospital in Southampton.

The first headstones of row four, Private J. Lund, Royal Army Veterinary Corps, who died on 20th September 1917 nearest the camera.  You might have already noticed,…

…but quite a number of these headstones have seashells placed on them.  Which is nice.  On the left, American-born Private John E. Ferger, Royal Scots, who died of wounds on 18th November 1917 aged 35, and on the right, Private Owen Mulheron, The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), who died on 14th October 1917.

On the left, Rifleman J Doherty, Royal Irish Rifles, who died of wounds on 14th December 1916 aged 21, and on the right, Private Henry Lawes, Royal Defence Corps, who died of bronchitis on 22nd November 1916.  Private Lawes had served twenty one years with the Royal Berkshire Regiment, had re-enlisted during the Great War, and was 53 years old when he died.

On the left, Private W. Holland, South Wales Borderers, who died on 11th October 1916, before the row ends with two Germans who died in 1918, Leutnant der Reserve Theophil von Plotto-Prondzinski, who died on 11th September 1918, aged 24,…

…and at the end of the row, on the right, Unteroffizer Bruno Jakubowski, who died a few days earlier, on 3rd September 1918.

Row five begins (or ends – you know the drill by now) with, on the right, Private Denis Brady, Royal Irish Fusiliers, who died on 6th April 1918 aged 29, and on the left, Private John McKenna, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, who died on 15th May 1918,…

…and continues with, in the foreground, Soldat Johann Wrobel, who died on 19th August 1918 aged 19, and next to him, Private Alphie Savoie, 87th Bn. Canadian Infantry, who died of multiple wounds on 23rd August 1916, aged 22.

Private John (Jack) Langford Naylor (right), 1st Australian Pioneers, wounded with a gunshot wound to his spine, died at sea onboard H.M.A.T. Guildford Castle whilst being evacuated to England on 28th August 1918, and Rifleman Joseph Critchley (left), King’s Royal Rifle Corps, died on 26th September 1918, aged 22.

On the right, Offizierstellvertreter* Josef Krump, who died on 1st October 1918, in the centre, Lance Corporal Ernest Lance Collins, New Zealand Rifle Brigade, who died of gunshot wounds & pneumonia on 27th October 1918 aged 30, and on the left, Füsilier August Staab, who died on 30th October 1918.

*acting officer

Looking back along the row, the two closest headstones…

…those of Private John Keefe M.M., The King’s Liverpool Regiment, who died on 24th March 1919,…

…and Lieutenant John Patrick Brewer, King’s Dragoon Guards attd. Machine Gun Corps, who died on 20th July 1919 aged 36.

After a gap, the final burial in row five is this one, which purports to be a CWGC one, but we all know is nowt but an imposter.  Leading Aircraftsman (which should, of course, be Aircraftman, without the ‘s’, but we’ll forgive on this occasion)) T. B. Wilson died in 1931 aged 22.

Row six, Pioneer T. Nolan, Royal Engineers, who died on 28th November 1920, closest to the camera,…

…and further up the row, Company Serjeant Major Joseph Mercer, Labour Corps and South Lancashire Regiment, who died on 18th August 1920 aged 28,…

…Private J. S. Greene (left), Royal Army Service Corps, who died on 3rd August 1920, and Private John Devine (right), Royal Irish Fusiliers, who died on 9th June 1920 aged 18,…

…Private Devine’s grave closest to the camera in this shot, with Company Serjeant Major Mercer’s headstone third from the right.

The remaining graves in this row are more widely spaced.  Closest to the camera…

…is the grave of Second Lieutenant Ernest George Swain, (R.)A.S.C., who died on 4th May 1915 aged 46, and the Belgian grave you just saw behind him…

…is that of Lieutenant Louis Désiré Gaston Petit, who died on 28th October 1914 aged 32.  He received the Croix de Guerre for his bravery when he ‘tried to stop, practically on his own, the enemy advance but his legs were shot off by an enemy machine gun on 20th September 1914. Was evacuated to Folkstone where he died on 28th October 1914.’  And was then buried here.  Incidentally, on 20th September, and the days following, during the defence of Antwerp, there were several skirmishes between Belgian & German troops near Opwijk, twenty or so miles south of the city, and it would seem likely that it was here that Lieutenant Petit was wounded.  Some days later, on 3rd October, the Royal Naval Division would arrive in Antwerp, if briefly, and was presumably instrumental in Petit’s evacuation to Blighty.

I have shown few pictures of the men buried in this cemetery*, and those I have shown are mainly of the men buried in the officers’ plot, but I will show Gaston Petit (left inset), partly because his photograph almost dares me not to.  The broken cross (right inset)…

*although you will find a considerable number of photos of the men buried here on Julie’s Netley website – there’ll be a link at the end.

…has now been replaced by a CWGC headstone, this the grave of Serjeant Major James Gregory McGlinn, Corps of Army Schoolmasters*, who died from pneumonia on 4th April 1920 aged 31.  He spent the war as an army teacher in India, returning to England in early 1920.  It seems that he caught influenza on the boat home, and, according to the Daily Post of 28th April 1920 ‘he can have hardly more than reached England, from which he had been absent for eight years, before he was attacked with influenza and entered Netley Hospital, where his illness ended fatally’.

*Later the Royal Army Educational Corps.

On the left, Private John Flavell, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, who died on 24th December 1919 aged 35, and on the right, Lance Corporal John Francis McArdle, R.A.M.C., who died on 7th March 1921.  The memorial in the centre…

…remembers the wife of a soldier of the Indian Army who died in 1920, probably a flu victim.

The final row of Great War burials, behind these graves,…

…begins with Signaller William McDonnell, Royal Corps of Signals, who died on 17th March 1921 (also below), and then Private Robert Dunn M.M., Royal Irish Fusiliers, who died on 1st June 1921.

Possible proof that lawnmowers are no respecters of nationality.

The other two burials closest to the camera are, far left, Pioneer George Challice, Royal Engineers, who died on 31st July 1921, and Private W. J. F. Bower, Royal Air Force, who died on 21st July 1921 aged 48.

View from behind the four headstones in the previous shot, here in the left foreground, looking back up the hill.  The remaining burials, as you’ll see in a moment, are all 1930s onwards, and so, as we have no more Great War burials to visit, here’s a list of all the men buried in the cemetery who, had they survived, would have been known as ‘Old Contemptibles’; Barnett, Belcher, Bennett, Blanchard, Boeham, Brinton, Brown, Chatfield, Chilvers, Clarke, Clayton, Cottis, Crook, Crossfield, Curley, Davidson, Dobbyn, Drake, Dray, Dymock, Edwards, Gallavin, Gobbey, Good, Gould, Hall, Hatton, Hendry, Hildersley, Hill, Hills, Holloway, Honor, Howe, Hunt, Innes, Jarvis, Johnson, Kitching, Macey, Mailer, Malyan, Mead, Munday, McMahon, O’Brien, Oakman, Pearce, Phillips, Ravenhill, Read, Revely, Riley, Roddis, Russell, Russell, Seager, Sealey, Shaw, Smith, Snell, Spooner, Stone, Tee, Vincent, Warner, Watson, White and Wooton.  And no, I didn’t create this list, I nicked it from Julie’s excellent all-things Netley website which you can access if you click here.

The grave of the wife of a R.A.M.C. sergeant who died in 1931,…

…and the grave of Serjeant A. T. Ancaster, Royal Artillery, who died on 4th March 1931, and behind them,…

…the final five graves to the right of the tree are all Second World War casualties, these men dying between 1939 (right) & 1941 (left).

On the other side of the tree, these burials are all later (that closest to the camera from 1951), and include…

…this man of the Polish Forces who died in 1943.

And that, ladies & gents, is the Roman Catholic plot,…

…and the end of our visit to Netley Military Cemetery.  We shall wander back through the trees, and leave the ghosts of this place to themselves once more.