St Paul's Cemetery, Kersall
Jun 26, 2011 8:17:56 GMT
Post by prospectroad on Jun 26, 2011 8:17:56 GMT
I spent a really interesting afternoon at St Paul's yesterday. My wife works at the local primary school, and one of her workmates explained that her husband, Roy, worked in the cemetery as a volunteer and would give me a guided tour through the WW1 CWGC graves and also the many personal commemorations on family headstones. The cemetery is, in many parts, overgrown, and a large tree has collapsed across many of the graves. Roy has catalogued all the WW1 and WW2 graves, placed crosses on them and keeps them strimmed and accessible. I thought I'd be there for half an hour but I ended up spending nearly 3 hours. Here is a quick summary:
There are 12 CWGC headstones from WW1 and 19 from WW2, including Lieutenant Colonel Thomas H Cunliffe, 9th Manchesters.
Many of the family headstones including personal commemorations to WW1 casualties such as:
- Private Albert Ingham, shot at dawn 1st December 1916
- many 1st July 1916 (Somme) references, also many 4th June 1915 (Gallipoli)
- Alfred Quick, DCM, Rifle Brigade, fell at Ypres 15th April 1916, aged 19
- Petty Officer Charles Percy Litchfield, DSM, died 16th February 1918, aged 28
- Josephine Dold, VAD, died 23rd November 1918, at Bagthorpe Military Hospital, Notts
- Flight Lieutenant Cecil Dutton Darlington, RAF, killed at St Julien, France on 25th April 1918, aged 25
- Second Lieutenant George Orme Smart, RFC, killed in aerial combat, 7th April 1917, fell in the enemies lines near Neuville Vitasse, France
- Captain E. Lionel Scales, Middlesex Regiment, Armistice Day
- there are also several groups of brothers including Harold and Norman Britton who fell within several days of each other on 6th and 28th September 1917
For me, the most amazing finds were two men who appear in our book on Irlam and Cadishead; Private Thomas Moss Sheard appears on the side of the Priestman family headstone (he married Frances Priestman in 1903) and Second Lieutenant William Bowker Farrington appears on the headstone of his parents, Roger and Annie Farrington.
Roy is one of the many unsung heroes of Kersall.
There are 12 CWGC headstones from WW1 and 19 from WW2, including Lieutenant Colonel Thomas H Cunliffe, 9th Manchesters.
Many of the family headstones including personal commemorations to WW1 casualties such as:
- Private Albert Ingham, shot at dawn 1st December 1916
- many 1st July 1916 (Somme) references, also many 4th June 1915 (Gallipoli)
- Alfred Quick, DCM, Rifle Brigade, fell at Ypres 15th April 1916, aged 19
- Petty Officer Charles Percy Litchfield, DSM, died 16th February 1918, aged 28
- Josephine Dold, VAD, died 23rd November 1918, at Bagthorpe Military Hospital, Notts
- Flight Lieutenant Cecil Dutton Darlington, RAF, killed at St Julien, France on 25th April 1918, aged 25
- Second Lieutenant George Orme Smart, RFC, killed in aerial combat, 7th April 1917, fell in the enemies lines near Neuville Vitasse, France
- Captain E. Lionel Scales, Middlesex Regiment, Armistice Day
- there are also several groups of brothers including Harold and Norman Britton who fell within several days of each other on 6th and 28th September 1917
For me, the most amazing finds were two men who appear in our book on Irlam and Cadishead; Private Thomas Moss Sheard appears on the side of the Priestman family headstone (he married Frances Priestman in 1903) and Second Lieutenant William Bowker Farrington appears on the headstone of his parents, Roger and Annie Farrington.
Roy is one of the many unsung heroes of Kersall.