Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 10h

A pedestal marker (sometimes called a Gallipoli marker) used to remember Pte Victor Cantrill, a Coventry man who served with the Canadian forces. Time and the elements had not been kind to the lead lettering used on his original memorial.

📍Coventry (Windmill Road) Cemetery 🇬🇧

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Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 1d

Remembering Pte Frank Pemberton, who died of bronchitis on this day in 1918 while a POW in Germany. He voluntarily enlisted in January 1915 and served in France for three years before being captured in May 1918.

📍Terlincthun British Cemetery 🇫🇷

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Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 1d

Sergeant Ronald Davies, of 166 Squadron, was onboard an aircraft detailed to attack Hanover. His aircraft developed engine trouble and turned to return to base, crashing as it was approaching to land, killing five of the crew.

📍Hinckley Cemetery 🇬🇧

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Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 3d

Serjeant Jordan, a former policeman and reservist, went to France with the first expeditionary force in August 1914. He went through the retreat from Mons in early 1915 and, later that year, was awarded the Distinguished Conduct medal.

📍Ilfracombe (Holy Trinity) Churchyard🇬🇧

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Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 4d

L/Cpl William Nash served with the Ox and Bucks Light Infantry and was lost on the battlefields of the Somme. He is officially listed on the Thiepval Memorial, and with no known grave, his parents chose to have his name on their headstone.

📍Polesworth (St Editha) Churchyard 🇬🇧

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Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 5d

Sick Berth Steward George Trolley was mentioned in despatches by Commodore Tyrwhitt, following a very early naval engagement that took place off Heligoland on 28th August 1914. The Daily Express gave an exciting headline to the battle.

📍Coventry (St Paul’s) Cemetery 🇬🇧

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Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 6d

Pte Benjamin Robins, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, was killed on this day in 1917. In his school days he played in the Elkington Street Council School football team that won the 1911-12 Aston Villa Cup; just 5 years later he was killed in Belgium.

📍Tyne Cot Cemetery Belgium 🇧🇪

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Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 7d

“I’m alright, Mother, cheerio.”
The words selected for the epitaph of 22-year-old Lt Harold Hill, who was killed in an attack on the Passchendaele Ridge. Severely wounded, he was carried to a dressing station at Zonnebeke.

📍Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood🇧🇪

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Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 7d

It’s interesting to read an account Serjeant Harry Jago’s dad wrote after visiting his son’s grave in Bayeux in 1947. His words about the cemetery’s ‘glorious sight’ rang true when I visited in August, almost 80 years later.

📍Bayeux War Cemetery 🇫🇷

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Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 8d

The South Wales Daily News reported that Pte Albert Warren, Royal Munster Fusiliers, succumbed to dysentery at Malta Hospital on this day in 1915. He left a widow and four children back at home in Cardiff.

📍Pieta Military Cemetery 🇲🇹

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Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 10d

Jerzy de Jenko-Sokołowski was killed in a flying accident on this day in 1940. His aircraft, a Fairey Battle, crashed into woodland at Heath End near Checkendon during night flying practice.

📍Benson (St Helen) Churchyard Extension 🇬🇧

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Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 11d

A special memorial headstone commemorating a WW1 Royal Engineer whose grave at St Brannock’s Road Cemetery, Ilfracombe, is no longer accessible. Spr Frederick Sharrard died in 1916 following his discharge from the army, after suffering from tuberculosis.

📍Heaton Punchardon 🇬🇧

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Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 12d

Gunner Stanley Saville, Honourable Artillery Company, was one of two Rugby lads killed when a shell exploded in the doorway of a dugout they were sheltering in. An officer wrote that Stanley was a ‘limber gunner’ who knew his job ‘from A to Z’.

📍Bard Cottage Cemetery 🇧🇪

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Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 12d

The MOD website is quite vague; however, I found the following in ‘The Blue Cap’, the Journal of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association. Pages 4-25 outline the evidence.

www.greatwar.ie/wp-content/u...

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Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 13d

More information about Edward and his comrades whose graves were rededicated can be read of the Ministry of Defence website:

www.gov.uk/government/n...

Graves of Royal Dublin Fusiliers located in Belgium

The graves of six soldiers who fought and died during World War 1 have finally been marked with their names over 100 years after they died.

www.gov.uk

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Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 13d

For over 100 years Cpl Edward Doyle lay buried as an unknown soldier of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. In 2024, thanks to research submitted to the CWGC, his grave was rededicated and a new headstone was installed.

📍Hooge Crater Cemetery 🇧🇪

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Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 13d

Able Seaman Kenneth Davies was initially reported as missing after falling overboard on this day in 1944. His death was late confirmed in October.

📍Coventry (London Road) Cemetery 🇬🇧

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Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 14d

Private Archie Deacon, Royal Army Medical Corps, was killed by a shell burst whilst he was tending to the wounded on the roadside. His name is listed on the war memorial in Nuneaton’s Riversley Park.

📍Ypres Reservoir Cemetery 🇧🇪

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Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 16d

Pte Jabez Dewis, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, is remembered on a family headstone in Nuneaton. He was buried in Enzeli Military Cemetery, Iran, but sadly his grave has been lost, and his name is now recorded on the Tehran Memorial.

📍Nuneaton (Stockingford) Cemetery 🇬🇧

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Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 17d

A commemorative Victoria Cross paving stone honouring Lieutenant John Barrett, Leicestershire Regiment, who was awarded his VC during an attack on Pontruet on this day in 1918.

📍Leamington Spa 🇬🇧

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Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 18d

A gun from the SS Hornsund, which was torpedoed and sunk 2.5 miles southeast of the gun’s present day location in Scarborough. The only casualty was 61-year-old Greaser Michael McHale, who is commemorated by the CWGC on the Tower Hill Memorial.

📍Scarborough Harbour 🇬🇧

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Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 18d

Guardsman Frederick Holt, 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, died of wounds on this day in 1918. Interestingly, the additional information on his CWGC record states he was a ‘champion billiard player’.

📍Terlincthun British Cemetery 🇫🇷

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Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 20d

Boy 2nd Class Eric Midgley died of pneumonia and empyema in 1918. At the time of his death, he was on training ship HMS Powerful in Devonport. In September 1918, 22 boys from HMS Powerful died; most were likely Spanish flu casualties.

📍Scarborough (Manor Road) Cemetery🇬🇧

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Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 20d

On this day in 1917, Private Herbert Morris, British West Indies Regiment, was executed for desertion. He was aged just 17.

📍Poperinghe New Military Cemetery 🇧🇪

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Dan P @danieljphelan.bsky.social · 21d

Sergeant Cyril Henderson, an RAF observer, died of injuries sustained during an air raid in London.

📍Benson (St Helen) Churchyard Extension🇬🇧

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