chrisharley9 Posted 3 September , 2005 Share Posted 3 September , 2005 When going through various cemetery registers I keep seeing references to Special Memorials A, B Can any one explain what these are please & are there any other types as well All The Best Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Denham Posted 3 September , 2005 Share Posted 3 September , 2005 Special Memorials are CWGC headstones which look the same as the usual ones but which do not sit over an actual grave. They have a superscription across the top denoting their purpose. They commemorate men who are buried in the cemetery but whose exact location is unknown or those buried in a grave in another cemetery which is now lost or is unmaintainable. The list is as below... Sp. Mem. A "Buried elsewhere in this cemetery" Sp. Mem. B "Believed to be buried in this cemetery" Sp. Mem. C "Buried near this spot" Sp. Mem. D "Believed to be............" Sp. Mem. E This is known as a Kipling Memorial - The Kipling Memorial headstone is so called because the quotation from the Apocrypha (Ecclesiasticus 44, verse 13) "THEIR GLORY SHALL NOT BE BLOTTED OUT" which appears on the headstone was chosen by Rudyard Kipling. These headstones commemorate casualties whose graves in a particular cemetery were destroyed or who were known to be buried in a particular cemetery but the exact whereabouts within the cemetery were not recorded. Sp. Mem. F "Buried in ................ Cemetery (or Churchyard)" There can be variations in the wording (eg 'Chapelyard' instead of 'Churchyard'). Types E and F are to be found in a nearby cemetery to the one in which the actual grave was known to be located. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisharley9 Posted 3 September , 2005 Author Share Posted 3 September , 2005 Terry Many thanks for your very informative reply All The Best Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurel Sercu Posted 21 March , 2015 Share Posted 21 March , 2015 Terry, It doesn't happen very often I guess that a Topic is continued after 9 1/2 years ... But I have a question, and asking it here seems a very appropriate place. It is related to a Topic elsewhere in the Forum, about Lt. Alexis Helmer, whose death inspired John McCrae to write his "In Flanders fields the poppies blow ..." Alexis Helmer's remains were buried after his death on 2 May 1915, but his grave got lost. It must have been near Essex Farm Cemetery, north of Ypres (at the time : Boezinge). Below is the Burial Return. If we interpret it correctly, it was not his remains that were found after the war, but a "Memorial Cross". The co-ordinates refer to near Essex Farm Cemetery. (By the way, the cross was not in a now existing cemetery, but some 50 meters north of Essex Farm Cem., where now the bike path, right side of the Diksmuide Road is.) The cross was supposed to be moved to : White House Cemetery, in Sint-Jan (Saint Jean, near Ypres). Whether it got there, I don't know. Anyway it isn't there now. There is a Memorial Row (near the entrance), counting only 16 headstones. Anyway, Helmer's name now is on the Menin Gate Memorial. My questions : 1. If for some time the Special Memorial was in White House Cem., what type would it have been ? I'd think : Type E ? A Kipling Stone ? But ... there would not have been a cemetery known ... 2. Do you know of Special Memorials in cemeteries in the Ypres Salient that could be similar as to what Alexis Helmer may or could have had ? I mean : referring to a memorial cross that was found some distance away, but not exactly marking a grave there ? I guess a type E (Kipling Stone) ? 3. Also this : what type (A, B, C, D, E or F) would the special memorials near a Duhallow Block be called ? I suppose : E ? Aurel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurel Sercu Posted 11 April , 2015 Share Posted 11 April , 2015 I am still trying to find an answer to my problem, but so far in vain. So I will drag it up again. My specific question can also be phrased as this : It seems to me that Alexis Helmer got his Memorial Cross, which had been erected near Essex Farm Cemetery, and not far from where his original grave (marker) may have been, on the other side of the road, moved to White House Cemetery (Sint-Jan, near Ypres) ? Was this a "Kipling Memorial" (Type E) ? Anyway there are no Kipling Memorials now in that cemetery. Helmer's name is on the Menin Gate. Could it be that some time in the 1920s it was decided to remove Kipling Memorials from that cemetery (and other cemeteries as well ?), and to mention the name(s) on the Menin Gate ? That's why I asked : are there Special Memorials Type E (Kipling Memorials) in the Ypres Salient ? And ... are these names also on the Menin Gate as well ? Aurel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithmroberts Posted 11 April , 2015 Share Posted 11 April , 2015 I suspect that only an enquiry addressed to the CWGC will get a definitive answer. Unless of course......... keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurel Sercu Posted 12 April , 2015 Share Posted 12 April , 2015 Keith, Thanks ! And (indirectly) you solved my problem ! Aurel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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