CWGC Gravestones - family inscriptions

[Tom Morgan]

In Busigny Communal Cemetery Extension is the grave of Lieut. Frank Eliot Burt. It has the longest family inscription that I've ever seen. Does anyone know of a longer one?

I include a photo, but it may not be big enough to make out the whole inscription easily, so here's a transcript, including the usual CWGC details:

LIEUTENANT

F. ELIOT BURT

NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE REGIMENT

3RD OCTOBER 1918 AGE 24

HE WAS AN INSPIRATION

OF RADIANT BRIGHTNESS

AND GREATLY BELOVED

IN PROUD MEMORY OF THE ABOVE

AND ALSO OF

A. GORDON BURT

PASSED AWAY AT SEA

4TH SEPT 1919

AFTER MUCH SUFFERING

FROM WOUNDS RECEIVED

WHILE SERVING IN FRANCE

NOW GLORIFIED

That's 191 letters, not counting spaces and the one full-stop. (And not counting the standard CWGC details in the first four lines.)

Tom

[Peter Bennett]

I counted 260 on this one, starting after his age.

Name: EVANS, ALFRED JAMES LAWRENCE

Initials: A J L

Nationality: Canadian

Rank: Lieutenant

Regiment/Service: Canadian Infantry (Central Ontario Regiment)

Unit Text: 3rd Bn.

Age: 26

Date of Death: 07/12/1915

Additional information: Son of Mr. and Mrs. Lorenzo Evans, of 65, St. Ursule St., Quebec, Canada. B.Sc. (McGill University).

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: II. B. 62.

Cemetery: BAILLEUL COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION (NORD)

[Tom Morgan]

Wow. That's unlike anything I have seen before, Peter. The whole inscription looks like a family tribute. Thanks for posting the details.

Tom

[SOMMESOLDIER]

Superb stuff chaps !!

I never dreamt that there were such inscriptions on headstones !! Thanks for posting these, I'm hoping there are more ?

Cheers

Tim.

[Paul Reed]

There is one of a similar, if not longer length at Hazebrouck - of a Private soldier in the Yorkshire Regiment. I will see if I can find my photos of it.

[Tom Morgan]

There is one of a similar, if not longer length at Hazebrouck - of a Private soldier in the Yorkshire Regiment. I will see if I can find my photos of it.

Yes, please, Paul. And if you can't find the photo - can you remember which of the Hazebrouck cemeteries the gravestone is in?

Tom

[Liam]

This may be a daft question but would the family have been charged by the letter or just a set price for the whole inscription?

Liam

[spoons]

Here in Scotland, many gravestones are family stones are 5 to 6 feet high. Some of these are war graves (listed on CWGC) and contain very lengthy descriptions indeed.

For example one in Dalbeattie reads:

SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF

CATHERINE BROWN WIFE OF

JAMES WRIGHT WHO DIED AT CALLA

27TH APRIL 1872 AGED 66 YEARS

THE ABOVE JAMES WRIGHT WHO DIED

24TH JUNE 1874 AGED 73 YEARS

ADAM THEIR SON WHO DIED 29TH SEPT 1881

AGED 49 YEARS

JANET BROWN SISTER OF MRS WRIGHT

DIED 17TH JAN 1879 AGED 74 YEARS

WILLIAM SON OF ANDREW WRIGHT CALLA

WHO DIED 9TH APRIL 1897 AGED 9 MONTHS

LIZZIE JANE HIS DAUGHTER

WHO DIED 23RD MARCH 1898 AGED 4 YEARS

JANET BRYPSON HALLIDAY HIS BELOVED WIFE

WHO DIED 10TH JUNE 1898 AGED 38 YEARS

WILHELMINA NAME CURRIE

HIS BELOVED SECOND WIFE WHO DIED

28TH AUG 1908 AGED 38 YEARS

JEANNIE TURNBULL QMAAC

THEIR DAUGHER WHO DIED AT PERTH

29TH OCT 1918 AGED 20 YEARS

WILLIE THEIR SON WO DIED AT CALLA

27TH SEPT 1919 AGED 17 YEARS

JOHN JAMES ELDEST SON OF ANDREW WRIGHT

WHO DIED 11TH NOV 1923 AGED 41 YEARS

ALSO THE ABOVE ANDREW WRIGHT DIED

AT CALLA 28TH FEB 1939 AGED 81 YEARS

HELEN MCKINNEL HIS DAUGHER DIED 8TH DEC 1954 AGED 63 YEARS

(far too many letters for me to bother counting I'm afraid )

Name: WRIGHT, JEANNIE TURNBULL

Initials: J T

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Worker

Regiment/Service: Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps

Age: 20

Date of Death: 29/10/1918

Service No: 46868

Additional information: Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wright, of The Galla, Dalbeattie.

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: 4A. 1st Extn. 23.

Cemetery: DALBEATTIE CEMETERY

Admittedly this grave actually has a standard CWGC stone as well, but others do not and are war graves nonetheless. There is one with I think even more inscriptions in Moffat cemetery but that is inscribed on four sides.

I know the original post concerned inscriptions on a standard headstone and I certainly have seen nothing like that, but I thought I would post this as something different anyway.

[Peter Bennett]

This is the another long one over 100 letters. Incidentally his surname seems hyphenated on the headstone but CWGC & SDGW do not show this. (or is it just a blemish?)

Perhaps someone can find his birth certificate?

Name: GREEN

Initials: G G M

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Second Lieutenant

Regiment/Service: West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own)

Secondary Regiment: King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry

Secondary Unit Text: attd. 5th Bn.

Date of Death: 28/03/1918

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: Sp. Mem. C. 4.

Cemetery: GOMMECOURT BRITISH CEMETERY No.2, HEBUTERNE

[Peter Bennett]

This may be a daft question but would the family have been charged by the letter or just a set price for the whole inscription?

Liam

I believe that Canada did not charge for inscriptions.

[Terry Denham]

This may be a daft question but would the family have been charged by the letter or just a set price for the whole inscription?

Interestingly, there was a maximum of 66 letters for the Personal Inscription. Apparently there were exceptions allowed!

The charge was three and a half old pence per letter but those who did not pay were not chased and soon payment became voluntary.

As Peter said, the Canadian government paid for all their inscriptions and the NZ government forbade them altogether on the grounds of equality.

[Terry Denham]

I have no evidence for this but the thought occurs to me that these may be replacements for private headstones.

There were a number of private stones on graves by the end of the war (a handful still exist) but CWGC negotiated with relatives to have them replaced with the uniform design. Perhaps part of the arrangement was the reproduction of any inscription on the private stone.

Just an idle thought.

[Mat McLachlan]

The longest family iscription I've come across (that still includes the standard CWGC info above) is on Lt Hugh McColl's headstone in Villers-Bret Cemetery:

'James H. McColl, father, with wife and daughter visited this grave August 25th, 1923, bringing loving remembrances from family and friends in Australia.'

That's 130 characters, not including spaces. Yours beats it by a good 46% Tom! I reckon it was a good effort by the stone masons to fit that many letters on in the first place!

Cheers,

Mat

[Jack Sheldon]

Tom

I am niggled to say that I cannot put my hands on my 'interesting inscriptions' notebook, but if you are up in the Ypres area before me, take a look in Cement House cemetery. There is a very long, interesting, inscription to an airman, which describes how he flew to the aid of beleaguered friends and was involved in twenty minute dogfight before being shot down. It is well worth seeing. It is the only case I know of where a man's final action is described on his gravestone.

Jack

[ianw]

Tom - I note that Lt Burt's inscription also commemorates his brother. This is fairly common practice with stones sometimes linked to each other. Very sad that the brother was lost at sea after the end of the war. Do you know anything about the circumstances?

Regards Ian

[Tom Morgan]

Mat - I think I have seen that one! When walking along rows of graves, anything which is non-standard in appearance immediately grabs the eyes, as I'm sure you will have noticed.

Terry - I think your guess is a sound one. Lieuts. Burt and Lawrence are both buried in Communal Cemetery Extensions, meaning that as life returned to normal in the immediate aftermath of the war, there would have been local memorial masons within the communities, available to do the work. This would explain not only the very long inscriptions which seem to ignore the rules, but also the way in which Lieut. Lawrence's inscription has been allowed to interrupt the rigidly standardised form of the basic CWGC identification details.

Tom

[Peter Bennett]

Villers-Bret has another with over 120 letters, plus to my knowledge it is the only VC Headstone completely in French.

Lt Jean Brillant VC. MC. (note the bullet hole from the WW2 engagement in the cemetery)

[alliekiwi]

Amazing inscriptions. Peter, what does the french inscription say? I can't make it out.

It's moments like these I'm supremely jealous and wish my relatives were not in the NZEF and thus got no inscription.

Allie

[Tom Morgan]

Tom - I note that Lt Burt's inscription also commemorates his brother. This is fairly common practice with stones sometimes linked to each other. Very sad that the brother was lost at sea after the end of the war. Do you know anything about the circumstances?

Regards Ian

Ian - Lieut. Burt's brother was in the Australian forces and was a sergeant with the Intelligence Police at Corps HQ. He had been in hospital (UK) suffering from influenza in 1919 and was suffering from encephalitis as a result of this, the main features of this being mental and physical slowness, symptoms which were worsening in Sgt. Burt's case. He was being taken back to Australia by sea when he disappeared one night. A court of enquiry was held at sea, and the conclusion was that Sgt. Burt had been lost overboard. Witnesses said that he had been slow and dull because of his illness, but that he had never said anything which suggested that he was suicidal, although one statement said that he had been worried about his increasing weakness. On the night of his death he was very confused and had left his bed several times and had to be brought back. The conclusion was that he either jumped overboard deliberately or tripped and fell overboard. A very sad story either way.

Tom

[Peter Bennett]

Amazing inscriptions. Peter, what does the french inscription say? I can't make it out.

It's moments like these I'm supremely jealous and wish my relatives were not in the NZEF and thus got no inscription.

Allie

Hi Allie, sorry that the inscription is blurred, it does this sometimes when I reduce a hi-res photo for posting on the forum. I have posted a cut-down version which reads:

Son of Joseph Brillant

enrolled voluntarily

at Rimouski. Province of Quebec

fell gloriously

on the soil of his ancestors

good blood cannot lie

The last line always brings a lump to my throat whenever I visit Villers-Bret.

[Paul Reed]

Ok, finally found the photo. Grave shown below. Sorry it isn't digital, but I took this 20+ years ago!

The soldier in question is:

Name: RUST, EDWARD

Initials: E

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Private

Regiment/Service: Yorkshire Regiment

Unit Text: 4th Bn.

Age: 19

Date of Death: 30/04/1915

Service No: 1830

Additional information: Son of the Rev. Edward Rust, of The Vicarage, Hamsteels, Co. Durham. Educated at Scorton Grammar School, Yorks.

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: I. G. 35.

Cemetery: HAZEBROUCK COMMUNAL CEMETERY

[Paul Reed]

Close up of the inscription:

[Paul Reed]

Photograph of him:

[Paul Reed]

Obituary from the 'Roll of Honour'.

Hope this is of interest?

[Bob Coulson]

Paul,

Thanks for the posting on Private Rust, very interesting.

Bob.