brimacombe Posted 27 January , 2009 Share Posted 27 January , 2009 Having now obtained the last photo's of the graves of my 'Holsworthy Boys' I was intrigued to recieve one (thanks Doc2!) from Godewaersvelde British Cemetery of Private WILLIAM GERRY, 9th Bn Devonshire Regiment who died of wounds on 12 October 1917. He was almost certainly being treated at the 37th or 41st CCS after being wounded on either the 10th when the Battalion suffered heavy casualties from heavy shelling (23 men from the Battalion were killed), or on the 9th when the 9th was involved in an attack in the vicinity of Butte (7 were killed). 3 other men from the Battalion were to die of wounds on the 12th. Surprisingly, William Gerry appears to be buried with ALBERT VICTOR JAMES (also of the 9th Batn) who also died of wounds on the 12th. As the attached picture shows, they are both commemorated on the same headstone. There is definately no relationship between the two - James was from Crewkerne, Gerry from Holsworthy. Having both died of wounds (presumably at the CCS) can anyone offer any explanation why the would have been buried together in the same grave? The headstones either side of it are for individuals only (to the left is John Henry Pritchard, 11th Batn Leicestershire Regt. 13th October 1917). I really hope some one might be able to offer a plausable explanation! Regards Shawn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Woodger Posted 27 January , 2009 Share Posted 27 January , 2009 Shawn The CCS was very busy and burials were being made in a trench. the bodies are laid side by side and they are not as wide as a headstone. In order to keep the row of headstones about the same length as the original burial trench there are some double headstones. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Morgan Posted 27 January , 2009 Share Posted 27 January , 2009 Shawn, there could be a few possible reasons. a - It may be that as they were both in the same unit, and as they both died on the same day, those responsible for the burials thought it would be a nice touch to bury them both in the same grave, one on top of the other. (I rather doubt this). b - As they were both in the same unit, and both died on the same day, the burial staff buried them side by side, but put both their names on one cross, as they were comrades. The CWGC then repeated this when they placed the permanent headstone. c - If there are other graves in that row which commemorate two soldiers, it may be that adding two names to some gravestones was the CWGC's way of making all the headstones fit into the row (as we have seen them staggered in other cemeteries and with double names in others). Edit: I see that Peter has already suggested this while I was typing. Perhaps if the CWGC had to do this, they might have been drawn to choose two men who died on the same day and were in the same regiment. It's worth remembering that it was the army who buried the soldiers in 1917, and they had no idea that one day there would be a Commonwealth War Graves Commisssion which would want to erect headstones of a certain size, requiring a certain space between burials, or that the Commission would prefer all soldiers to have individual graves etc. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevew Posted 27 January , 2009 Share Posted 27 January , 2009 Shawn, It's worth noting that this is not rare, one of my ancestors headstones at Vis-en-Artois is the same with all the headstones in that row showing 2 names on each headstone Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralphjd Posted 27 January , 2009 Share Posted 27 January , 2009 One of "my" soldiers (Royal Garrison Artillery) is commemorated on a double named headstone with a lad from the Royal West Kents in Heilly Station cemetery, there are dozens likewise in this cemetery. Ralph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Morgan Posted 27 January , 2009 Share Posted 27 January , 2009 One of "my" soldiers (Royal Garrison Artillery) is commemorated on a double named headstone with a lad from the Royal West Kents in Heilly Station cemetery, there are dozens likewise in this cemetery. Ralph. Yes indeed, and the burials here were made under such pressure that some of the headstones have three names. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralphjd Posted 27 January , 2009 Share Posted 27 January , 2009 Correct Tom, I had forgotten that, its a while since I was there. Ralph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geraint Posted 27 January , 2009 Share Posted 27 January , 2009 There's a triple at Bodelwyddan Church (Kinmel Camp), three different regiments, and three different dates of death. I'll try and download it but don't hold your breath - it needs re-sizing - and I'm hopeless at this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc2 Posted 27 January , 2009 Share Posted 27 January , 2009 Shawn, you are welcome for the photo-- There are several other stones in this line which are doubles. As you can see from the spacing of the stones, it is a trench burial. I suspect it was just done for spacing. Interestingly, this cemetery is the only one I have run across in which the individuals are given different locations, even though on the same stone. Thus, James was 1P34 and Gerry was 1P35. It made finding Gerry hard, since he is certainly not on the 35th stone in the row, which is normally the way I count them. Doc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purley Posted 27 January , 2009 Share Posted 27 January , 2009 I really hope some one might be able to offer a plausable explanation! Regards Shawn There are so many different explanations - ranging from shortage of space to the more grizzley reason when a bunch of men were hit by a shell and it was not possible to separaete out the bits of body parts found. They are very common. regards John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter and Ellen Posted 28 January , 2009 Share Posted 28 January , 2009 Hi Shawn, There is another discussion on this very subject that is current under the thread "CWGC headstones" in this same Topic on the Forum. Worth a read as it also discusses some other burial methods/theories and suggestions/educated guesses. Regards, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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