St Nicholas Cemetery Durham Sketch

[Gardenerbill]

I came across this small overgrown cemetery during a weekend visit to Durham and took some photographs. 
The sketch is based on one of the photographs where two CWGC headstones were visible.
There are 6 war graves in the cemetery; four from the Great War and two from the Second World War.

 

 

[Gardenerbill]

A small correction, only 3 soldiers from the Great war are buried here:

 

9162 Pte T Davis Durham Light Infantry died 04/10/1915

300956 Pte Joseph Dalton Bell Durham Light Infantry died 17/09/1917

9189 Sjt Major William John McCann Royal Field Artillery died 13/09/1919

 

The following soldier is listed on the CWGC as "spec. memorial" so perhaps commemorated on a plaque in the chapel:

 

24/1668 Cpl William Henry Lofthouse Northumberland Fusiliers died 05/07/1916

 

[BereniceUK]

Another lovely sketch. Your work would be the perfect accompaniment to a war memorials-related book, rather than the usual photographs.

[Gardenerbill]

Thanks Berenice.

[PaulC78]

6 hours ago, Gardenerbill said:

The following soldier is listed on the CWGC as "spec. memorial" so perhaps commemorated on a plaque in the chapel:

 

24/1668 Cpl William Henry Lofthouse Northumberland Fusiliers died 05/07/1916

 

Looks like "Buried elsewhere in this burial ground": https://www.twgpp.org/photograph/view/3862318

 

There is detailed info about him on this website: http://www.durhamatwar.org.uk/story/11794/

 

Nice sketch by the way!

[Gardenerbill]

Thanks Paul,

Interesting links, so there is a grave somewhere in the burial ground, but I wonder what "spec. memorial" means. 

[Old Owl]

7 minutes ago, Gardenerbill said:

Thanks Paul,

Interesting links, so there is a grave somewhere in the burial ground, but I wonder what "spec. memorial" means. 

 

I believe that 'Special Memorial' means that this will not be a CWGC headstone, but either an individual private headstone or an inscription included on a family headstone. It could also be a plaque mounted into the churchyard wall as is sometimes found in France, but if he is actually buried in the churchyard then this is unlikely. Of course it is always possible that the memorial has either been removed or destroyed/buried at some time over the last 100 years.

 

[michaeldr]

This is the general explanation of the term offered by the CWGC 

Alternatively Commemorated: This is where an individual is commemorated at a different location to their actual place of burial. This is usually due to reasons beyond the our control, where it is no longer possible to mark or maintain the registered war grave and where exhumation and reburial in a war cemetery or plot is impossible or impracticable. Alternative commemorations can take different forms, including special memorial headstones, screen walls, or group memorials. These differ from the memorials to the missing that the CWGC also maintains, which commemorate individuals with no known graves. [from https://www.cwgc.org/find/find-war-dead-and-cemeteries/glossary ]

Edited 6 January , 2020 by michaeldr

[Gardenerbill]

Thank you Old Owl that make sense, unfortunately I was only on a weekend visit to Durham so not able to go back and look. Also thanks to michealdr for the additional information. 

Edited 6 January , 2020 by Gardenerbill

[deacs]

Lovely sketch by the way very nice indeed.

Finda grave as a photo of his headstone.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/195456504/william-henry-lofthousearch

 

 

Regards Mike.

Edited 6 January , 2020 by deacs

[Gardenerbill]

That explains it Mike, you can see on the stone the inscription "Buried elsewhere in this burial ground" hence special memorial.