Jim Strawbridge Posted 25 April , 2020 Share Posted 25 April , 2020 Within the past week or so I saw an item about a wooden cross for a female casualty being shipped home by the mother (I think from France). The article included access to correspondance, presumably with the CWGC, that included details of payment for shipment and a receipt for safe delivery. Meaning to get back to the article for research purposes I have totally lost the source. It could have been a posting on the GWF, on one of the dedicated Facebook sites, the new access at home from the National Archives, the Commonwealth War Grave Commission or the Imperial War Museum (or none of the above). So, as a long shot, I am putting it out there as to whether anyone on here remembers the item and can steer me to the source. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarbaraG Posted 27 April , 2020 Share Posted 27 April , 2020 (edited) Not sure if you might find something here... email: info@thereturned.co.uk http://thereturned.co.uk/the-project/ Edited 27 April , 2020 by BarbaraG added email Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skipman Posted 27 April , 2020 Share Posted 27 April , 2020 A long shot click Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Strawbridge Posted 28 April , 2020 Author Share Posted 28 April , 2020 Thank you both. The article that I am after was about a mother who was offered the wooden cross from her daughter's grave in France. She paid carriage and it was sent to her and she signed a receipt for it. All of the paperwork and letters were in a file deposited somewhere like the IWM or National Archives. I am kicking myself for having lost the source. The reason that I posted here is that I must have seen the article very recently not through surfing the internet but because someone else had posted about it. I was just hoping that someone else could remember where. I have tried NA on line as that seems to be the logical place but without success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skipman Posted 28 April , 2020 Share Posted 28 April , 2020 If you saw it online and haven't cleared your history, you might be able to go back through your browsing history and find it? Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Strawbridge Posted 29 April , 2020 Author Share Posted 29 April , 2020 Good idea in theory. But as a researcher I probably browse a thousand or more pages a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skipman Posted 29 April , 2020 Share Posted 29 April , 2020 21 minutes ago, Jim Strawbridge said: Good idea in theory. But as a researcher I probably browse a thousand or more pages a day. I use Firefox and can search through my history for months (if have not cleared it) If you could do same, you could search "cross" "wooden cross" etc and it may well pick it up? Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Strawbridge Posted 29 April , 2020 Author Share Posted 29 April , 2020 I'll give it a try but I am not hopeful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skipman Posted 29 April , 2020 Share Posted 29 April , 2020 Just now, Jim Strawbridge said: I'll give it a try but I am not hopeful. Good luck. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Strawbridge Posted 29 April , 2020 Author Share Posted 29 April , 2020 Yipee, Thank you, Skipman. It took some finding but it is here :- http://archive.cwgc.org/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=CWGC/8/1/4/1/2/64&fbclid=IwAR2wJcvfTuljOLEsVxAJK51TdAL8BxOK-zzikhu4hAE3pOs0fU9uM66IJs4 Interesting comments about getting an original wooden war grave back home. I wonder what the mother did with it and where it is now. Local church would have seemed appropriate. Also a fund provided for flowers on the grave which eventually ran out in 1962. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skipman Posted 29 April , 2020 Share Posted 29 April , 2020 Excellent. Well done Jim. Glad to have been able to help. Now bookmark everything from now on. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docchippy Posted 29 April , 2020 Share Posted 29 April , 2020 Mary looks to be remembered on the war memorial in the Holy Trinity Church in Upper Tooting. However interior pics of that Church don't show any likely crosses in place. Maybe her address in Putney in 1919 might point to another location...more likely lost of course. This includes a picture of Mary: https://astreetnearyou.org/person/516131/Nurse-Mary-Cawston-Bousfield IWM - ref to church memorial: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/12489 The church interior: https://www.geograph.org.uk/stuff/list.php?title=Holy+Trinity%2C+Upper+Tooting+&gridref=TQ2772 Good hunting Doc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Strawbridge Posted 30 April , 2020 Author Share Posted 30 April , 2020 14 hours ago, docchippy said: Mary looks to be remembered on the war memorial in the Holy Trinity Church in Upper Tooting. However interior pics of that Church don't show any likely crosses in place. Maybe her address in Putney in 1919 might point to another location...more likely lost of course. This includes a picture of Mary: https://astreetnearyou.org/person/516131/Nurse-Mary-Cawston-Bousfield IWM - ref to church memorial: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/12489 The church interior: https://www.geograph.org.uk/stuff/list.php?title=Holy+Trinity%2C+Upper+Tooting+&gridref=TQ2772 Good hunting Doc Thanks, Doc. I did not know of the war memorial in Holy Trinity Church having her name on it. Out of interest a fund was given to the CWGC to place flowers on her grave on the anniversary of her birth (27th August) and flowers were placed on her grave as instructed until 1962 when the funds ran out. Mary's mother also provided funds in 1926 for two teak seats for the memorial chapel in St. Sever Cemetery Extension with brass memorial plaques affixed to the back of each seat. I have put out a request on the "Photos Required" string a) to see if they are still there and b) get a photograph of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marilyne Posted 30 April , 2020 Share Posted 30 April , 2020 first thanks to Barbara for pointing out a really interesting website I did not know yet... there's another few hours planned in browsing through that. interesting that the name of the woman jim was searching for only came up only at #12 ... I visited Mary's grave in Rouen May last year in the framework of my project. I was not aware of this element of the story, so thanks for that!! Did you know there's a bench in the chapel in St Sever Extension dedicated to her?? chapel was closed at the time so I do not have a picture of that. M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Strawbridge Posted 1 May , 2020 Author Share Posted 1 May , 2020 Marilyn has posted that there is a bench in the chapel in St Sever Extension dedicated to her. The correspondance file shows two teak seats for the memorial chapel in St. Sever Cemetery Extension with brass memorial plaques affixed to the back of each seat. I wonder if it is two chairs or a bench (or two). An employee of the CWGC is/was intending to visit St. Sever Extension at the end of this month and I am hopeful that he will get a photograph of the chairs or bench for me. I have only managed to track him down through Facebook and left him a message but so far no response. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marilyne Posted 1 May , 2020 Share Posted 1 May , 2020 Could I be so bold as to ask if I can have a picture of the Bench/seat??? M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Strawbridge Posted 2 May , 2020 Author Share Posted 2 May , 2020 21 hours ago, Marilyne said: Could I be so bold as to ask if I can have a picture of the Bench/seat??? M. You are welcome if and when I get it. So far the person who I wrote to has not responded Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarbaraG Posted 1 June , 2020 Share Posted 1 June , 2020 (edited) If the link works... The Bench dedicated to Mary Cawston BOUSFIELD. Probably be able to contact Carl Liversage (info@battlefieldsby4x4.com) for copy of photographs. Interesting posts also from Geoff Simmons and Holy TrinitySW17 with additional photos / info https://twitter.com/carl_liversage/status/800817403223478272 Edited 1 June , 2020 by BarbaraG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Strawbridge Posted 2 June , 2020 Author Share Posted 2 June , 2020 Her mother paid for two teak seats but this one is of such a size and quality that I suspect that just the one was made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marilyne Posted 2 June , 2020 Share Posted 2 June , 2020 Thanks for the pics! M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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