why no grave details

[bernardmcilwaine]

sorry but i dont know were to put this,a ww1 veteran who survived the war was killed in a air raid on liverpool in 1941,his cwgc details give the cemetary as liverpool county borough cemetary,there are about 2750+ civilians in this cemetary but there are no grave refs,WHY,i know that screen walls were erected to commemorate people whos graves were not accesible etc,but i cant believe all the graves in this cemetary are like that,any clues,bernard

[eviltaxman]

Bernard,

Simple answer is that he is not buried in one cemetery with the other 2000+. What you'll find is that he's buried in one of several Council cemeteries... I expect like here in Bristol, you've got a few!

One way of tracking him down is through trial & error. Go to the biggest/main cemetery for WW2 deaths* (some cemeteries have sections of CWGC headstones for civvies) and look around. You could ask the local groundskeepers if they know of any memorials or WW2 section in their cemetery.

Alternatively you could ask the local council for a search - but this can cost. My local council charge £50 for a "look up"!!!

* Greenbank Cemetery here in Bristol has a large section for the civvies kiled during the Blitz - some were on duty as firewardens, others were simply familes wiped out by a single bomb.

I'm currently trying to find a family killed in the Blitz - 4 of 'em - but my local cemetery was the main one for Bristol - dates back to the 1830's - but given the wrangling between owner/council over the last few years, I expect I'll never find them unless I pay the council for a search. Arnos Vale Cemetery has over 500 CWGC plots and well over 8000 graves!

Good luck.

Les

[joseph]

Hi bernard,

In Hull some 200 people are buried in a mass grave which the corporation deemed nesessary after a particularly bad raid. No one knew the true extent of the burials until after the war.

Try a call to the local history section of the library someone may have recorded the inscriptions. These are indexed so a quick lookup can be made.

The register of burials will be in the local archives if you know the date of death it wouldnt take long to find, this will give you a block and grave number.

Regards Charles

[Terry Denham]

Bernard

You are misunderstanding the CWGC entry slightly.

The records held by CWGC for WW2 Civilian War Dead do NOT include burial location as CWGC are not responsible for these graves.

The entry under 'Cemetery' in the record is the name of the local authority area where death occured. The local councils had the task of compiling lists of civilian war deaths in their area and these were eventually passed to CWGC.

The named casualties could be buried in any cemetery in the UK but more likely in a local one. A call to the current cemetery authorities in the area should enable you to find him.

You should also remember that some civilians were moved to hospitals some distance from the place where they suffered their injuries. In these cases, the council area shown is still where they died (eg a London casualty could be listed under Brighton in Sussex).

These WW2 Civilian records in CWGC's database also usually include the actual address of the person's death (eg In ambulance at corner of Smith Street).

[swizz]

Taxman - I don't envy you trying to find anyone in Arno's Vale - a really interesting cemetery to walk round but not one I'd want to locate a grave in without a reference!

As far as councils charging for information on grave locations goes, I don't think this happens everywhere. I contacted Belfast City COuncil to get a reference number for a grave in Belfast City Cemetery I hadn't found on a walk round and they got back to me within half an hour with no charge!

Swizz

[bernardmcilwaine]

thanks everyone,bernard

[Stephen Nulty]

Bernard

I often visit cemeteries in Liverpool (West Derby, Allerton, Everton, etc) as I have lots of family members there.

I can confirm that there are lots of coummunal graves, especially of victimes of the May Blitz. But in addition, there are many individual graves.

What do you know of your man? I can keep an eye open next time I'm out and about, probably in a week or two. But as you'd expect in a city like this, the cemeteries are vast!!