Adinkerke Churchyard Extension

[Geoff Parker]

I'm just back from a long weekend in Gent, and on Saturday I took the

train to De Panne where I visited the above cemetery. This is a Belgian military cemetery with a few British graves. I noticed a few oddities on the British headstones.

T B Widdowson KOYLI died 23rd July 1917. There is no cross on the headstone,

just his regiments badge and his details. Is the omission of a cross just a oversite, as I can't recollect having noticed this before in any other cemeteries, and I thought I'd read that soldiers claiming to be an atheist on enlistment were listed a C of E.

J. Paisley KOYLI died 24th July 1917. There is a small brick placed by the headstone and attached to it is Paisley's picture on one of those oval shaped enamal photographs that you often see in Belgian civilian cemeteries. Unfortunately it now has a quarter of it missing but you can clearly see the soldiers face. Obviously relatives have been over some time in the distant ?? past with a photograph and had it made at a Belgian undertakers. I thought it was a nice touch but have never come across it before.

H Kierman 3/19th Bn London Regt died 10th July 1917. His record on the

CWGC site states his secondary Regt was the Labour Corps (165th Coy). Any

ideas as to why he may have been transferred to the Labour Corps.

Lastly there were two headstones on their own both men had died in 1915.

P Donohue Royal Irish Regt and Lt S C Knight Royal Marine Arty. 1915 is obviously too early for this cemetery, the remainder being 1917 casualties from when 4th Army occupied the coast. If these two were recovered from the battlefield at a latter stage why move them to the Belgian cemetery at Adinkerke when there is a British military cemetery some 400 yards away which was still in use in 1919. If they were recovered from the battlefield is it likely they would have been identifiable from 1915.

If anyone can throw any light on this oddities I'd be interested to know. By

the way, if you ever down Tobacco Road, I'd recommend crossing the bridge over

the canal and having a look at Adinkerke Churchyard cemetery behind the civilian one. I'd guesss around 2500 Belgian casualties buried there.

Geoff

[Hedley Malloch]

Geoff,

I think decisons about religious inscriptions were made by the family of the soldier rather than taken from the soldier's personal records. It does not necessarily follow that the absence of a cross indicates that the soldier was an atheist as some non-conformist Christian sects don't use it either. The absence of a cross probably means that the soldier was not a member of main stream Christian church, and possibly an atheist.

[Terry Denham]

The absence of a cross was one of the three religious options given to the next-of-kin. They could select a cross, a Star of David or no religious symbol as in this case. This type of headstone is not unusual at all.

This choice could not be extended to those who had their relatives names on memorials to the missing. Also, the symbol is sometimes omitted if there is no room (ie when two or three names appear on the headstone - In such cases, a blank headstone bearing only a cross is sometimes placed nearby).

We have the Labour Corps experts here on this Forum and they will give more details but thousands of men were transferred to the Labour Corps towards the end of the war. CWGC usually list these men as xyz regt 'transferred to Labour Corps' to show their previous service in a line unit. They also usually include their previous unit badge on the headstone. Naturally, there are some that only served in the Labour Corps.

[Geoff Parker]

Thanks for that. Widdowson is buried alone so it would appear his relatives

requested no indication of religion. Kiernan's headstone has 19th Bn badge on it,

and I realise the was 3rd line so probably below A1.

Geoff