Soldier's burials

[beverley]

How common was it it for the body of a Soldier KIA to be returned to England for burial? I have Pte Arthur Leslie Cresswell of the Seaforth Highlanders killed 24 April 1917 remembered on the Arras Memorial, but buried in his home village of Denby, Derbys. Is this unusual - I thought men were buried in the vicinity of where they fell.

[Hywyn]

SDGW shows that he was killed in action. My impression is that no one was brought back from early on in the War. I have pm'd Terry Denham with a similar instance whereby a Merchant Seaman was killed in a torpedo attack and is shown on Tower Hill Memorial whereas I have seen his burial record at a local church. What info do you have re your man?

Hywyn

[beverley]

Hywyn, I have a memorial Inscription from a grave in the relevant churchyard. The grave is his uncle's and my man's death is also inscribed there. I had assumed he was also buried there, but now you say it was unlikely perhaps it is just by way of a memorial and not his actual grave. I have a copy of his death cert and there seems to be some uncertainly over the precise day of death - so I would surmise he has no known grave.

[stevem49]

From memory! - When I visited Denby last year. The Headstone acts as a memorial to him. He has no known grave.

His family probably wanted him to be remembered by putting his name on the stone.

stevem

[beverley]

Thanks Steve & Hywyn. That clarifies it.

[grantowi]

Beverly,

I got a Great Uncle kia in Dardanelles, he's also listed on his parents headstone, because his mother wanted somewhere to go and mourn him.

Hth

Grant

[sotonmate]

Beverley

I have noted from my birth village graveyard that there are several servicemen from WW1 with memorials on their family gravestones,so it must be a very common occurrence, I suspect,even though they are buried or remembered abroad.

Best wishes

Sotonmate

[Terry Denham]

Repatriation from a war zone was banned in mid 1915. Prior to that only about forty officers were returned home (at the expense of the relatives). No 'other rank' has been traced who was returned home to the UK- apart from the Unknown Soldier.

There are thousands of memorial inscriptions in the UK which suggest that the casualty is actually buried in the grave where this is not the case. This would seem to be one of those examples.