War Memorial Gravestones in Darton Churchyard & Cemetery

During both the First and Second World Wars re-repatriation of the bodies of fallen servicemen and women was not usual.  The Unknown Soldier, entombed in Westminster Abbey represents those buried and commemorated overseas who could not come home.  For many families, deprived of a graveside at which to mourn, one solution was to add the name of their lost son (or daughter) to the family gravestone in their local churchyard.  

Darton War Memorial is unusual in that it is inscribed with no names of the fallen men of the area.  We have found a list of men that the church warden thought should have been on the memorial and we have searched the churchyard and cemetery for any more clues.

The Imperial War Museum's War Memorials' Archive defines a War Memorial as "any tangible object which has been erected or dedicated to commemorate those killed as a result of war, conflict or peacekeeping; who served in war or conflict; or who died whilst engaged in military service."  This includes gravestones which commemorate a casualty buried elsewhere.  There must be a clear statement on the memorial (or in a printed document such as a newspaper report from the time) that defines the commemorative purpose of the feature and reports its erection. The full wording of their definition can be found here.

Thus gravestones which include wording such as: died of wounds received in action, killed in action, fell in France, died on active service, reported missing in action, or even killed accidentally while on active service all count as War Memorials.  The wording is a "clear statement" that the purpose of recording that person's name on the gravestone is as a memorial.

Gravestones which are situated on the site of the burial of a casualty, such as Commonwealth War Graves (CWGC), are NOT War Memorials, however the Barnsley War Memorials Project collected their details for inclusion in the Barnsley Roll of Honour. 

Darton Churchyard and Cemetery on the CWGC website

Darton Churchyard and Cemetery contains 24 CWGC burials and a dedicated page is currently under construction.

In the lists below, where the name is blue click to follow the link to a page with a larger photograph and more information. We recently added links to the Find A Grave website (with thanks to Pete Schofield) where more photos of the graves and transcriptions of the inscriptions can be found.

Darton Churchyard and Cemetery contains 24 First World War and 3 Second World War memorial gravestones - the men named below are NOT buried in these plots. Follow the Find A Grave links to discover more information. In some cases there is a link on the man's name (it will be blue) that leads to further information either on a separate page on this site or on an external one.

Gravestone Location Section Row No.	Soldier's Name & Regiment Date of Death	Thumbnail Photograph
B.K.33 Find A Grave	Alec R Braithwaite Royal Garrison Artillery 6 June 1918
B.F.9 Find A Grave	Norman Shaw KOYLI 2 April 1917
A.H.17 Find A Grave	George Urquhart MM York and Lancaster Rgt 11 August 1916
B.K.22 Find A Grave	Henry Vivian Braithwaite Durham Light Infantry 25 June 1942
B.F.12 Find A Grave	James General Dyson York and Lancaster Rgt 25 April 1918
B.10 Find A Grave	George Ibberson York and Lancaster 11 October 1917
F.28 Find A Grave	Ernest Ives York and Lancaster 1 July 1916
D.E.24 Find A Grave	Cyril Maples Royal Navy 11 August 1942
F.17 Find A Grave	John Taylor Mellor Royal Garrison Artillery 15 March 1918
F.27 Find A Grave	Horace Pickering Machine Gun Corps  24 March 1918
F.26 Find A Grave	Samuel Lake Proctor York and Lancaster Rgt 11 July 1916
B.B.11 Find A Grave	Wilfred Sanderson 10th Hussars 11 April 1917
F.16 Find A Grave	Royce Thompson Royal Field Artillery 22 December 1917
C.16.17 Find A Grave	Austin Turton York and Lancaster Rgt  1 July 1916
D.12 Find A Grave	Benjamin Gerald Wagstaff Army Service Corps  20 December 1916
F.16 Find A Grave	Charles Milton Ledger York and Lancaster 9 April 1916
F.? Find A Grave	John Arthur Williams York and Lancaster Rgt 27 Nov 1917
A.F.2 Find A Grave	Cyril Burton Dixon York and Lancaster Regt 14 November 1918	*
B.D.2 Find A Grave	Gordon Gray York and Lancaster Regt 27 May 1918	*
A.H.3 Find A Grave	Claude Leatham Royal Army Medical Corps 9 April 1917	*
A.O.18 Find A Grave	Bernard Outram Royal Armoured Corps 5 November 1944	*
C.22.10 Find A Grave	Herbert Milner York and Lancaster Regt 24 September 1918	*
* Find A Grave	Joseph Leonard Challenger West Riding Regt 1 July 1916	*
A.M.21 Find A Grave	William Heeley Royal Scots Fusiliers 29 September 1915	*
A.K.3 Find A Grave	Richard Allott Royal Field Artillery 8 October 1918	*
A.H.27 Find A Grave	Ernest Robert Dore York and Lancaster Regt 9 August 1917	*
A.G.20 Find A Grave	Ernest Mark Simpson West Yorkshire Regt 6 January 1918	*
* Find A Grave	*	*

 

BWMP #DTN03