War Memorial Gravestones in Penistone Stottercliffe 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.  

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.

Graves which are situated on the site of the burial of a casualty, such as Commonwealth War Graves, are not War Memorials, however the Barnsley War Memorials Project is also collecting their details for inclusion in the Barnsley Roll of Honour.

Penistone Stottercliffe Cemetery contains 11 CWGC burials. 

Dorothy Booth (WW2)
Norman Booth (WW2)
Joseph Arnold Buckley
Frederick Rollin Crossland (WW2)
Joseph William Helliwell (WW2)
Thomas Hill
Arnold Beever Hustler (WW2)
William Henry McBurney (WW2)
Ronald Senior (WW2)
Ernest Clifford Vaughton

On the initiative of a local man, Joe Pinguey, the 11 CWGC and the memorial gravestones in Stottercliffe Cemetery have been restored and a WW1 Centenary Service organised which was held on August 3rd 2014 in Stottercliffe. It was well attended with around over 100 people in attendance.  In attendance were 40 relatives of the Vaughton brothers who had travelled from all over the UK  to meet and pay their respects, some of them had never met each other until that day.

Also, at the end of 2014 Joe approached Penistone Town Council who granted him the amount of £375.00 to have the Hill brothers' headstone erected back on its plinth and on the 15th January 2015 a Commemorative service was held in the cemetery to mark this work.

In the list below, where the names is blue click to follow the link to a page with a larger photograph and more information.

Gravestone Location Section Row No.	Soldier's Name & Regiment Date of Death	Photograph
1/-/96	Jack Birkinshaw Royal Tank Regiment 18 September 1944
Sec 2 Grave 118	Charles Richard Calcutt York and Lancaster Rgt  16 April 1918
7/-/4	Charles Godfrey Hinchliffe Coldstream Guards 19 June 1917
3 AC 223	John Henry Hill Royal Engineers 30 December 1917
2 AC 167	Albert Vaughton K O Y L I 25 September 1916
Sec 7 Unc	Albert Webster York and Lancaster Rgt 1 July 1916
2/-/92	Thomas Ford North Staffs Regt 28 September 1918
*	**	*

BWMP #PEN08