War Memorial Gravestones in Bolton upon Dearne 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.

Gravestones 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.

Bolton upon Dearne Cemetery contains 28 War Memorial Gravestones and 17 Commonwealth War Graves (as at September 2018).  With thanks to Fay Polson and Wayne Bywater.

CWGC burials

WW1	WW2
S Harris   A E Scholey   W Braddock   John Grainger   Harry Hawksworth  W Jackson   T W Parker	Walter Hibbard Bailey  George Harry Ellis   John Fitzpatrick   Reuben Leeming   Thomas McHugh   William Patrick   George Arthur Rock  Richard Eric Roebuck   Jack Wilkinson Edward Outram

 
Some other inscriptions found record men who had previously served in the military who are buried in this cemetery but who do not qualify for a Commonwealth War Grave.  More information on the criteria can be found on the 'In From the Cold' website.

Gravestone  Location	Name	Regiment & Date of Death
E 54	Bombardier Abraham Askew	Royal Field Artillery 22 May 1921
A 196	Alec Grey (wounded in WW1)	* 16 January 1921
L 184	Sergeant  William Humberstone (served WW1)	* 27 August 1950
L 147	Observer Norris Taylor	Royal Air Force 23 October 1939
J 669	Alfred Taylor MM (served WW1)	13th York & Lancs  1954
O N 15	Joseph Robert  McHugh (brother of Thomas above)	Queen's Royal Lancers 29 August 1968
J 700	Leslie Douglas Parrish DSM	* 7 December 1949
O S 16	Flight Lt Colin Stanton	* 26 August 1950
*	*	*

In the list of war memorial gravestones below, where the name is blue click to follow the link to a page with a larger photograph and more information.

Gravestone Location Section Row No. BWMP code	Soldier's Name & Regiment Date of Death	Photograph
G 140 BLT03/01	Frederick Henry Cave Royal Engineers 1 July 1916
L 23 BLT03/02	Fred Chivers Royal Army Medical Corps 12 January 1940
K 65 BLT03/03	Frank Clark Machine Gun Corps 25 January 1918
E 74 BLT03/04	John Clatworthy Coldstream Guards 25 December 1942
A 183 BLT03/05	Charles William Collier York and Lancaster Regt 9 October 1917 John Thomas Collier King's Own Yorkshire LI 29 May 1917
E 78 BLT03/06	Harry Robinson Yorkshire Regt 29 April 1915
P M 10 BLT03/07	Thomas Francis Cruise Lincolnshire Regt 7 April 1944
O L 17 BLT03/08	Arthur Duffield King's Own Yorkshire LI 16 September 1916
K 622 BLT03/09	Guy Foster Royal Navy 27 February 1942
K 40 BLT03/10	William Harding King's Own Yorkshire LI 17 March 1917
A 67 BLT03/11	Percy Hurrell Royal Garrison Artillery 14 July 1918
J 384 BLT03/12	Ernest Ingham York and Lancaster Regt 1 July 1916
N A 6 BLT03/13	Ernest Law West Riding Regt 17 June 1944
A 19 BLT03/14	Michael McLoughlin Coldstream Guards 14 September 1914
G 134 BLT03/15	Kenneth Webster Royal Air Force  Volunteer Reserve 30 December 1942
G 14 BLT03/16	Frank Holliday Royal Field Artillery 13 November 1916
L 234 BLT03/17	Alfred Edward Whitworth London Regt 31 October 1917
B 228 BLT03/18	Harry Groves Royal Engineers 8 September 1915
A 196 BLT03/19	Frank Grey Royal Engineers 29 May 1918	*
E 158 BLT03/20	Arthur Jefferies Connaught Rangers 8 October 1918
E 156 BLT03/21	Thomas Gower York and Lancaster Regt 2 or 21 October 1916
G 185 BLT03/22	William Trickett Royal Field Artillery 17 June 1917
L 146 BLT03/23	Horace Trickett York and Lancaster Regt 3 July 1916
L 150 BLT03/24	Walter Hyde Royal Artillery 9 April  1945
J 153 BLT03/25	Thomas Kay Yorkshire Regiment 7 December 1917
O H 10 BLT03/26	James Hollingworth  Army Catering Corps 7 January 1943
O H 20 BLT03/27	Everett Crossland Royal Artillery 1 August 1945
R B 15 BLT03/28	Leonard Sales Royal Engineers 8 June 1944

 
BWMP #BLT03