County Burial Locations.

[Jock2413 Association Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jock2413]

About par for the course sadly. A lot of cemeteries have fallen into the private sector due to lack of money. Obviously the long term plan is to move the graves and build on the land.

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Jock, next week I am Newcastle upon Tyne, Harrogate, Whitby and Stockton on Tees if you need any graves checking?
REgards

[Jock2413 Association Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jock2413]

Thanks to P-C and Geordie424, all the known North East ones have been done and On1on and co did the North Yorkshire ones. Thanks for the offer anyway.
The two counties where we have many outstanding are Herefordshire and Strathclyde.
Again I will emphasise that those locations posted on the list are only those we know about. There are still many others where we have no clue as to where they are laid to rest. I will compile a list of those when I get a spare hour or so.

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Jock, next week I am Newcastle upon Tyne, Harrogate, Whitby and Stockton on Tees if you need any graves checking?
REgards

Are you sent to those places by your boss?
If you wish to go to tribunal about this harsh treatment by your employer I can give you the name of a good lawyer.

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Thanks to P-C and Geordie424, all the known North East ones have been done and On1on and co did the North Yorkshire ones. Thanks for the offer anyway.
The two counties where we have many outstanding are Herefordshire and Strathclyde.
Again I will emphasise that those locations posted on the list are only those we know about. There are still many others where we have no clue as to where they are laid to rest. I will compile a list of those when I get a spare hour or so.

Definitely no further visits north of the border for sometime, Hereford maybe in the new year???

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Are you sent to those places by your boss?
If you wish to go to tribunal about this harsh treatment by your employer I can give you the name of a good lawyer.

Saves me having to stay home and talk to the wife???

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Hi Jock, Just need to confirm,

Gdsm Alexander Ireland (20) SG 11 September 1990 Pewshaw Cemetery, Chippenham.

There is a Persham near Chippingham, the cemetery is on the London Road?
REgards
ex

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I can confirm that Lt John Garner-Richards (23) 9/12 Royal Lancers is indeed laid to rest in the lovely churchyard of St Mary’s Church (The Church in the Forest) which stands in the heart of Thetford Forest in the small village of Santon Downham in Suffolk.
The churchyard is neatly tended and there are indications that someone has visited the grave regularly around Remembrance Day. There were 3 old and faded Poppy Crosses of various ages lying behind the headstone.
The headstone is MOD type and is not in need of any urgent action. Mrs Jig and I found the headstone in the lower left of the churchyard as you enter from the gate. We cleaned off the old moss and bird droppings and left our own tokens of Remembrance in the form of a Poppy Cross and a NIVA Cross.
The attached pic is in low resolution. I will send a high res copy directly to you jock.
IMG_1929LowRes.jpg

[On1on Association Member Find all posts View Profile Close On1on]

Re cemeteries with no grave markings, where there is an office try there or if you see any council workers or contractors have a chat with them as they are usually happy to help. For church graveyards google the church details and email the vicar, again they are usually happy to help. In both cases, if you can't figure out the layout, look for newer headstones and at the back you will normally find in small letters the section and grave number which can be a good indicator, but not always as the layouts can be a little haphazard.

The only one that had me completely stumped was a non existent grave, I had the section and grave number and worked my way down the line but a couple of numbers away the graves just stopped and I received no reply to my email enquiries.

Jock and I have mentioned before where the listing is supposedly in a churchyard. We can only guess that the church listed is where the service took place but they are either buried elsewhere or were cremated and where we have no details. A few examples - one guy was listed as buried in a churchyard but was in fact laid to rest in the municipal cemetery half a mile away, someone saw us searching and pointed us in the right direction. Another I spent hours walking the lines and didn't find him. One I spent hours looking for and later the vicar sent me a hand drawn mapof where he was, the headstone was laid flat and overgrown with grass.

On the upside, it's tremendously satisfying when you do find them despite some of the crap MOD information. Read my pilgrimage report in the downloads section for some advice.

[On1on Association Member Find all posts View Profile Close On1on]

I can confirm that Lt John Garner-Richards (23) 9/12 Royal Lancers is indeed laid to rest in the lovely churchyard of St Mary’s Church (The Church in the Forest) which stands in the heart of Thetford Forest in the small village of Santon Downham in Suffolk.
The churchyard is neatly tended and there are indications that someone has visited the grave regularly around Remembrance Day. There were 3 old and faded Poppy Crosses of various ages lying behind the headstone.
The headstone is MOD type and is not in need of any urgent action. Mrs Jig and I found the headstone in the lower left of the churchyard as you enter from the gate. We cleaned off the old moss and bird droppings and left our own tokens of Remembrance in the form of a Poppy Cross and a NIVA Cross.
The attached pic is in low resolution. I will send a high res copy directly to you jock.

That's a good example, the vicar contacted us some time ago to confirm where he was laid to rest.

[Jock2413 Association Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jock2413]

Hi Jock, Just need to confirm,

Gdsm Alexander Ireland (20) SG 11 September 1990 Pewshaw Cemetery, Chippenham.

There is a Persham near Chippingham, the cemetery is on the London Road?
REgards
ex

Beat you to it mate. Yes, the cemetery is on London Road, but doing a bit of research on this one, I've found a photo of his stone and sadly, a report about his death.

[Jock2413 Association Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jock2413]

Gdsm Alex Ireland 2 Scots Guards.

[Jock2413 Association Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jock2413]

Quite often I get asked why I'm so determined to find out the cause of death of those non terrorist inflicted fatalities. This following report will explain why, as we are aware that the families are never told the truth of the matter. As you will guess by the names Hamilton and Roger Cook report, this is over 20 years ago, but it all still applies today as has been proved by emails we have received from bereaved families.

Alexander Kenneth Ireland
Surname	Christian Names		Service Number		Rank	Regiment
Ireland	Alexander Kenneth		24842456		Gdsm	Scots Guards
Born	Age	Enlisted at		Address
25 April 1970, Margate, Kent	19
Date of Death	Where killed				Cause of Death
11/09/1990	Northern Ireland				Gun shot wound
Cemetery	Plot				Country
Chippenham (London Road) Cemetery					England
Next of Kin	Next of kin address				Town
John and Pauline Ireland	XXXXXXXXXXXX				Chippenham
Notes
Included on the Armed Forces Memorial Soldier’s Family Request Report: The Chippenham family of suicide soldier Alex Ireland have called on the Ministry of Defence to honour a promise to them reports of his death. Armed Forces Minister, Mr Archie Hamilton, made a commitment to in the House Of Commons to release reports detailing how service personnel came to be injured or killed. The decision follows a series of cases where parents protested they could not discover exactly how their children died. One such case if that of Alex Ireland. His parents, John and Pauline Ireland of XXXXXXX Close have been campaigning for the right to see the reports into his death. They are now calling for a judicial review and say Mr Hamilton should honour his word and allow them access to the reports. Alex was a guardsman with the 2nd battalion the Scots Guards on a tour of duty in Northern Ireland. He died in September 1990 after shooting himself with an SA80 rifle. His parents claim he was "bullied to death" and an inquest in Co Tyrone revealed he had been the victim of bullying. Mr Ireland said last week "we have not been given vital information about the case. It has been denied to us despite every effort. We are convinced that our lad was bullied to such an extent that he took his own life." "I would like to see Mr Hamilton put his money where his mouth is and hand over the report and also my son’s notebook." Earlier this year, The Cook Report television programme examined the tragic case of the young guardsman. The programme, presented by investigative journalist, Roger Cook, found that Alex had always wanted to be a soldier but was singled out for 15 months of intensive bullying by his section commander when he joined his regiment, 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards. Mr Ireland added "we have been given the runaround by the MoD and quite frankly, if they say they are going to hand over the report, I don’t believe them."

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It is a tragic account and in the recent past there have been far too many incidents of bullying by those who ought to have known better. Other NCO's and seniors should have recognised such behaviour and stamped on it. Anyone abusing their authority in such a way should be broken to the ranks or in some cases be discharged as SNLR. It is heartbreaking to consider what some of our young soldiers have had to endure from those who should have had their back. This amounts to utterly failed leadership which has not only destroyed the life of the individual but caused so much distress and pain to the family. Of course it might have been bullying by his so called comrades which is just as bad. I wonder how his tormentor(s) sleep at night.