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Great War
Dudley Granville Brown World War One fighter pilot
Dudley Granville Brown was a Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot who died in December 1918 when his plane crashed. Unlike most casualties of war, he is honoured in the Ladywell section of Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries with a grand civil memorial. Dudley Granville Brown World War One fighter pilot (photo courtesy of Findagrave) Dudley Granville…
Serjeant Thomas Charles Joslin: a Soldier of the Great War.
The Grave of Thomas Charles Joslin lies a short walk from the entrance to Brockley Cemetery along a shady side path. 1881 -Thomas Charles Joslin was born in Holborn, London, on the 12th July 1881 to parents Thomas Joslin, a Gold Refiner by trade and his Mother Ellen Joslin nee Dawe. 1903 – Thomas enrolled…
Gertrude Anna Middleton O.B.E – The Recent Discovery of a Heroine of the Great War in Ladywell Cemetery
Gertrude Anna Middleton O.B.E. Or Gertie as she is known on her headstone. A grave that has been passed by many over the years without giving a second glance. For what you see from the pathway is her mother Emma, look to the other side and you will find Gertie with her father Henry Milnes…
Nurse Sophie Hilling who gave her life for her country in the 1918 Flu Pandemic
Wedged between a posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross, John George Pattison and the famed educational pioneers the McMillan sisters on the Old Deptford Town Hall Board of Honour (unveiled in 1919) is the name of Sister Sophie Hilling A.R.R.C. Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Nursing Reserve : a native and lifelong resident of the Borough of…
In memory of civilians who lost their lives through enemy air raids in Deptford, Hither Green and Sydenham in World War l
There will be an exhibition at the Deptford Lounge, Giffin Square, SE8 4RJ, Monday 10th December – Saturday 12th January in memory of civilians who lost their lives through enemy air raids in Deptford, Hither Green and Sydenham in World War l On display will be the information panels about the Hither Green, Sydenham and…
Thomas Archie Challis MC (1893 to 3rd Nov 1918), 2nd Lieutenant 13th Tank Corps, A Coy
Thomas Archie Challis was born in Walworth in 1893 to parents Charles and Rosa. He had two elder brothers – William and Charles, a younger brother Harold and sister Isabel. Charles, Thomas’ father worked as a general labourer and then as a sewerman or flusher for London County Council. Thomas is recorded as living at…
Remembering Private Elkins, torpedoed on the R.M.S Leinster 10th October 1918 in ‘ Ireland’s worst maritime disaster’
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Located on the berm that lies between the two cemeteries on the Ladywell side pathway is found the Elkins family grave. Private Thomas Elkins ( Middlesex Yeomanry) aged 36 years, Husband of Mabel Duncan Elkins, 39, Byne Road, Sydenham, was aboard the Royal Mail Ship ( RMS) Leinster when it was sunk by a German…
Death of a Local Hero : Major Charles Edward Fysh DSO MC and Bar. Killed in Action on the Marne, France July 28th 1918
Major Charles Edward Fysh (1894-1918) Located alongside one of the inner pathways in Ladywell cemetery lies the headstone (see photograph below) on which the name of Major Charles Edward Fysh is inscribed with those of his parents. He was with British troops taking part in Marshal Foch’s large scale and highly successful counter offensive of…
A Tribute to Second Lieutenant Hugh Gordon Langton- killed at Passchendale October 25th 1917
One of many iconic images of the Passchendaele battlefield in 1917 Passendaele (Passendal) is a small village five miles north-east of Ypres in Belgium and is the name by which the final stages of the Third Battle of Ypres are better known. Along with the Somme, it has come to symbolise the Great War for…
Women In Front – A Public Art Exhibition of Women’s Work in WW1 Saturday 9th & Sunday 10th September 2017, 11am-4pm
Women In Front – public art exhibition commemorates the contribution of women to the war effort at home and at the front in the First World War. As the war progressed with mounting casualties and the introduction of conscription, over 1 million women were employed for the first time in occupations previously reserved for men.…
Private Joseph Byrne (1897-1915) the first soldier to die at Lewisham Military Hospital remembered at Brockley Max Festival
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A moving tribute song was performed by the group 1965, a Folk and Roots duo, joined by friends as part of the 2017 Brockley Max festival . The song was written by a band member whose relative fought in the Dublin Fusiliers in the First World War and who was inspired to perform it in…
Frederick Innes OBE (1864-1921): Silvertown Explosion 1917
Contemporary newspaper illustration of the Silvertown explosion Close to the Ivy Road pathway in Ladywell cemetery enveloped in its chitinous grassy embrace lies the Innes family grave of Frederick Innes, who died aged 57 years on the 14th December 1921. Grandfather to FOBLC stalwart Ron Innes, Frederick was intimately connected to the biggest explosion ever…
Guided Walk Sunday 20th November visiting some of the fallen from the Battle of the Somme
– The Battle of the Ancre Heights There will be a free guided walk visiting the graves and headstones in the Brockley & Ladywell cemeteries of some of those who fought and fell during the 141 days of horror of the Battle of the Somme (July to November 1916). The walk will be led by…
Private Graham Charles Hines Bulford (1895-1916): Soldier killed at the Somme
Part hidden by a spangle of dotted vegetation in a grove alongside one of the inner pathways close to the boundary between the two cemeteries lies the Bulford family grave. The son of Charles and Ada Bulford of 57 Adelaide Avenue, Brockley (lying opposite the green expanse of Hilly Fields) Graham’s name appears in a…
Animals In Service Exhibition Saturday 10th & Sunday 11th September
The FOBLC is proud to host Animals In Service, an art exhibition celebrating the heroism of animals in the First World War. It is part of National Cemeteries’ Week promoted by the National Federation of Cemetery Friends and the Commemoration of the Battle on the Somme, The exhibition will take place on Saturday 10th &…
‘Gentlemen , when the barrage lifts’ –Rifleman Kenneth Middleton Davies QVR, killed first day of the Battle of the Somme.
Situated aside the inner pathway close to Brockley Grove lies a forlorn cross which contains the evocative lettering ‘the barrage lifts’ and tells the onlooker that Rifleman Kenneth Middleton Davies, of the Queens Victoria Rifles or ‘Old Vics’ was killed in action aged 24 years in France on the first day of the Battle of…
Chief Electrical Artificer Charles Thomas Stringer remembered 100 years on from sinking of HMS Hampshire
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Stringer family grave in Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries. Photo courtesy of Billion Graves Amidst the untidy contours of meadow grass close to the Brockley Road boundary lies the modest headstone of the Stringer family. It was a serendipitous discovery that led to the realisation that Charles Thomas Stringer with the rank of Chief Electrical…
Battle of Jutland centenary: Able Seaman Arthur Mark Lane ( 1893-1916)
Destruction of the British Armoured Cruiser HMS Black Prince during the night of 31st May 1916 at the Battle of Jutland: painting by German artist Willy Stower. On the boundary between the two cemeteries aside a roughly trodden pathway lies a faded headstone inscription that reminds the onlooker of one of the last fateful engagements during the greatest…
The Somme Revisited
On Monday 25th April I accompanied three of my FOBLC colleagues Geoffrey Thurley (the Chair), Mick Martin and Peter Mealing (the driver) across the channel, following the route that General De Gaulle once called the ‘fatal avenue’, the sweep of low lying country in Northern France heading towards the much visited Somme battlefield (the Somme is the name…
THE DAY TSAR NICHOLAS II MET BROCKLEY AVIATOR
Russian aviator and inventor Captain Sergei Alexandrovich Oulianine (aka Ulyanin) 1871 -1921 Part hidden off the pathway heading towards the near seamless boundary between Ladywell and Brockley cemeteries, topped by a broken cruciform headstone, lies the final resting place of the distinguished Russian aviator and inventor Captain Sergei Alexandrovich Oulianine (aka Ulyanin) 1871-1921. He lies…
War poet David Jones commemorated with maroon plaque
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The unveiled plaque to David Jones On Wednesday 2nd December at 67 Arabin Road, SE4 there was an unveiling of a maroon plaque to commemorate the Great War poet, soldier and artist David Jones (1895-1974), who is buried in the Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries. Born in Brockley in 1895 he served in the Royal Welsh…
‘WILFUL MURDER’ : THE SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA – MAY 7th 1915
‘ The departure of the Lusitania on her last fateful voyage, New York, New York, May 1915. (Photo by PhotoQuest/Getty Images) Photo: Library of Congress It was with a considerable frisson of excitement that I chanced, when looking at unrelated family headstones, upon the overgrown lettering at the foot of a family grave in Brockley cemetery (close to the…
DEATH UNDER THE WAVES – GUIDED WALK SUNDAY 15TH FEBRUARY 2PM – 3.30PM
sinking of RMS Lusitania This free guided walk will be co-led by FOBLC members Mike Guilfoyle and Peter Mealings and cover visits to family graves in the cemeteries associated with famous civilian and military maritime disasters , including the recently located headstone to victims of the sinking of RMS Lusitania as well as the Princess Alice, SS Yongala, HMS…
A Day of Surprises: Henry Williamson’s account of the Christmas Truce
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The Christmas Truce portrayed rather romantically by the Illustrated London News in January 1915 On Boxing Day 1914, Pte. 9689 of the London Rifle Brigade, wrote to his mother Mrs Williamson at ‘Eastern Road, Brockley, S.E.’ : “Dear Mother, I am writing from the trenches. It is 11 o’clock in the morning. Beside me is…
Wrenches, Trenches, and Stenches: a public art exhibition commemorating the start of the First World War
Ladywell Chapel hosted a two day art exhibition commemorating the start of the First World War. on Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd August 2014. The First World War – or the Great War 1914-1918 was fought on 3 continents and saw 14 million killed and 34 million wounded. This year commemorates the 100th year anniversary…
The WW1 scandal of the sinking of Submarine E13
Following the recent cutting back of overgrowth by Bereavement Services employees in the Ladywell section of the cemetery we were particularly pleased to be able to locate the family grave of Able Seaman Alfred J Payne. The grave lies a few yards from the path that runs alongside the boundary with the Brockley side. In the early hours of August…
FORGOTTEN BATTLEFRONTS OF WORLD WAR ONE
With the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War later this year, the FOBLC will be undertaking a ‘curtain raiser’ guided walk to the family graves of some of the soldiers and seamen who gave their lives for King and Country in some of the lesser known war zones of World War 1. Men of the 1/5th Battalion of…
Francis Paget Hewkley: awarded Military Medal for bravery at the Somme
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Many thanks to Stuart Hallifax who has written a great piece on Francis Paget Hewkley in his Great War London blog. Hewkley was brought up in London, emigrated to Australia in 1912 and then enlisted a signalman in the Australian infantry. He served at Gallipoli before transferring to the Western Front where he won a Military Medal for…
British Lion and Great War hero
The somewhat run down family grave of Forest Hill Wine Merchant Bruce Beveridge Todd and his wife Phoebe lies next to the Dissenter’s Chapel in the Ladywell section of the cemetery. However that of their son Alexander Findlater Todd born 20 th September 1873 , known as ‘Fin’ to his friends, is sadly missing from…
Commander Archibald Buckle’s grave in Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries restored
The grave of World War 1 hero Commander Buckle in Brockley Cemetery has been refurbished by members of the British Army Association. Sir Winston Churchill has referred to Buckle as one of the “salamanders born in the furnace,” who survived “to lead,to command, and to preserve the sacred continuity”. His history has been featured on…
Remembrance Day: a memorial to the fallen from Crofton Park
Whilst we commemorate the fallen on this Remembrance Day it seems a particularly appropriate time to bring you this research by FOBLC members David Platt and Michael Martin into the story of Reginald Mines and the other soldiers from Crofton Park commemorated by the Celtic cross in front of St Hilda’s church. Great War Commemorations…