Military graves
In Rectory Lane Cemetery there are many graves with military connections to conflicts of the 19th and 20th centuries.
In all, there are 14 CWGC burials of the First World War and 13 of the Second World War in Rectory Lane Cemetery. In addition there are a further 23 others buried here who served in WWI or WWII, but for various reasons did not qualify for a CWGC headstone.
During World War I (1914–18), 200 men and boys who were born or lived in Berkhamsted lost their lives. While many who were killed in action were interred in the large battlefield Cemeteries of Belgium and France, a number were buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery. Some returned home and died later as a consequence of their wounds; others fell victim to the 1918 Flu Pandemic.
In Rectory Lane Cemetery there are a number of headstones of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC, formerly the Imperial War Graves Commission). These can be distinguished by their simple, white stone design. These were granted by the CWGC to military personnel who died in service — whether in combat, training accidents, air raids or from disease — during the periods around the First and Second World Wars:
- 4 August 1914 – 31 August 1921 (WWI)
- 3 September 1939 to 31 December 1947 (WWII)
These are the 50 names that have also been included on the memorial plaque in the Garden of Remembrance, commemorating those who died in WW1 & WWII as a result of injuries sustained.
Because of the age of this burial ground, we also remember those interred here who served in earlier conflicts, such as the Egyptian War (1882) or the Boer War (1899–1902).
68 burials found
68 biogs found
Use the buttons above to change view.
Click on a red map marker below to see burial details.
Click on a red map marker below to see burial details.
Use the buttons above to change view.
Click on a red map marker below to see burial details.
Click on a red map marker below to see burial details.
Viewing: pre-1914 conflicts
Viewing: WWI burials
Viewing: WWII burials
Viewing: CWGC burials
Viewing: names on the Garden of Remembrance memorial plaque
The Garden of Remembrance War Memorial was erected in 2020 to commemorate those buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery who died as a result of their service in WWI and WWII, including those who did not qualify for a Commonweatlh War Grave headstone. Find out more
List
-
-
Plot 862
Private Reginald Alfred Allen
Served in WWII, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire regiment; apparent suicide in 1939 -
Plot 366 CWGCommonwealth War Grave Captain Rupert Norman Gould Atkinson
M.C., D.F.C., Croix de Guerre (Belgium), served in WWI Royal Flying Corps -
-
Plot 369 Second Lieutenant Geoffrey Wynne Bavin (369)
2nd Lieut. RAF, died in plane crash at Upavon, Wiltshire in 1916 -
-
-
-
Plot 939 CWGCommonwealth War Grave Sergeant Ronald Herbert Borton (939) & (940?)
Sergeant, Army Air Corps, died in a plane crash -
-
Plot 623 James Bunn (623)
Master builder who served with the Royal Engineers on the Western Front in WWI -
Plot 623 Maurice Alex Bunn (623)
RAF Pilot Officer, killed in 1941 in a plane crash at RAF Ingham, Lincolnshire. -
-
-
Plot 540? Private Arthur John Chennells
Private, 2nd Bedfordshire Reg, wounded at Battle of Mons; accidental death on London Underground
-
-
-
-
Plot 837 Arthur Thomas Cooper (837)
Air mechanic, Royal Navy Air Service; served in WWI on a minesweeper in Malta & the Aegean -
Plot 917 Sister Maud Cottingham (917)
Irish nurse, in service to the Inns of Court OTC, died in the Spanish flu epidemic -
-
Plot 825 William Arthur Dean (1887 – 1917)
Private 25447, 6th Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment, killed in action in France aged 29 -
-
Plot 500 Alfred Drage (500)
grocer from Baldock; Staff Sgt. Major with Royal Army Service Corps, served in WWI -
-
Plot 1072 CWGCommonwealth War Grave Sergeant Leslie George Bert Edmonds
Trainee RAF Air Gunner, killed by a V2 rocket in London -
Plot 831 Private Ernest Evans (831)
Served in France in WWI, later 1st Beds and Herts Battalion; accidental death -
Plot 365 Brigadier General Richard Mildmay Foot (365)
Decorated army officer, served in the Boer War & WWI, director at Cooper, McDougall & Robertson -
Plot x240Lieutenant-Colonel Henry James FosterHertfordshire Volunteers officer, brewer and town councillor -
Plot 932 CWGCommonwealth War Grave Harry Francis Furness (932)
Craftsman, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers -
-
-
-
Plot 1079 CWGCommonwealth War Grave Arthur W. Greenwood
1891 - 1942 Chief Engine Room Artificer (Ch. E.R.A.), C/M 7196 Served in both world wars. -
-
-
-
-
-
Plot 503 Cyril Leggatt (or Leggett) (503)
Ordinary Seaman, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserves; accidental death -
-
Plot 915 CWGCommonwealth War Grave Private Joseph Albert Ludlow (1888 – 1918)
Private, Hertfordshire Regiment & Royal Defence Corps, died on Armistice Day 1918 -
-
-
-
Plot 292 CWGCommonwealth War Grave Serjeant Brian Perry (292)
Serjeant, Inns of Court Officer Training Corps -
Plot 788 Private Sydney Eric Pike (788)
Private, Royal Welsh Fusiliers WWI, died of injuries Battle of the Somme aged 22 -
-
-
Plot 830 Corporal Ernest Alfred Reynolds (830)
Served in WWI, Bedfordshire Regiment, Battle of the Somme, Albert, Bazentin, Thiepval & Ancre; died of trench fever -
Arthur Ringsell
Served in Boer War, Bedfordshire Regiment, WWI Army Service Corp. Committed suicide at Berkhamsted Castle 1926.
-
Plot 542 CWGCommonwealth War Grave Wilfred James Short (542)
Served in WWI at Ypres, Canadian Pioneers -
Plot 427 Second Lieutenant Leonard Simpson (427)
2nd Lieutenant, Royal West Surrey Regiment, died of influenza -
Plot 261 Horace Lockwood Smith Dorrien (261)
Decorated WWI army officer and former Governor of Gibraltar -
Plot x310Robert Algernon Smith-DorrienBrother of Augustus Smith, churchwarden of St Peter's & Lt. Colonel in the Herts Militia -
Plot 725 Lieutenant Robert Douglas Spendlove ("Bobbie")
Lieutenant in South Staffordshire Regiment, killed in action in Normandy during WWII -
-
Plot 1139 CWGCommonwealth War Grave Peter Robert Street (1139)
Flying Officer, RAF; one of 2 brothers who served in WWII; killed on a training exercise -
Plot 1132 CWGCommonwealth War Grave Richard Street (1132)
Sergeant, RAF; one of 2 brothers who served in WWII; killed on a training exercise -
Plot 796 Major-Gen. Alexander Arthur Sutton, KCB
Royal Army Medical Corps. Major-General, fought in the Boer War -
-
Plot 707 Frederick Gordon Vercoe
Lieutenant, The Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment, served in WWI in Egypt & India -
-
-
Harry John Willmore
Served in Royal Navy (service number 236852), died only eight years after being demobbed, aged 39
-
-
-
Plot 693 Corporal Charles Wood (693)
Air Mechanic, Royal Flying Corps/RAF, served in WWI; died on Armistice Day 1918
Key
CWG = Commonwealth War Grave
= served WWI or WWII
= served WWI or WWII
Related Content
Further Reading
Commemorating the World War 1 Fallen For more information please contact
