All genealogists love a graveyard, let’s face it, even if it doesn’t contain the mortal remains of their own ancestors.   There is the grandeur of Victorian mourning angels, crumbling crosses and the large number of those sad, small graves of young children.  Overgrown plots with hardly legible inscriptions and fallen headstones bearing remnants of the names of the forgotten are all part of the beauty.

Graves that will not have fallen into disrepair and that often pop up in unexpected places are  Commonwealth War Graves.  I say unexpected because in most churches or towns there are monuments to the local fallen men of the two world wars but a war grave can belong to an individual far from home, who is not local but met with their death in the area.

On my phone I have the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Mobile App and I would recommend anyone not already using this marvellous tool to download it immediately.  One tap takes you to the page below from which you can search any cemetery or memorial or, and here’s the best bit,  it will find locations of graves near where you physically are.  It will tell you how many memorials there are and for more information on an individual it will take you away from the app and to the CWGC website.

During a walk around the graveyard of St Edmunds Church in Southwold, Suffolk, I noticed a Commonwealth war grave that had the inscription “believed to be buried in this Churchyard” at the top of the headstone. Then, close to it another one with the same inscription.  They belonged to:

Corporal Charles Herbert Erickson, London Regiment, Royal Fusiliers, died 20^th August 1916; and Private Malcolm Neville Black, London Regiment, London Scottish, died 20^th August 1916

There were  training and military camps on the common at Southwold before and during WW1 which were used by different regiments.

Using the App I saw there were 18 graves in the church grounds and I simply tapped on ‘more info’ which took me to the CWGC site and listed all of the fallen men.

Firstly I checked to see if any service records survive for the two men with a quick look at Ancestry. I also have the Ancestry Mobile App on my phone but only use this in times of genealogical emergencies as I find it difficult to navigate on such a small screen. As I felt that this particular research did not qualify as an emergency, I waited until I could access the site on my laptop.  There were some pension records available, with more details in Corporal Erickson’s case, but no reason for their deaths were obvious. However, on checking UK, Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929 it was clear that Erickson met his death through drowning . The registers also showed that Black had drowned.

Hoping to find further details  I looked at The British Newspaper Archive website to see if anything had been reported in the local press about the soldiers’ deaths. I knew the date of death from their headstones so it was an easy search on the site, and very soon I had several newspaper reports into a “Distressing Affair at Southwold” where “Two Soldiers Drowned”. 

 From the reports it appeared that Corporal Erickson had been swimming in the sea when he got into difficulties, apparently thought to be from cramp.  Seventeen year old Private Black, although unable to swim rushed fully clothed into the sea thinking he could save the man, who was of exceptionally heavy build.  Private Black managed to reach Corporal Erickson but was dragged down by him and both men drowned.  

Further details were given at the respective inquests which were held separately, the verdict on both men was death by drowning.  Corporal Erickson, aged 25, left a wife and four children.  Private Black was just over military age and had only learned to swim in the days before the incident.  His gallantry in trying to save the Corporal was acknowledged.

The newspaper reports of Private Black’s funeral at Southwold Churchyard are very touching.  He was buried with full military honours and along with his parents a large detachment of the London Scottish and other military attended.  Poignantly there was a wreath from Corporal Erickson’s wife among the floral tributes.

Corporal Erickson was buried one day later also with full military honours.  Again there was a large number of attendees and the cortege was headed by the firing party and band of 101^st Provisional Battalion.  A wreath from ‘his little wife’ was among the tributes although she was unable to attend being in a ‘delicate state of health’.

Most of the war graves in the Churchyard at Southwold belong to men from the town or who had family there but others such as Sidney Adie, 6^th City of London Battalion, aged 18, from Kensington who died of pneumonia at Southwold, were laid to rest away from home in this coastal town. The app also gives information about the 18 graves in the Churchyard; “there are 13 commonwealth burials of the 1914-18 war here. There are a further 11 of the 1939-1945 war, 7 being unidentified seamen of the Merchant Navy.” The families of these men never knew that St Edmunds Churchyard was the last resting place of their loved ones.