The Scottish War Graves Project

Adam Brown · Joined: 21 Sep 2007 Posts: 714 Location: Edinburgh

I found this photograph on an online album. I can't work out which Edinburgh cemetery it is but it looks very odd with an abandoned Land Rover and private garage next to a Royal Navy CWGC headstone!

I have e-mailed the photographer, Alan Wilson, to ask which one it is.

Adam

DerekR · Joined: 04 Oct 2007 Posts: 809 Location: Hawick

That is SHOCKING.
_________________
There must be a place under the sun where hearts of Olden Glory grow young .....

apanderson · Joined: 02 Oct 2007 Posts: 6903 Location: Stirlingshire

Adam,

Could it be this one?

Cemetery: EDINBURGH (NEWINGTON, OR WEST KIRK) BURYING GROUND
Country: United Kingdom
Locality: unspecified
No. of Identified Casualties: 1

Name: BRYDON, THEOPHILUS SCOTT
Initials: T S
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Able Seaman

Obviously the inscription can't be made out but I had a wee look through the Edinburgh 'Burial Grounds/Churchyards' rather than Cemeteries and this was the only seaman listed.

Regiment/Service: Royal Navy
Unit Text: H.M.S. Orion
Age: 22
Date of Death: 06/09/1919
Service No: J/31559
Additional information: Son of Thomas and Mary Scott Brydon of 17, Lochrin Place, Edinborough.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: In West Part.
Cemetery: EDINBURGH (NEWINGTON, OR WEST KIRK) BURYING GROUND

Anne

DelBoy · Joined: 02 Feb 2008 Posts: 1188 Location: Arbroath

That looks weird!?!
They wouldn't be buried in someones garden surely?

Roxy · Joined: 07 Oct 2007 Posts: 621 Location: Elgin, Moray

I concur with DerekR - Shocking!

Roxy
_________________
Remembering my ggf, Pte Thomas Roberts, 10 SR, killed 25 Sep 15 at Loos.
Also remembering Flt Lt Al Squires and CXX/3 killed 2 Sep 06 in Afghanistan.

Roxy · Joined: 07 Oct 2007 Posts: 621 Location: Elgin, Moray

I posted a link to this thread on GWF. One of the Pals thought that he recognised Newington - he will pop past to investigate. I will update this thread if I find anything.

Roxy
_________________
Remembering my ggf, Pte Thomas Roberts, 10 SR, killed 25 Sep 15 at Loos.
Also remembering Flt Lt Al Squires and CXX/3 killed 2 Sep 06 in Afghanistan.

apanderson · Joined: 02 Oct 2007 Posts: 6903 Location: Stirlingshire

Following Roxy's post on GWF, it seems that the stone is for the following man:

Alexander Robertson Urquhart
Supply Assistant
C/MX68119
Royal Navy
HMS Royal Arthur
Date of death 22/01/1943
Son of Walter and Mary Robertson Urquhart, of Edinburgh
Grave Sec W. 441
Edinburgh (Newington or Echo Bank) Cemetery

http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_detail...asualty=2452055

It was found by member 'Lost in Tilloy', see:

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=98882

So . . . . . . where is EDINBURGH (NEWINGTON, OR WEST KIRK) BURYING GROUND with it's single CWGC Burial - THEOPHILUS SCOTT BRYDON (details above)?

Anne

spoons · Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 11:00 am Post subject:

from a gazeteer:

A cemetery of S Edinburgh, the Echo Bank Cemetery was developed between Dalkeith Road and the Pow Burn by the Metropolitan Cemetery Association in 1846. Laid out by architect David Cousin (1809-7 Cool

, the design includes a line of catacombs lie within a terrace in the middle of the cemetery and a Gothic lodge. A small chapel once stood within the grounds.

Later known as the Newington Necropolis (or Newington Cemetery), the Southern Suburban railway was built immediately to the west in the 1880s. When the old Jewish Cemetery in Sciennes House Place was full, a section of Newington Cemetery was purchased and used for Jewish burials until 1945.

A youth was killed and two others injured when a headstone fell on them in 1982. Having become overgrown and decaying, the cemetery was subject to a compulsory purchase order by Edinburgh City Council in 1994. Subsequently many of the memorials have been laid flat for safety and much vegetation has been cleared, which while tidying the ground has reduced the value of the area as a wildlife refuge.

and from CWGC

Cemetery: EDINBURGH (NEWINGTON, OR ECHO BANK) CEMETERY
Country: United Kingdom
Locality: unspecified
Historical Information: During the First World War, Edinburgh was headquarters to the 4th,5th,6th and 9th Battalions of the Royal Scots, with the 7th Battalion at Leith. The 2nd Scottish General Hospital (1,000 beds) occupied Craigleith Poorhouse, the Edinburgh War Hospital (2,600 beds) was in the Asylum buildings at Bangour and the Leith War Hospital (585 beds) in the infirmary at Leith. The port of Leith was used by hospital ships from north Russia and about 4,500 officers and men passed through it. Second World War military hospitals were in Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and Bangour. The city was also Scottish Command Headquarters. Edinburgh (Newington or Echo Bank) Cemetery contains 142 scattered burials of the First World War and 14 from the Second World War. Those of the 1914-1918 war whose graves are not marked by headstones are named on a Screen Wall memorial erected in the main War Plot (Section A1).
No. of Identified Casualties: 156

My best guess is that it is at OS Map Ref NT 274 715

apanderson · Joined: 02 Oct 2007 Posts: 6903 Location: Stirlingshire

Sorry Paul, I maybe didn't make myself very clear.

There seems to be 2 'Newingtons'.

The big one, which you posted the CWGC info about above, which has 156 identified casualties and EDINBURGH (NEWINGTON, OR WEST KIRK) BURYING GROUND which has only one identified casualty.

Anne

spoons · Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 12:35 pm Post subject:

The West Kirk (more properly St Cuthbert's church) lies behind St John's Episcopal church at the west end of Princes street and does indeed have a fairly extensive burial ground. It's a good mile or so from Newington but it is the only 'West Kirk' in Edinburgh and it is all part of St Cuthbert's parish so I guess that is the one. I can tell you though that the photo is certainly not of a grave in that churchyard (from the buildings in the background) so my guess is that the graveyard in question is the big one I looked up earlier.

\Paul

Adam Brown · Joined: 21 Sep 2007 Posts: 714 Location: Edinburgh

There is actually a small cemetery up near the Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh. It is on the corner of Dalkeith Road and East Preston Street. (OS REf NT 266 724)

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=edinburgh&ie=UTF8&ll=55.938941,-3.176031&spn=0.002028,0.004678&t=h&z=18

It is always locked when I pass. This small cemetery only has one CWGC grave.

The one with the garage is Echo bank cemetery (OS REf NT 272 715). There are a large number of CWGC graves at the South tip of the large cemetery, you can see them as you pass round the Cameron Toll roundabout

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=edinburgh&ie=UTF8&ll=55.929435,-3.162013&spn=0.001014,0.002339&t=h&z=19

Adam