Here is a photo of a couple of graves at Hedge Row Trench cemetery SE of Ypres - one marked "known to be buried" and one marked "buried elsewhere in this cemetery". Please excuse the lens of the camera making it look as if they are leaning away from each other!

Does anyone know if there is a difference between the meanings of these inscriptions? To my mind, they suggest the same thing. We noticed several of both types in the cemetery

Thanks

Sue

Sue

Sue
The picture isn't showing

Oops! It should be now!

I can only think that buried elsewhere indicates that where is known (perhaps in a specific communal grave where individual bodies cannot be seperated and identified but which individuals are known) and the other is that he is somewhere in one of a number of communual graves where who is in which grave is not known

1. The pic is now showing

2. I have no answer to your question!



Bruce

The one one the right also has an engraving mistake

Wow IPT,

Eagle Eye or what!! Took me ages to see it!

Ray.

P.S. Could not not have been looking hard enough.

Centurian

Thanks for your thoughts on this. I had a time getting my head around your answer!

IPT

It took me a while to notice it. Should be easy to point the mistake out to CWGC though!

The other night I was watching Ian Hislop on 'Not Forgotten' and there shown was a headstone 'A victim of the Great War'

Any thoughts on why this would be on the headstone?

Sue

Hedge Row Trench is a special cemetery and my favourite.
It was a front line cemetery and all of the graves were destroyed in later fighting.
Not all of the grave positions could be found and it was decided to make this 'unique'? cemetery with all of the headstones symmetrical. I believe that 'Known to be buried' refers to the fact that records did not show a grave location whilst buried elsewhwere means just that. As the headstones do not stand over a grave as such, buried elsewhere refers to the fact that after the shelling it was impossible to prove which body was which because of the latter shelling. It is somewhat of a technicality I would think in order to have the headstones placed as they are.

Steve M

If it is indeed a CWGC headstone, perhaps it is the formula for the most anonymous of unknowns, where it was impossible even to tell whether the unidentified remains were those of a soldier or a civilian - maybe following an artillery or aerial bombardment of a rear area where both were present.

Steve

You are quite right in saying that Hedge Row is a beautiful cemetery. It was thought provoking to think what had happened there.

My thanks to both you and Mick for your thoughts.

Sue

except that it says buried elsewhere in this cemetary so are you saying that there is a known grave location?

There isn't any difference between the two; it's just two ways of saying the same thing. One stone looks a lot more recent so perhaps the CWGC have adopted a new wording in such cases when replacing Special Memorials.

All it means is that, for whatever reason - usually destruction by shellfire as at Maple Copse and Tuileries - the man's place of burial in the cemetery is unknown.

Andy.

Thanks, Andy, I had thought that is what may have been the case, but some of the stones did not look quite so new.

Sue

Or even both of the above.
They originally had a grave location for buried elsewhere but as I mentioned, all were destroyed by shellfire. Remaining bodies or parts thereof could not be identified.
The info I received was from the son of someone who had helped with the re-burials.
It also looks as they all of the stones have been recently cleaned up/re-etched.
s