Four Bishops Stortford Graves 100 Years after The Great War

I have been for as long as I can remember drawn to old cemeteries. This fascination with ‘cities of the dead’ does not stem from any ghoulishness on my part, rather I am intrigued to know a little bit about the lives of those people remembered in worn and lichen encrusted name engravings. War graves in particular have long interested me. Thus it was that this weekend, on the first proper sunny day of the year, I went with my son Rudi into Bishops Stortford Old Cemetery (my favourite location within the town) to track down a particular quartet of headstones.

To mark the beginning of the commemorations of the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War an excellent book was published by David Clare, Carolyn Downing and Sarah Turner. This book included information about four soldiers that either came from the town or found themselves billeted here with their units.

These were the graves that Rudi and I set out to find and photograph.

Private George Harrison (North Midland Army Cyclist Corps).

Arriving in Bishops Stortford in late February 1915, Private George W. Harrison was finally billeted at Ivy Lodge in Warwick Road on 12^th March, the day prior to his untimely death. On the evening of the 12^th he attended a dinner at The Railway Hotel in Station Road, hosted by his commanding officer, Second Lieutenant Albert Ball. Later witnesses told the Haymeads inquest that was held on the 17^th March that the soldier had been at the pub at between 7.30 and 8.00 pm when he was observed to be somewhat intoxicated. He continued to drink after the meal and eventually left The Railway between 8.30 and 9.00 pm when he returned to Ivy Lodge a short distance away. Once back in his room he was helped to bed and left to sleep off the effects of the night’s alcoholic consumption.

Another witness at the inquest stated that, upon looking in on the prone soldier shortly before midnight, he appeared to be asleep but had evidently vomited. On the following morning, Sunday 14^th March, an early morning check found George to be dead in his bed. The verdict of a Dr Huxtable, who arrived at the house at 7.30 that morning, concluded that George’s larynx was obstructed and that he had therefore asphyxiated on his own vomit. The inquest returned a verdict of accidental death.

Headstone of Private George Harrison

(Photograph: Rudi Andrews).

Private Harrison was buried in the Old Cemetery, where among the mourners were his wife, mother-in-law and his commanding officer. Also in attendance was Mr. William Blyth Gerish, a prominent Stortfodian and owner of Ivy Lodge where George died. As can be seen in the photograph below, George’s funeral was well attended by soldiers of the Bedfordshire, Nottingham and Derbyshire Regiments who were also passing through Bishops Stortford in the Spring of 1915.

Soldiers stationed in Bishops Stortford attending Private Harrison's funeral.

Private Richard Lohmann (15th Bn London Rifles (Prince of Wales' Own Civil Service Rifles)) No. 534630.

The son of a naturalised German from Schleswig-Holstein, Private Richard Cornell Lohmann is buried in the family plot in the Old Cemetery. Born in Tottenham, North London on 10th February 1879, Richard served with the Prince of Wales' Own Civil Service Rifles, which in 1908 was incorporated into the newly formed London Regiment and designated as the 15th Battalion London Rifles.

15th Battalion, London Regiment (Civil Service Rifles), 47th Division, marching past the Lord Mayor of London, Colonel Sir Charles Wakefield, 11th June 1916. (IWM Q633).

As declared on his headstone, Richard ‘Died of wounds received fighting for his country’ at the age of 29. From the sources that I have been able to locate it is not possible to state with certainty where he was wounded, but it is known that the 15th Battalion London Rifles were in action at Passchendaele (The infamous Third Battle of Ypres) which lasted from 31st July to 10th November 1917, dates that would tie in with the known fact that he succumbed to his injuries in early October of that year. The epitaph ‘.... of wounds received fighting for his country’ is especially poignant as the family retained their German surname throughout the war, a decision that was not without repercussions in the pervading atmosphere of intense anti-German sentiment that existed at the time.

Headstone of Private Richard Lohmann

(Photograph: Rudi Andrews).

The following two soldiers have a special meaning for me as they both lived in the Newtown area of Bishops Stortford, as do I as a resident of Apton Road. Nearly every day I pass through Castle Street and Bartholomew Road where the two men once lived.

Private Herbert Solomon Kitchener (1/5th Bn Bedfordshire Regiment) No. 45687.

Herbert attempted to enlist earlier in the war but was turned away having failed to satisfy the minimum required chest measurements, an early indication of pulmonary insufficiency  that would ultimately lead to his premature death at the age of 33. However, as the war raged into its fourth year, the Recruiting Sergeants of the British Army were forced to reduce the physical minimums for enlistment in order to reinforce the battered Regiments in the line. This shift in the requirements meant that on the 19th March 1917, Herbert Solomon Kitchener got his wish and became a Private of the Bedfordshire Regiment. After basic training he was posted to Egypt where the 1/5th Battalion were fighting with the Ottoman forces in Palestine. 

Clearly, the arid and dusty conditions in the area were disastrous for Herbert who was admitted to hospital on numerous occasions to the extent that he was sent home in August 1918 (a decision that the Army never took lightly due to the cost associated with removing a soldier from the front line). Shortly thereafter he was discharged from  the Army on the grounds of being ‘physically unfit’ having ‘Tubercule of Lung, 80%’. Sadly, Herbert died at home at 35 Castle Street, directly opposite my local pub, The Castle’, on the 3rd May 1920. He left a wife Margaret and a son of 3 years, also named Herbert Solomon.

Herbert's home at 35 Castle Street, Bishops Stortford.

Headstone of Private Herbert Solomon

(Photograph: Rudi Andrews).

Corporal Harry Kitchener (3rd Bn Bedfordshire Regiment) No. 31598.

Harry was another very local lad who, according to the 1911 census, was living with his parents Henry and Sarah at 29 Bartholomew Road (approximately a one minute walk from my front door). Harry was killed many miles from the theatres of war in which the Bedfords saw their fighting, but it was enemy action that ended his short life nonetheless. 

A Gotha bomber of the type responsible for the 13th June 1917 London air raid.

Since the birth of the ‘miracle of flight’ the military powers of Europe had recognised the possibility of aerial bombardment and the First World War first saw this new dimension to warfare realised. On 13th June 1917, twenty long range heavy bombers known as Gothas launched the first daylight raid on London. 162 people were killed and 432 injured in the raid which was to be the deadliest single raid on London of the entire war. It was on 13th June 1917 that Harry was in London visiting relatives when he was killed, becoming one of the 162 fatality statistic. He was 19 years old.

The inscription on his headstone reads:

‘Links which reach from Heaven above unite us still in perfect love’.

Harry's home at 29 Bartholomew Road, Bishops Stortford.

Headstone of Corporal Harry Kitchener

(Photograph: Rudi Andrews).

Of these four soldiers with links to Bishops Stortford, two, Herbert and Richard do not appear on the town's war memorials for reasons unknown. However, all of their details are recorded in the Old Cemetery register of graves.