headstones





Commemoration service on Sat 19th Sept - report to follow

Commemoration service on Sat 19th Sept - pictures

Commemoration service on Sat 19th Sept - pictures


Although the names of both Samuel Sharpe and Robert Yaxley are inscribed on Little Walsingham
war memorial, neither soldier was listed in any official record of the war dead

Recent research however has uncovered that not only did both of these soldiers die of
injuries suffered in the war but that they both buried in St Mary's churchyard

When this information was discovered an application was made to the Commonwealth
War Graves Commission to have both soldiers recognised as war casualties and
for appropriate headstones to be erected in St Mary's churchyard

However to prove the case copies of the burial records were required (see below)
and copies of both soldiers death certificates had to be found and produced

Once this evidence was located, produced and accepted by the CWGC it was
to be another three years before the headstones could be put in place as both
headstones had to be carved in France and then transported to the village


* * * * * * * * * *

Curiously St Mary's burial records (see below) show that although William Knowles is listed
in those records next in chronological order to Samuel Sharpe , William Knowles has a WW1
headstone in St Mary's whereas there is not a headstone there for Samuel Sharpe


The mystery is further complicated when it's found that another local soldier Fred Seaman
has a WW1 headstone placed afterbhe was buried in St Mary's with full military honours
many months after Samuel Sharpe's burial and over a year after the war had ended

It is thought that perhaps both Knowles and Seaman had visible injuries where Sharpe and Yaxley's had not

both death certificates of Sharpe and Yaxley to follow




burial records

Samuel Sharpe and William Knowles


The note in the burial record reads
"disease contracted abroad in war"


Robert Yaxley


The note(s) in the burial record read
"died of the effects of gas poisoning in the war"





Sapper Samuel Sharpe's headstone





Private Robert Yaxley's headstone