Mystery after discovery of Great War headstone
After what appeared to be a First World War headstone was found in undergrowth, a Bath historian put out an appeal for information.
Workers from RGB Group found the memorial to an unnamed soldier from the South African 1st Infantry Brigade next to a housing and retail development off Lower Bristol Road in Bath.
But a representative from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has declared that the stone is in fact just a practice piece.
But Bath historian Chris Kilminster, whose sister Mary Kilminster and grandmother Mary Derrick were among those killed in a nearby WWII blast, does not agree.
“In my opinion it is definitely real,” he said. “The stone had been desecrated on the top and bottom and the side was damaged.
“It’s been very professionally repaired. Why would they do this if it was fake?”
The commission said as far as it was concerned, the death being
“commemorated” did not occur.
Peter Francis said: “We know from our records that there was no casualty with these details.
“We have no ‘unknown’ South Africans buried in the UK that would have had a headstone with that wording.”
The design of the headstone is also problematic. “It is definitely not a standard pattern headstone. There were quite formulaic rules for what went on a headstone. Everyone was treated the same,” Mr Francis said.
It is not the first time the com- mission has had to step in to explain such anomalies - headstone making was once a huge job which required a lot of training.
Mr Francis said: “Manufacturing the 500,000-plus headstones we needed was one of our biggest challenges after the war, and stonemasons were engaged across the country to meet the demand.
“You can imagine having over half a million to do at a time when it was not possible to mechanise the process. They were all done by hand. A skilled mason would perhaps do three headstones a day.
“Test and sample headstones were often created to hone skills and test the quality of the stone mason’s work.”
The commission says it is happy to let Mr Kilminster keep the stone, appreciating his wish to commemorate Bath’s war casualties.
Mr Kilminster said: “I’ve been given complete authorisation to keep the stone. The two soldiers from Bath that were in that regiment will go on the headstone.
“It is going into the Mary’s Walk memorial around where it was found, hopefully with full military honours.”
It’s been very professionally repaired. Why would they do this if it was fake? Chris Kilminster