Remembering those who lost their lives in WWI and WWII

With the approach of Remembrance Day, Abney Park Trust is writing this article in remembrance of those who lost their lives in World War I and World War II, honouring those who are buried or commemorated in Abney Park Cemetery.

Since the early 1990s, Abney Park Trust has maintained a good relationship with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). Although the majority of graves were already known, new graves were still discovered during the early times - the last noted being in 2012.

Abney Park is the place of internment for 377 service personnel from both WWI and WWII. 151 are buried in graves with a CWGC headstone (sometimes mentioned on, or with a private grave headstone as well) and 226 are buried in unmarked graves within the cemetery - these people are listed on the screen walls of the central Commonwealth War Memorial, adjacent to the chapel.

The majority of those buried in Abney Park Cemetery were local to Stoke Newington, Hackney, Dalston, Shoreditch, Islington and nearby areas, with a few coming from as far afield as Hertfordshire, Danbury and one from Texas.

Most of these servicemen were under the age of 25 when they lost their lives and their titles and regiments varied. While many died of 'wounds', other causes of death included malaria, pneumonia, 'accidental injuries', and shell shock.

As if the war wasn’t devastating enough, during WWII, four serving soldiers in the local area were killed with their families whilst at home on leave, including one in Dalston and one in Isledon Road during air raids in 1940 / 1941.

The Abney Unearthed project has taken note of many servicemen commemorated on private family graves who lost their lives during the war, mostly WWII, and are buried elsewhere.

There are several notable monuments within the relatively understated headstones of Abney Park, but one of special mention relates to a fallen RAF serviceman of WWI. A few years ago Abney Park Trust were approached by two gentlemen researching war graves, in particular those of Air Force personnel. Both were astounded by this grave and had never seen anything like it during their considerable time of research.

This grave shows a detailed mosaic propellor from the No.2 (auxiliary) School of Aerial Gunnery, Turnberry. The serviceman in question died in 1918 flying a Sopworth Camel and lost control of the aircraft at 220ft whilst attacking a target and tragically perished at an early age.

While continual maintenance has been carried out on the war graves, the CWGC professionally cleaned them at the beginning of this year. The regular cleaning and maintenance has since been carried out by Abney Park Trust and will continue with the help of volunteers when possible.

The Commonwealth War Grave Commission War Memorial was built over the catacombs below in the early 1920s. Read our article on the recent deep cleaning of the memorial.

There are many war stories to be told in Abney Park - both heroic and sad. Every name on every headstone tells an individual story and at this time special thought should be given to those who died during both of the World Wars.