North Front Cemetery

Last updated

North Front Cemetery
North Front Cemetery.jpg
View from North Front Cemetery looking south towards the Rock of Gibraltar.
North Front Cemetery
Details
Established1756
Location
Devil's Tower Road
Country Gibraltar
Coordinates 36°08′57″N5°20′41″W / 36.14905°N 5.34483°W / 36.14905; -5.34483
Owned by Government of Gibraltar
Website Cemetery details. Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Find a Grave North Front Cemetery

The North Front Cemetery is a cemetery located in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. Also known as the Gibraltar Cemetery and the Garrison Cemetery, it is the only graveyard still in use in Gibraltar. It is also the only Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) cemetery in Gibraltar. The two CWGC monuments, the Gibraltar Memorial and the Gibraltar Cross of Sacrifice, are positioned nearby at the junction of Winston Churchill Avenue and Devil's Tower Road.

Contents

History

View of North Front Cemetery as seen from the Great Siege Tunnels. Cemetery of Gibraltar.jpg
View of North Front Cemetery as seen from the Great Siege Tunnels.

The North Front Cemetery is located in the North District of Gibraltar, the British Overseas Territory at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. [1] [2] It is situated between the north face of the Rock of Gibraltar to the south and the airport to the north. The cemetery is located off Devil's Tower Road, just west of Devil's Tower Camp. [3] [4] [5] Also known as the Gibraltar Cemetery and the Garrison Cemetery, it was established in 1756 south of the neutral ground and the border with Spain. [3] [4] [6] A French map made of Gibraltar in 1811 shows that the cemetery was well established. [7]

The graveyard was initially divided into five sections. In addition, to those for members of the Church of England, and Presbyterian, Wesleyan, and Catholic Churches, there was a fifth section for those of other denominations. [4] In May 1848, Jews' Gate Cemetery on Windmill Hill was closed to burials. [8] After that closure, a sixth section, for Jews, was established in North Front Cemetery. [4] [8] In the 21st century, only three sections are present, Christian, Jewish, and unconsecrated. [4] The North Front Cemetery is also a military cemetery, and includes the graves of those who died in the World Wars. [4] [6]

The North Front Cemetery is the only graveyard which is still in use in Gibraltar. [6] In addition to the 1848 closure of Jews' Gate Cemetery, Trafalgar Cemetery fell into disuse after 1814. St. Jago's Cemetery was also closed and, by the early twentieth century, its grounds had been incorporated into the St. Jago's Barracks recreational facilities. [9] [10]

The authority in charge of North Front Cemetery is the Superintendent of the Cemetery. The staff includes a Keeper of the Cemetery, as well as eight gravediggers and eight people responsible for maintenance. [6] In 1889, the Cemetery Act was passed; it set procedures regarding management and supervision of North Front Cemetery. [11]

The graves of two Governors of Gibraltar are present in North Front Cemetery: Lieutenant-General Sir Lothian Nicholson (1827–1893) and General Sir Kenneth Anderson (1891–1959). [4] [12] [13] Sir Joshua Hassan (1915–1997), Chief Minister and Mayor of Gibraltar, was buried in the Hebrew section of the cemetery. [4] [14] In addition, both Thomas Henry Kavanagh (1821–1882), awarded the Victoria Cross, and George Campbell Henderson (1910–1951), who received the George Cross posthumously after the Bedenham explosion, are interred at North Front. [4] [15] Kavanagh has the distinction of being the only recipient of the Victoria Cross buried in Gibraltar. His gravestone was restored about 2008. [16]

Commonwealth war graves

Funeral services held at North Front Cemetery for Second Lieutenant Paul B. Bateman, US pilot, during the Second World War. Funeral services for second Lieutenant Paul B. Bateman, American pilot, in Gibraltar.jpg
Funeral services held at North Front Cemetery for Second Lieutenant Paul B. Bateman, US pilot, during the Second World War.

North Front Cemetery is the only Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in Gibraltar. [17] More than 750 Commonwealth soldiers of the two World Wars, as well as 41 of the fallen of other nationalities, are buried or commemorated at the cemetery. This includes two graves in the Hebrew section. [18] Most of the Commonwealth war graves for the fallen of the Second World War are located in two plots, one triangular and the other rectangular, at the northern end of the cemetery. Others are scattered around the graveyard, as are those from the First World War. [3] [19] The majority of the Commonwealth war graves are from World War II. [19] After the First World War, a Cross of Sacrifice was installed west of the cemetery. A second monument was erected after the Second World War near the cross. The second monument, the Gibraltar Memorial, commemorates 98 lost or buried at sea. [3] [4] [18]

The First World War graves are primarily those of soldiers who died at British Military Hospital Gibraltar or on vessels passing by Gibraltar. They include the tombs of 23 men who died on HMS Britannia when she sank on 9 November 1918 after a submarine attack off Cape Trafalgar. Also included are the graves of seamen who succumbed from natural causes during the course of the war. [3] [18] The Second World War graves are primarily those of soldiers from the garrison, including those who lost their lives while doing military construction and those who were attacked by aircraft. Among the dead were soldiers who had been taken prisoner in France and died following their escape to Gibraltar. Also included were the graves of four Frenchmen who died when their aircraft crashed into the sea during a landing attempt. [18]

Gibraltar Memorial

The Gibraltar Memorial War memorial in Gibraltar 2005 2.jpg
The Gibraltar Memorial

The Gibraltar Memorial is located together with the Cross of Sacrifice in a triangular, fenced site west of the North Front Cemetery. The memorial site is at the northeast corner of the intersection of Winston Churchill Avenue and Devil's Tower Road. The Gibraltar Memorial and the Cross of Sacrifice are connected by paths which lead to a central panel containing an inscription. [20] [21]

The Gibraltar Memorial was erected by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. It commemorates 91 soldiers who died during the Second World War and were buried at sea. In addition to the names of those military men, the names of seven of the fallen of the First World War have been added. Those seven soldiers died when the SS Woodfield was attacked by a submarine on 3 November 1915 and sunk 64 kilometres (40 mi) off Ceuta. The original monument to the men in North Front Cemetery was demolished. [3] [18] [20]

Steps rise up to the Gibraltar Memorial, which is positioned behind the cross. The monument is constructed of limestone, within which have been inserted panels of Cornish granite that match the Cross of Sacrifice and bear the inscribed names of the fallen. The nearby central panel explains: [20]

The Officers And Men Whose Names Are Honoured on the Panels Nearby Were Buried at Sea With Their Comrades Who Lie Buried in the North Front Cemetery And in the Jewish Cemetery They Gave Their Lives at Gibraltar While Serving Their Country

Gibraltar Cross of Sacrifice

The Gibraltar Cross of Sacrifice War memorial in Gibraltar 2005.jpg
The Gibraltar Cross of Sacrifice

The Cross of Sacrifice is positioned together with the Gibraltar Memorial in the fenced area west of the cemetery, at the corner of Winston Churchill Avenue and Devil's Tower Road. [4] Both monuments are connected by paths to a central inscribed panel. The Cross of Sacrifice was constructed of Cornish granite, and erected by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, then the Imperial War Graves Commission, after World War I. [4] [20] The monument was unveiled on Armistice Day 1922 by Governor of Gibraltar Sir Horace Lockwood Smith-Dorrien. [22] At the base of the cross, in addition to the dates "1914 – 1918" and "1939 – 1945," is the inscription "In Glorious Memory of Those Who Died For The Empire." [22] [23] On an adjacent plaque is inscribed: "Erected By The Royal Engineers For The Imperial War Graves Commission And Unveiled on Armistice Day 1922 By H. E. Gen. Sir H. L. Smith-Dorrien GCB-GCMG-DSO Governor and Commander-In-Chief Gibraltar." [22] A portion of the inscription on the nearby panel reads: [20]

1914–1918 1939–1945 The Cross in This Forecourt Is Similar To Those Raised in War Cemeteries Throughout The World in Grateful And Undying Remembrance of the Sacrifice Made By Sailors Soldiers And Airmen From All Parts of the Commonwealth Who Died During Two World Wars

In 2004, Gibraltar celebrated its tercentenary anniversary of British rule. Some veterans who had served in Gibraltar were invited to an all-expenses-paid trip to The Rock. In July 2004, the schedule of events included a memorial service at the Cross of Sacrifice which included the Royal British Legion. [24]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">El Alamein</span> City in Matrouh, Egypt

El Alamein is a town in the northern Matrouh Governorate of Egypt. Located on the Arab's Gulf, Mediterranean Sea, it lies 106 kilometres (66 mi) west of Alexandria and 300 kilometres (186 mi) northwest of Cairo. As of 2007, it had a population of 7,397 inhabitants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commonwealth War Graves Commission</span> Commonwealth organisation responsible for war graves

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars. The commission is also responsible for commemorating Commonwealth civilians who died as a result of enemy action during the Second World War. The commission was founded by Sir Fabian Ware and constituted through Royal Charter in 1917 as the Imperial War Graves Commission. The change to the present name took place in 1960.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thiepval Memorial</span> Memorial in Somme, France

The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is a war memorial to 72,337 missing British and South African servicemen who died in the Battles of the Somme of the First World War between 1915 and 1918, with no known grave. It is near the village of Thiepval, Picardy in France. A visitors' centre opened in 2004. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, Thiepval has been described as "the greatest executed British work of monumental architecture of the twentieth century".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tyne Cot</span> WWI CWGC cemetery near Passendale, Belgium

Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) burial ground for the dead of the First World War in the Ypres Salient on the Western Front. It is the largest cemetery for Commonwealth forces in the world, for any war. The cemetery and its surrounding memorial are located outside Passendale, near Zonnebeke in Belgium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cross of Sacrifice</span> War memorial design by Sir Reginald Blomfield

The Cross of Sacrifice is a Commonwealth war memorial designed in 1918 by Sir Reginald Blomfield for the Imperial War Graves Commission. It is present in Commonwealth war cemeteries containing 40 or more graves. Its shape is an elongated Latin cross with proportions more typical of the Celtic cross, with the shaft and crossarm octagonal in section. It ranges in height from 18 to 24 feet. A bronze longsword, blade down, is affixed to the front of the cross. It is usually mounted on an octagonal base. It may be freestanding or incorporated into other cemetery features. The Cross of Sacrifice is widely praised, widely imitated, and the archetypal British war memorial. It is the most imitated of Commonwealth war memorials, and duplicates and imitations have been used around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery</span> World War II cemetery in the Netherlands

Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery and Memorial is a Second World War Commonwealth War Graves Commission military war grave cemetery, located in the village of Groesbeek, 8 km (5.0 mi) southeast of Nijmegen in the Netherlands. Of the total 2,619 burials, the cemetery contains 2,338 Canadian soldiers. It was built to a design by Commission architect Philip Hepworth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sai Wan War Cemetery</span> CWGC cemetery in Hong Kong

Sai Wan War Cemetery is a military cemetery located in Chai Wan, Hong Kong which was built in 1946. The cemetery was created to commemorate soldiers of Hong Kong Garrison who perished during the Second World War. The cemetery also contains 12 World War I burials. A total of 1,528 soldiers, mainly from the Commonwealth, are commemorated here. Most of the remaining burials are located at the Stanley Military Cemetery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larch Wood (Railway Cutting) Cemetery</span> WWI cemetery in Ypres, Belgium

Larch Wood Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) burial ground for the dead of the First World War located in the Ypres Salient on the Western Front in Belgium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ypres Reservoir Cemetery</span> WWI CWGC cemetery in Ypres, Belgium

Ypres Reservoir Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) burial ground for the dead of the First World War located in the Ypres Salient on the Western Front.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duhallow ADS Cemetery</span> WWI CWGC site in Ypres, Belgium

Duhallow ADSCemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial ground for the dead of the First World War located near Ypres on the Western Front in Belgium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aldershot Military Cemetery</span> Cemetery in Aldershot, Hampshire, England

Aldershot Military Cemetery is a burial ground for military personnel, or ex-military personnel and their families, located in Aldershot Military Town, Hampshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trafalgar Cemetery</span> Cemetery in Gibraltar

The Trafalgar Cemetery is a cemetery in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. Formerly known as the Southport Ditch Cemetery, it occupies a small area of land just to the south of the city walls, in what had been a defensive ditch during the period of Spanish rule of Gibraltar. Although it is named for the Battle of Trafalgar of 21 October 1805, only two victims of the battle are buried there. The remainder of the interments are mostly of those killed in other sea battles or casualties of the yellow fever epidemics that swept Gibraltar between 1804 and 1814. In addition, tombstones were transferred to the Trafalgar Cemetery from St. Jago's Cemetery and Alameda Gardens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bayeux war cemetery</span> Military cemetery in Normandy

The Bayeux War Cemetery is the largest Second World War cemetery of Commonwealth soldiers in France, located in Bayeux, Normandy. The cemetery contains 4,648 burials, mostly of the Invasion of Normandy. Opposite this cemetery stands the Bayeux Memorial which commemorates more than 1,800 casualties of the Commonwealth forces who died in Normandy and have no known grave.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery</span>

Fromelles Military Cemetery is a First World War cemetery built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission on the outskirts of Fromelles in northern France, near the Belgian border. Constructed between 2009 and 2010, it was the first new Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery for more than 50 years, the last such cemeteries having been built after the Second World War. The cemetery contains the graves of 250 British and Australian soldiers who died on 19 July 1916 in the Battle of Fromelles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mierlo War Cemetery</span>

Mierlo War Cemetery is a Second World War Commonwealth war grave cemetery, located in the village of Mierlo, 12 km (7.5 mi) east of Eindhoven in The Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lutwyche Cemetery</span> Australian cemetery in Brisbane

Lutwyche Cemetery is a cemetery located at Kedron, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It opened in 1878 and saw its first burial in the same year. It is located at the corner of Gympie and Kitchener Roads, approximately ten kilometres north of Brisbane.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Essex Farm Cemetery</span> World War I military burial ground in Belgium

Essex Farm Cemetery is a World War I, Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial ground within the John McCrae Memorial Site near Ypres, Belgium. There are 1,204 dead commemorated, of which 104 are unidentified. The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield and has an area of 6,032 square metres (64,930 sq ft).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Devil's Tower Road</span> Street in Gibraltar

Devil's Tower Road is a road in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The road, in the northeastern part of the settlement, runs south of Gibraltar International Airport, from Winston Churchill Avenue southeast to Eastern Beach Road. It was named after Devil's Tower, a seventeenth-century watchtower that was formerly at the eastern end of the road. By 2011, Devil's Tower Road had been changed to a dual carriageway, with on-street parking eliminated, and the Government's plan to change the name of the road to North Front Avenue met with community opposition. A new access road was planned, such that Winston Churchill Avenue, which crosses the airport runway, would no longer serve as the main road to the Gibraltar-Spain border to intersect with Devil's Tower Road after passing under the eastern edge of the runway. The new road and tunnel, named Kingsway with the approval of Charles III, was officially opened on 31st March 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gibraltar Cross of Sacrifice</span>

The Gibraltar Cross of Sacrifice is a war memorial in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is located west of North Front Cemetery, at the junction of Winston Churchill Avenue and Devil's Tower Road. The Cross of Sacrifice was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield in 1917, and his monument is found in numerous Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries. The cross in Gibraltar was erected by the Royal Engineers for the commission, and unveiled on Armistice Day 1922. The British Pathé film recorded at the dedication ceremony that day represents the first motion picture made in Gibraltar. The Gibraltar Cross of Sacrifice served as the focus of Remembrance Sunday ceremonies in Gibraltar until 2009, at which time the location was changed to the Gibraltar War Memorial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dunkirk Memorial</span>

The Dunkirk Memorial is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorial to the missing that commemorates 4,505 missing dead of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), most of whom fell prior to and during the Battle of Dunkirk in 1939 and 1940, in the fall of France during the Second World War.

References

  1. ↑ "List of Crown Dependencies & Overseas Territories". fco.gov.uk. Foreign & Commonwealth Office. Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  2. ↑ John Roach (13 September 2006). "Neandertals' Last Stand Was in Gibraltar, Study Suggests". National Geographic News. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Gibraltar (North Front) Cemetery". cwgc.org. Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "North Front Cemetery". aboutourrock.com. About Our Rock. Archived from the original on 31 August 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  5. ↑ "Gibraltar". upload.wikimedia.org. Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Department of the Environment – Cemetery". gibraltar.gov.gi. Government of Gibraltar. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  7. ↑ Plan de Gibraltar / par J.D. Barbié du Bocage Barbié Du Bocage, 1811, accessed Mat 2013
  8. 1 2 "Letter from Government of Gibraltar regarding Jewish Cemetery at Windmill Hill dated 17 May 1994". jewishgen.org. Jewish Communities & Records (JCR-UK). Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  9. ↑ "Trafalgar Cemetery". Gibraltar Heritage Trust. Archived from the original on 6 February 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  10. ↑ "Trafalgar Cemetery". discovergibraltar.com. Archived from the original on 13 October 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  11. ↑ "Cemetery Act" (PDF). gibraltarlaws.gov.gi. Government of Gibraltar. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  12. ↑ "Lothian Nicholson". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  13. ↑ "Survey of the Papers of Senior UK Defence Personnel, 1900–1975". kcl.ac.uk. Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London, University of London. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  14. ↑ "Obituary: Sir Joshua Hassan". The Independent. Archived from the original on 18 August 2010. Retrieved 16 September 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  15. ↑ "The Bedenham Explosion". The Gibraltar Museum. 9 April 2010. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  16. ↑ "Gibraltar Heritage Trust Newsletter" (PDF). gibraltarheritagetrust.org.gi. Gibraltar Heritage Trust. February 2009. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2010. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  17. ↑ "Cemetery Search". cwgc.org. Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 "The Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Gibraltar" (PDF). Commonwealth War Graves Commission Newsletter. April 2012. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  19. 1 2 "Commonwealth War Graves Gibraltar". ww2museums.com. STIWOT (Stichting Informatie Wereldoorlog Twee). Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 "Gibraltar Memorial". cwgc.org. Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  21. ↑ "Cemetery". wfraworcester.com. Worcestershire & Sherwood Foresters(Worcester Branch). Archived from the original on 28 September 2012. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
  22. 1 2 3 "Gibraltar Cross of Sacrifice Memorial". warmemscot.s4.bizhat.com. The Scottish War Memorials Project. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
  23. ↑ "Cross of Sacrifice Memorial". upload.wikimedia.org. Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
  24. ↑ "Veterans Free Holiday". stosyth.gov.uk. St. Osyth Parish Council. Archived from the original on 3 February 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.