Kirkee 1914-1918 War Memorial
India
Photo : Paul Nixon
For more photographs of the Kirkee War Memorial select here.
The KIRKEE 1914-1918 MEMORIAL was built to commemorate more than 1800 servicemen and women who died in India during the First World War, who were buried in civil and cantonment cemeteries in India and Pakistan whose graves were considered to be unmaintainable after India gained its independence in 1947.
For several years now, the Commission has been working to reinstate the original graves of a large number of these individuals and to date, the official commemoration of over 1000 individuals have been reverted back to their original burial location.
However, their names will remain on the KIRKEE 1914-1918 MEMORIAL for the foreseeable future. This total also includes the names of 629 servicemen whose remains were brought from Bombay (Sewri) Cemetery for re-interment here in 1962, and are buried in the grassed area between the Memorial and the Cross of Sacrifice.
On the same memorial are commemorated almost 200 East and West African servicemen who died in non-operational zones in India in the Second World War, and whose graves either cannot be located or are so situated that maintenance is not possible.
The memorial stands within KIRKEE WAR CEMETERY, which was created to receive Second World War graves from the western and central parts of India where their permanent maintenance could not be assured.
The cemetery contains 1668 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War.
We are very grateful to Paul Nixon who has permiited this website to use photographs of the memorial that can be found on his Flickr photostream. Copyright of the photos remains with Paul Nixon.
Photos of the panels on which soldiers who served with the Yorkshire Regiment are named are shown below.
Private Arthur Clapham
22095. 1st Garrison Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Son of James and Sarah Jane Clapham, of 34, Waverley Rd., Bradford, W. Yorks. Died 21 July 1916. Aged 19.
Born Bradford, Enlisted Bradford.
Buried Plot CC. Grave 4. AHMEDNAGAR GOVERNMENT CEMETERY.
Commemorated Face 4, KIRKEE 1914-1918 MEMORIAL.
Serjeant William Edwin Drinkwater.
21841. 1st Garrison Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment, formerly 5939 West Yorks Regt. Son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Drinkwater; husband of Sarah Jane Drinkwater, of 394, Mill Rd., Cambridge. Killed 6 October 1918. Aged 40.
Born Upton-on-Severn, Enlisted Manchester, Resided Cambridge.
Buried Plot CE. Row L. Grave 10. DEOLALI GOVERNMENT CEMETERY.
Commemorated on Face 4, KIRKEE 1914-1918 MEMORIAL.
(Shown in the CWGC Register as "Edwin Drinkwater", but the 1911 census confirms him as being "William Edwin Drinkwater".)
Lance Corporal Arthur Herbert Edwards
21640. 1st Garrison Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment, formerly 21196 Res. Cavalry Regt. Died 13 November 1916.
Born Bermondsey (London), Enlisted London Dock Head.
Buried Plot DD. Grave 39. AHMEDNAGAR GOVERNMENT CEMETERY.
Commemorated Face 4, KIRKEE 1914-1918 MEMORIAL.
Private John Ekin
21846. 1st Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment, attd. Machine Gun Corps (Motors). Formerly 7742 West Yorks Regiment. Died 26 October 1919.
Buried Plot S. Row 8. Grave 6. MHOW NEW CEMETERY.
Commemorated Face 4, KIRKEE 1914-1918 MEMORIAL.
(Private Ekin was first in action in France on 8 September 1914. He would thus have been an Old Contemptible.)
Private James Harrison
34205. 1st Garrison Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment, formerly 9729 the Yorkshire Regiment. Died 3 May 1918.
Born Austwick (Lancs), Enlisted Settle (Yorks), Resided Austwick (Lancs).
Commemorated on Face D, KIRKEE 1914-1918 MEMORIAL.
Lance Serjeant Alfred Johnson
21959. 1st Garrison Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment, formerly 992 West Yorks Regt. Son of Alfred and Sarah Jane Johnson; husband of Emma Johnson, of 33, Lincoln Rd., Manningham, Bradford, W. Yorks. Died in India 9 October 1916. Aged 36.
Born Bradford, Enlisted Bradford.
Buried Plot JJ. Grave 10. AHMEDNAGAR GOVERNMENT CEMETERY.
Commemorated Face 4, KIRKEE 1914-1918 MEMORIAL.
Lance Corporal Leonard Emmanuel Palmer
21694. 1st Garrison Battalion Yorkshire Regiment, formerly 8045 Yorkshire Light Infantry. Son of Robert and Sarah Palmer, of Tooting, London; husband of Florence Hannah Palmer, of 2, Andover St., Pitsmoor, Sheffield. Died 16 March 1917. Aged 30.
Born Tooting (London), Enlisted London, Resided Sheffield.
Private William Reeve Rainbow
44476. 1st Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment, formerly 5/73456 88th T R Battn. Husband of Louisa Rainbow, of 29, Sylvia Terrace, Shield Row, Stanley, Durham. Died 9 July 1918. Aged 29.
Born Shield Row (Durham), Enlisted Stanley (Co. Durham).
Buried Plot E. Grave 52. FEROZEPORE MILITARY CEMETERY.Mbr>
Commemorated Face 4, KIRKEE 1914-1918 MEMORIAL.
rivate John Sewell
22180. 1st Garrison Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment, formerly 27111 D L I. Son of John and Mary Sewell; husband of Mary Doherty (formerly Sewell), of 7, Whickham St., Monkwearmouth, Tyne and Wear.
Died 19 March 1916. Aged 41.
Born Hetton-le-Hole, Enlisted Sunderland.
Buried Plot CC. Grave 3. AHMEDNAGAR GOVERNMENT CEMETERY.
Commemorated Face 4, KIRKEE 1914-1918 MEMORIAL.
Captain Thomas Colegrave Stafford
1st Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Died 4 April 1916.
Buried Plot JJ. Grave 4. AHMEDNAGAR GOVERNMENT CEMETERY.
Commemorated Face 4, KIRKEE 1914-1918 MEMORIAL.
(Thomas Colegave Stafford was born in Camberwell, London, in Q3 1873. He was working as a Commercial Clerk in Camberwell in the 1891 Census. He attended Alleyn's School whose website posts the following information about him;-
“He joined the Army shortly after the outbreak of war, obtaining a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Northumberland Fusiliers. He married shortly afterwards and was later transferred to the Yorkshire Regiment, receiving another promotion to Captain. Thomas was moved to India with his regiment shortly after receiving his promotion and his wife accompanied him abroad. Unfortunately, just after moving to India, Thomas was killed in a riding accident near Ahmednagar on April 2nd 1915.”
(Note : SDGW gives the date of death as 2/4/16, though the CGWC register puts the date of death as 4/4/16. The Green Howards Gazette database shows that he died in April 1916, arriving in India in early 1916.)
Serjeant Frederick Ernest Sturgess
6580. 1st Battalion Yorkshire Regiment, attached 4th Simla Rifles (Indian Army). Died 3 November 1918.
Born Jamaica (West Indies), Enlisted Sheffield, Resided Northallerton.
Buried Plot F. Grave 319. FEROZEPORE MILITARY CEMETERY.
Commemorated Face 4, KIRKEE 1914-1918 MEMORIAL.
Private John Wade
22276. 1st Garrison Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment, formerly 10190 D L I. Son of Joseph and Ann Wade; husband of E. M. Wade, of 43, Durham Row, Framwellgate Moor, Durham. Died 26 February 1916. Aged 42.
Enlisted Durham.
Buried Plot FF. Grave 3. AHMEDNAGAR GOVERNMENT CEMETERY.
Commemorated Face 4, KIRKEE 1914-1918 MEMORIAL.
Private William Henry Wilding
22365. 1st Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Died 26 October 1918.
Buried Plot 4. Grave 13. KASAULI CEMETERY.
Commemorated Face 4, KIRKEE 1914-1918 MEMORIAL.
Private John Yeadon
21978. 1st Garrison Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment, formerly 414 West Yorkshire Regt. Died 5 October 1916.
Born Bradford, Enlisted Bradford.
Buried Plot JJ. Grave 9. AHMEDNAGAR GOVERNMENT CEMETERY.
Commemorated on Face 4, KIRKEE 1914-1918 MEMORIAL.
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Photo : Paul Nixon
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Photo : Paul Nixon
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Photo : Paul Nixon