Dr Megan Wang (née Kelleher)

This Remembrance period, I am hoping to highlight some of the stories from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s (CWGC) enquiries files that I considered during my PhD. In this blog, I’m going to be considering the enquiries files relating to Gunner WL Buckley, and how the CWGC ascertained exactly where he was buried.

Gunner WL Buckley caused great confusion at the CWGC, as at one time he was recorded as being buried in two locations: Halliwell (St Peter’s) Churchyard in Lancashire and Shoeburyness (St Andrew’s) Churchyard and Extension in Essex. The CWGC initially thought they had found he was buried, presuming that he would likely have been interred near to where his family were located in Lancashire; they therefore surmised that the Essex location may have been referring to a wooden cross that was originally erected as a memorial to Gunner Buckley by his comrades, which was later erroneously placed with a headstone when the CWGC began to create permanent headstones for the war dead.

However, the situation was not as simple as it first appeared. When the CWGC went to remove the stone in Essex, the Sexton of the church objected and stated that he had personally carried out a funeral at that location and was certain that the remains had not been disturbed. Consequently, three possible explanations were posed:

• That another soldier was buried under the wrong name in Essex.
• That Gunner Buckley had been buried in Essex originally but was exhumed and moved to the Lancashire churchyard.
• That his remains were still in Essex, and that Gunner Buckley’s widow was mistaken about where her husband was buried.

Unfortunately, there was no easy way to answer the question as to where Gunner Buckley was buried without disturbing at least one set of remains, which went against the policies of the CWGC and was incredibly difficult to do logistically. Therefore, the headstone in Essex was replaced with the headstone of an Unknown Soldier of the Great War, and Gunner Buckley’s main point of commemoration is now listed as being in Lancashire.

So, next time you are in Essex or Lancashire perhaps you’ll visit these points of commemoration and consider Gunner Buckley’s story!

Source: CWGC/8/1/4/1/1/134 (AA44435), Correspondence relating to Gunner W.L. Buckley of the Royal Garrison Artillery, 26th January 1918-1st February 1939.