| There
is one area set aside at the top of the hill deep into the cemetery
for 1914-1919 and 1939-1945 graves but there are graves scattered
throughout the cemetery. Although it is believed that we have found
all of these this may not be totally true and we would like to hear
of any that we have missed. Please let us know a rough geographical
section of the cemetery if you find one of these.
Bedford
is the county town of Bedfordshire and is bisected by the River
Ouse. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London, from which it
is easily reached by road or rail. The cemetery is owned by the
Bedford Corporation, and is a mile-and-a-half north-west of the
railway station. It contains war graves of both world wars, some
in a combined 1914-1918 and 1939-1945 War graves plot and the rest
widely distributed throughout the cemetery. The 1914-1918 burials
number 151, of which 41 are in the plot. There are in all 70 burials
of the 1939-1945 War, and this total is made up by 8 sailors, 32
soldiers, and 25 airmen belonging to the forces of the United Kingdom;
1 airman of the Royal Canadian Air Force; 1 soldier belonging to
the army of undivided India and 3 Polish soldiers. Only twelve of
the graves are in the plot, which is enclosed on three sides by
a retaining wall, with the Cross of Sacrifice standing between two
groups of graves. The continuous flower borders which run along
the lines of headstones are set off by the level mown turf in which
the graves lie.
Between
August 1914 and May 1915 some 20,000 Scottish territorial soldiers
of the (1st) Highland Division were stationed in and around Bedford
while they trained and prepared to go to war.
In
the winter of 1914/15 measles, scarlet fever and diphtheria ran
through the Division's ranks and men from the more remote areas
of the Highlands, who lacked immunity, were particularly hard hit.
The majority who fell ill survived, but it is estimated that eventually
c.130 fatally succumbed. Their remains were either returned to home
locations for burial, or interred in Bedford's Foster Hill Road
cemetery - the final resting place for thirty-three Highland Division
men. At the time some criticised the authorities for failing to
do enough to care for the men who fell ill. The truth of the matter
was that Army and civilian medical staff worked hard to try to minimise
the effects of disease on the troops, but were hampered by the lack
of any truly effective drug to treat the main cause of death - bronchial
pneumonia; a secondary infection associated with measles and scarlet
fever.
There
are so many graves that this section has been split down to speed
up the loading of the details and the photographs. Use the table
below to select the section you require.
***
PLEASE NOTE - The pages have been broken into section but may still
take some time to load ***
Maps
of the cemetery can be found on a separate page
|
Section
Menu
