Woodlands Road
Gillingham
Kent England
Postal Code: ME7 2DX
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Cemetery notes and/or description:
Woodlands Cemetery stands in Woodlands Road at the eastern side of the town of Gillingham, Kent. It is owned and maintained by the local authority, Medway Council. There is a large naval section which was reserved by the Admiralty and served the Royal Naval Hospital in Windmill Road. The section contains most of the war graves as well as burials of the pre-war and inter-war, and post war years. A number of the casualties from the loss of HM Submarine "Truculent" (January 1950) will be found here. Among the First World War burials in the naval section are those from HMS 'Bulwark', blown up in Sheerness Harbour in November 1914, HMS 'Princess Irene' which suffered an internal explosion in May 1915 and HMS 'Glatton' which suffered the same fate in Dover Harbour in September 1918 (the bodies were not recovered until March 1930). The plot also contains a number of graves resulting from the air raid on Chatham Naval Barracks on 3 September 1917, and there is a special memorial recording this incident. In all, Gillingham (Woodlands) Cemetery contains 834 burials and commemorations of the First World War. 82 of the burials are unidentified and there are special memorials commemorating a number of casualties buried in other cemeteries in the area whose graves could not be maintained. These locations are Grange Road Cemetery, Gillingham, Christ Church churchyard in Luton, Chatham and St. Mary Hoo churchyard. Second World War burials number 385, 21 of these burials are unidentified. Most are in the naval section. There are 2 Foreign National (Dutch) war burials and 2 non war service burials. There are the wargraves of 4 New Zealanders, 7 Australians, and 12 Canadians (including Newfoundland). 3 holders of the Victoria Cross are buried in this cemetery. The Naval Reservation also contains the graves of the marine cadets aged between 9 and 13 who were killed in the Dock Road Bus Disaster of 4th December 1951.(text by Geoffrey Gillon) |
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