Remembering those from New Zealand buried in Manchester and an appeal for help

New Zealand at the Front

Yesterday and for most of the rest of June I will be reflecting on those men of the Commonwealth forces who are buried in Southern Cemetery in south Manchester.

All of which has a special significance as we head towards the centenary of the Somme which will be marked with a ceremony to commemorate the event.

This year the High Commissioner of Canada will be present along with the Lord Mayor, in recognition of the 26 members of the CEF who are buried here.

But there are also members of the ANZAC forces who died in Manchester and rest not far from their Canadian comrades.*

Some of these have already featured on the blog but I want to research the rest and in the process also share some stories of those soldiers from New Zealand and it is good to have had offers of help and encouragement from Paul Wright and Alan Dobson.

Southern Cemetery

Those buried here will have died of their wounds in one of the military hospitals under the command of the 2nd General Hospital.

Some may even have been in the Nell Lane Hospital which which stood close by the cemetery.

Many of the war records of British servicemen from the Great War were lost to enemy action in 1940, but the Canadian archives are intact and through the Library and Archives of Canada  are being digitlized.

And with Paul's help I also now know that a similar excercise is being undertaken in New Zealand at  www.archway.archives.govt.nz 

Location; Southern Cemetery

Picture; New Zealand at the Front, courtesy of Paul Wright, and Southern Cemetery, 2015 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*New Zealand, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/New%20Zealand

**Library and Archives Canada, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/first-world-war-1914-1918-cef/Pages/search.aspx