Strangers' Cemetery
Strangers' Cemetery is a cemetery at the junction of Castle Road and Victory Road in Underhill. It was established by the Admiralty in 1860-61 for the burial of sailors and marines, with a section designated for civilian burials in the parish of St John's Church. Originally referred to as Castle Road Cemetery, Naval Cemetery or St John's Cemetery, it gained the name Strangers' Cemetery in the early 20th century. Burials were discontinued in 1969 and the site is now maintained by Portland Town Council.
History
Establishment and consecration of cemetery (1860-61)
A cemetery in Underhill was established by the Admiralty as a result of the increasing naval presence at Portland, since the creation of a harbour of refuge there from 1847. The Admiralty originally made use of the churchyard of St John's in Fortuneswell, where a number of sailors and marines of the Channel Fleet were buried after they had died on board their ships while stationed in Portland Harbour. The church, completed in 1840, had limited space in its churchyard, which had been intended for the sole use of the inhabitants of the Underhill district. It became full before 1860 and all further civilian burials took place in the churchyard of St George's at Reforne, which the inhabitants in Underhill considered inconvenient for both its distance and the nature of the roads to it.
With the need for their own burial space on Portland, the Lord Commissioners of the Admiralty authorised the establishment of a cemetery in 1860 and selected a small plot of their land along Castle Road for the site. Work commenced on its transformation during the late part of that year and the ground, measuring approximately half an acre in total, was enclosed by a wall of Portland stone. While the majority of the site was intended for the burial of sailors and marines (and their families where approved by the Admiralty), about a quarter of it was provided for civilian burials in the district (later parish, from 1865) of St John's. This was done on account of the Admiralty's past use of the churchyard for burials.
Often referred to in its early years as either Castle Road Cemetery, Naval Cemetery or St John's Cemetery, the site was consecrated by the Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt. Rev. Walter Kerr Hamilton, on 28 August 1861. An afternoon service was held in St John's, during which the bishop preached a sermon, and a procession then made its way to the cemetery. It included men of Portland's coastguard, under the command of Lieutenant Hales, the engineer-in-chief of Portland Breakwater, John Coode, Paymaster Whitehouse of HMS Colossus, the incumbent of St John's, Rev. H. Jenour, the bishop, his chaplain, registrar, a number of clergymen, a number of notable inhabitants of the island, as well as children from St John's School. After the consecration, in the late afternoon, the bishop, clergy and selected others dined at Rev. Jenour's vicarage, and a public tea and meeting was held during the evening at St John's School. The meeting, presided over by John Coode, saw speeches made by Rev. Hartland of Broadwey, Rev. Jenour and Mr. Gilbert.
Use of cemetery in the 19th and 20th centuries
The majority of burials at the cemetery throughout the 1860s and 1870s were military-related, mostly naval, with some army ones in connection with the Verne Citadel. The cemetery was also used for the interment of unidentified bodies and remains which were drowned at sea and washed ashore, usually on Chesil Cove, after storms and gales. In 1875, the Portland Local Board placed a curb before the entrance to stop water running from the road's surface drainage directly into the cemetery, as had been seen during the previous winter. In 1876, the War Office established a military cemetery on the Common overlooking Portland Harbour. With most of Portland's military burials now taking place there instead, the cemetery at Castle Road saw only infrequent burials, namely a few boys from HMS Boscawen and any unidentified bodies that were washed ashore.
By the 1880s, the cemetery had fallen into a state of untidiness and dilapidation. The Weymouth, Portland, and Dorchester Telegram reported in 1882 that it was in a "very exposed condition", with "the coping being pretty much off the wall, the stones very much disordered, and there being no foothpaths for use". Nothing had improved by the end of the century, with the Southern Times criticising the "unkempt, dilapidated appearance" of the cemetery in 1899: "Many of the graves are not provided with headstones, and many stones already there are very much in need of adjustment. The coping of the walls, too, requires replacing in some instances." Repairs to the walls and gates were carried out that summer by the churchwardens of St John's, who were not aware until weeks beforehand that the parish was responsible for the cemetery's maintenance.
In 1904, the Western Morning News reported that, possibly because of its "very untidy and neglected appearance", the Admiralty had offered to hand over the cemetery to the Portland Urban District Council if they were prepared to lay it out as an addition to the new Victoria Gardens opposite. The offer was not taken up and the Admiralty's idea that the site could be transformed into a public garden was deemed "impossible" by the Southern Times, who wrote in 1905 that "there are still living owners of plots therein, and the vicar and churchwardens of St. John's [would] have to be dealt with". Presumably, ownership was transferred to the parish of St John's instead for it was no longer owned by the Admiralty by 1907. The cemetery had gained the name "Strangers' Cemetery" by 1913. It continued to see infrequent burials, but began to see an increasing number of civilian burials from the 1920s onwards, with the 1940s being the decade in which most burials took place.
Discontinuation of burials to present day (1969-)
On 28 August 1969, the "Burial Grounds (The Strangers Cemetery, Portland, Dorset) Order 1969" was passed for the discontinuation of burials at the cemetery "for the protection of the Public Health", as directed by the Minister of Housing and Local Government under the Burial Act 1853. A small number of interments have been made in the years since on family plots only, with post-1969 headstones displaying the years 1973, 1980, 2001 and 2011. In a survey of the cemetery's monumental inscriptions, carried out by R. and J. H. Perry of the Portland Field Research Group in 1986-87, there were 163 monuments with decipherable inscriptions to 250 individuals, ranging from 1861 to 1967.
In 1968, the Medical Officer of Health for Portland Urban District Council, E. J. Gordon Wallace, inspected the cemetery and found it to be in "an extremely overgrown and untidy condition". He recommended that the council take ownership of it so that its roadside hedges could be maintained for road safety and the cemetery itself could be kept in a "well maintained condition". The council accepted his recommendation and, although they would not take on the ownership, they subsequently gained a legal responsibility for the site's maintenance. The council was succeeded by the new Weymouth & Portland Borough Council in 1974 and they carried out a tidy-up project in 1976. Following the abolishment of the borough and its council in 2019, the responsibility for the site was transferred to Dorset Council and an agreement was then made with Portland Town Council to carry out all future maintenance. Meanwhile, the cemetery remains in the ownership of the Incumbent of the Benefice of the Portland Team Ministry.
Burials
The majority of burials in Strangers' Cemetery are civilians who lived in the parish of St John's. Among the Victorian naval burials are those from ships such as HMS Agincourt, HMS Boscawen, HMS Hercules, HMS St. George and HMS Warrior. On 8 September 1868, sixteen sailors of Portland Harbour's guardship, HMS St. George, had been on leave for the day and, after missing the boat that was scheduled to take them back to the ship, they hired a waterman's boat which only had the capacity of up to six or seven people. The overcrowded boat was swamped by a heavy sea on its way to the ship, resulting in the drowning of five sailors, a marine and a waterman. Five of the men from HMS St. George were buried in the cemetery.
The cemetery contains a few Victorian burials of the Royal Marines, including men of the Royal Marine Artillery and Royal Marine Light Infantry, as well as a number of soldiers who were garrisoned at the Verne Citadel, namely from the King's Royal Rifle Corps and one from the 77th (East Middlesex) Regiment. There are also a few infant and child burials of those whose fathers were serving in the 7th (Royal Fusiliers) and 77th (East Middlesex) Regiment.
Some other notable burials include:
Lastly, there are an unknown number of unidentified persons who are interred in the cemetery without a headstone or monument marking their resting place. These were primarily those who drowned at sea and were washed ashore, on Chesil Cove and elsewhere on the island's coast, after storms and gales. One example occurred on 25 December 1868, when the remains of a torso was discovered at Chesil Cove after recent gales. The Southern Times reported it was "in such a decomposed state, that it was impossible to ascertain whether it was that of a man or a woman". The remains were buried in the cemetery on the same day, and three days later a foot and part of a leg, presumed to be from the same body, were also discovered. In June 1899, John Denman of Weymouth found a male corpse, believed to a merchant seaman or fisherman, washed ashore at the cove, near the remains of the wreck of the Royal Adelaide. The corpse was buried in the cemetery in the evening of the same day of discovery.
References
The following is an A-Z list of references for this page.
1) Free Portland News - Portland 40 Years Ago - extracts from the late George Davey's diary - January 1976 - issue 447 (January 2016)
2) Portland Town Council - Bereavement Services - website page
3) Portland Urban District Council - Annual Report of the Medical Officer of Health for the Year 1968 - E. J. Gordon Wallace, M.B., Ch.B., D.P.H. - page 7
4) Strangers' Cemetery Portland - A List of Monumental Inscriptions - R. and J.H. Perry of the Portland Field Research Group - 1987 - book
5) The British Newspaper Archive - various contemporary newspaper articles including in the Southern Times - website page
6) The London Gazette - Burial Grounds (The Strangers Cemetery, Portland, Dorset) Order 1969 - 16 September 1969 - page 9440
7) uboat.net - Ships hit by U-boats (German and Austrian U-boats of World War One): Steamer Algerie - website page
8) uboat.net - Ships hit by U-boats (German and Austrian U-boats of World War One): Steamer Saint Barthelemy - website page
History
Establishment and consecration of cemetery (1860-61)
A cemetery in Underhill was established by the Admiralty as a result of the increasing naval presence at Portland, since the creation of a harbour of refuge there from 1847. The Admiralty originally made use of the churchyard of St John's in Fortuneswell, where a number of sailors and marines of the Channel Fleet were buried after they had died on board their ships while stationed in Portland Harbour. The church, completed in 1840, had limited space in its churchyard, which had been intended for the sole use of the inhabitants of the Underhill district. It became full before 1860 and all further civilian burials took place in the churchyard of St George's at Reforne, which the inhabitants in Underhill considered inconvenient for both its distance and the nature of the roads to it.
With the need for their own burial space on Portland, the Lord Commissioners of the Admiralty authorised the establishment of a cemetery in 1860 and selected a small plot of their land along Castle Road for the site. Work commenced on its transformation during the late part of that year and the ground, measuring approximately half an acre in total, was enclosed by a wall of Portland stone. While the majority of the site was intended for the burial of sailors and marines (and their families where approved by the Admiralty), about a quarter of it was provided for civilian burials in the district (later parish, from 1865) of St John's. This was done on account of the Admiralty's past use of the churchyard for burials.
Often referred to in its early years as either Castle Road Cemetery, Naval Cemetery or St John's Cemetery, the site was consecrated by the Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt. Rev. Walter Kerr Hamilton, on 28 August 1861. An afternoon service was held in St John's, during which the bishop preached a sermon, and a procession then made its way to the cemetery. It included men of Portland's coastguard, under the command of Lieutenant Hales, the engineer-in-chief of Portland Breakwater, John Coode, Paymaster Whitehouse of HMS Colossus, the incumbent of St John's, Rev. H. Jenour, the bishop, his chaplain, registrar, a number of clergymen, a number of notable inhabitants of the island, as well as children from St John's School. After the consecration, in the late afternoon, the bishop, clergy and selected others dined at Rev. Jenour's vicarage, and a public tea and meeting was held during the evening at St John's School. The meeting, presided over by John Coode, saw speeches made by Rev. Hartland of Broadwey, Rev. Jenour and Mr. Gilbert.
Use of cemetery in the 19th and 20th centuries
The majority of burials at the cemetery throughout the 1860s and 1870s were military-related, mostly naval, with some army ones in connection with the Verne Citadel. The cemetery was also used for the interment of unidentified bodies and remains which were drowned at sea and washed ashore, usually on Chesil Cove, after storms and gales. In 1875, the Portland Local Board placed a curb before the entrance to stop water running from the road's surface drainage directly into the cemetery, as had been seen during the previous winter. In 1876, the War Office established a military cemetery on the Common overlooking Portland Harbour. With most of Portland's military burials now taking place there instead, the cemetery at Castle Road saw only infrequent burials, namely a few boys from HMS Boscawen and any unidentified bodies that were washed ashore.
By the 1880s, the cemetery had fallen into a state of untidiness and dilapidation. The Weymouth, Portland, and Dorchester Telegram reported in 1882 that it was in a "very exposed condition", with "the coping being pretty much off the wall, the stones very much disordered, and there being no foothpaths for use". Nothing had improved by the end of the century, with the Southern Times criticising the "unkempt, dilapidated appearance" of the cemetery in 1899: "Many of the graves are not provided with headstones, and many stones already there are very much in need of adjustment. The coping of the walls, too, requires replacing in some instances." Repairs to the walls and gates were carried out that summer by the churchwardens of St John's, who were not aware until weeks beforehand that the parish was responsible for the cemetery's maintenance.
In 1904, the Western Morning News reported that, possibly because of its "very untidy and neglected appearance", the Admiralty had offered to hand over the cemetery to the Portland Urban District Council if they were prepared to lay it out as an addition to the new Victoria Gardens opposite. The offer was not taken up and the Admiralty's idea that the site could be transformed into a public garden was deemed "impossible" by the Southern Times, who wrote in 1905 that "there are still living owners of plots therein, and the vicar and churchwardens of St. John's [would] have to be dealt with". Presumably, ownership was transferred to the parish of St John's instead for it was no longer owned by the Admiralty by 1907. The cemetery had gained the name "Strangers' Cemetery" by 1913. It continued to see infrequent burials, but began to see an increasing number of civilian burials from the 1920s onwards, with the 1940s being the decade in which most burials took place.
Discontinuation of burials to present day (1969-)
On 28 August 1969, the "Burial Grounds (The Strangers Cemetery, Portland, Dorset) Order 1969" was passed for the discontinuation of burials at the cemetery "for the protection of the Public Health", as directed by the Minister of Housing and Local Government under the Burial Act 1853. A small number of interments have been made in the years since on family plots only, with post-1969 headstones displaying the years 1973, 1980, 2001 and 2011. In a survey of the cemetery's monumental inscriptions, carried out by R. and J. H. Perry of the Portland Field Research Group in 1986-87, there were 163 monuments with decipherable inscriptions to 250 individuals, ranging from 1861 to 1967.
In 1968, the Medical Officer of Health for Portland Urban District Council, E. J. Gordon Wallace, inspected the cemetery and found it to be in "an extremely overgrown and untidy condition". He recommended that the council take ownership of it so that its roadside hedges could be maintained for road safety and the cemetery itself could be kept in a "well maintained condition". The council accepted his recommendation and, although they would not take on the ownership, they subsequently gained a legal responsibility for the site's maintenance. The council was succeeded by the new Weymouth & Portland Borough Council in 1974 and they carried out a tidy-up project in 1976. Following the abolishment of the borough and its council in 2019, the responsibility for the site was transferred to Dorset Council and an agreement was then made with Portland Town Council to carry out all future maintenance. Meanwhile, the cemetery remains in the ownership of the Incumbent of the Benefice of the Portland Team Ministry.
Burials
The majority of burials in Strangers' Cemetery are civilians who lived in the parish of St John's. Among the Victorian naval burials are those from ships such as HMS Agincourt, HMS Boscawen, HMS Hercules, HMS St. George and HMS Warrior. On 8 September 1868, sixteen sailors of Portland Harbour's guardship, HMS St. George, had been on leave for the day and, after missing the boat that was scheduled to take them back to the ship, they hired a waterman's boat which only had the capacity of up to six or seven people. The overcrowded boat was swamped by a heavy sea on its way to the ship, resulting in the drowning of five sailors, a marine and a waterman. Five of the men from HMS St. George were buried in the cemetery.
The cemetery contains a few Victorian burials of the Royal Marines, including men of the Royal Marine Artillery and Royal Marine Light Infantry, as well as a number of soldiers who were garrisoned at the Verne Citadel, namely from the King's Royal Rifle Corps and one from the 77th (East Middlesex) Regiment. There are also a few infant and child burials of those whose fathers were serving in the 7th (Royal Fusiliers) and 77th (East Middlesex) Regiment.
Some other notable burials include:
- James Jones of Tal-y-bont, Cardiganshire, drowned at Portland after the schooner Salathiel was wrecked, 12 September 1869
- William Andrews, seaman of HMS Bellerophon, died from a fall during the occasion of opening the Portland Breakwater, 10 August 1872
- Louisa Fowler, drowned with the wrecking of the Royal Adelaide on Chesil Cove, 25 November 1872
- Gervase Petty Sleigh, captain of H.S.M. gunboat Regent in the Siamese Navy, died at sea, 18 August 1883
- Kokichi Tsubone, a boatswain killed in an explosion in the cargo hold of the Japanese ship Fukoku Maru, 8 March 1914
- Pt. Frederick John Matthews of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, 24 November 1915
- Louis E. Grenet and Pierre M. Liard, matelots on the French steamer Algerie, died when the steamer, bound from Calais to Cardiff, was damaged after being torpedoed off Portland Bill by UB 31, 8 August 1917
- Louis Jean Poriel, lieutenant on the French steamer Saint Barthelemy, died when the steamer, bound from Rouen to Swansea, was damaged after being torpedoed off Bridport by UC 77, 16 October 1918. The body was exhumed in November 1918 for reinterment at Douarenez in France, but the headstone remains.
- Thomas Alfred Ottley M.A.D.D., vicar of St John's for 44 years, 21 January 1919
- George Hall, captain of the schooner Pacific, died at sea while bound from Swansea to St. Valerie, September 1920
- John Bowden, pastor of Portland's Congregational Church for ten years, 2 May 1931
- W. R. King, 1097368 Gunner of the Royal Artillery, 30 June 1944
- L. J. Wills, third engineer officer of the Merchant Navy vessel Port Freemantle, 6 November 1945
Lastly, there are an unknown number of unidentified persons who are interred in the cemetery without a headstone or monument marking their resting place. These were primarily those who drowned at sea and were washed ashore, on Chesil Cove and elsewhere on the island's coast, after storms and gales. One example occurred on 25 December 1868, when the remains of a torso was discovered at Chesil Cove after recent gales. The Southern Times reported it was "in such a decomposed state, that it was impossible to ascertain whether it was that of a man or a woman". The remains were buried in the cemetery on the same day, and three days later a foot and part of a leg, presumed to be from the same body, were also discovered. In June 1899, John Denman of Weymouth found a male corpse, believed to a merchant seaman or fisherman, washed ashore at the cove, near the remains of the wreck of the Royal Adelaide. The corpse was buried in the cemetery in the evening of the same day of discovery.
References
The following is an A-Z list of references for this page.
1) Free Portland News - Portland 40 Years Ago - extracts from the late George Davey's diary - January 1976 - issue 447 (January 2016)
2) Portland Town Council - Bereavement Services - website page
3) Portland Urban District Council - Annual Report of the Medical Officer of Health for the Year 1968 - E. J. Gordon Wallace, M.B., Ch.B., D.P.H. - page 7
4) Strangers' Cemetery Portland - A List of Monumental Inscriptions - R. and J.H. Perry of the Portland Field Research Group - 1987 - book
5) The British Newspaper Archive - various contemporary newspaper articles including in the Southern Times - website page
6) The London Gazette - Burial Grounds (The Strangers Cemetery, Portland, Dorset) Order 1969 - 16 September 1969 - page 9440
7) uboat.net - Ships hit by U-boats (German and Austrian U-boats of World War One): Steamer Algerie - website page
8) uboat.net - Ships hit by U-boats (German and Austrian U-boats of World War One): Steamer Saint Barthelemy - website page
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