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John Hosford- Yardley cemetery

Here not there

New Member
Hello everyone,
I have a relative - John Benjamin Hosford - and I've found out he was buried in Yardley cemetery in 1943. The details are: John Horsford (it's actually Hosford - someone's added an extra "r" which is a fairly common mistake), section E, grave 28238 ,buried Oct 27 1943. The cemetery have said the grave is in section 25. (map attached).
Would anyone be able to take a photo for me, please? I suspect it doesn't have a gravestone, but a photo of the area would be nice.

The reason I think there's no gravestone is that he broke all contact with his family (wife & sibs) in 1916. He had been in the met police in London, re-joined his regiment the day after WW1 was declared (having been in the army before the police), received a "minor" wound 1915 and re-joined the police. Then in 1916 he resigned from the police and just "disappeared". From records now online he seems to have stayed in London working various labouring jobs. He was still in London in 1939, but dies in 1943, resident in Witton Road. I guessing he came up to Birmingham to work in one of the factories, but if anyone knows how I can find out what he was doing, please let me know!

Anyway, thanks for reading,
Mic
 

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Right - visited this morning. Took a while to find the right section as I misread the map - thought the green bit was where your grave was. However, sorted section out in the end. A lot of the gravestones are old and weathered and it was impossible to read the numbers to try to pinpoint exactly where the grave you wanted was. There are a lot of graves in the section with just edging marking the plots.
I am reattaching the map with a red dot to show where I stood to take the first 2 photos. The green dot is roughly where I stood to take the third photo.
 

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Thank you so much! And for doing it so quickly :)
Looks like (as I thought) there's no headstone, but it's great to have an idea of where he is.

I think he must have been affected by his experiences in WW1 - as well as the wound (described as minor) his only brother was killed 1915. He was described in a report as "steady & sober" before he went off to war then months after returning to civilian life he ups and disappears...

Anyway,
all the best
Mic
 
Glad to help. Didn't say I would go as depended on the the time factor but had to go to Acocks Green today and Yardley is only up the road from there.
It took me a while to find the section. As I said many of the graves had no visible numbers. There might be a head stone but with several hundred graves in the section it might take a bit of searching. When I have a bit more time I will see if I can locate the plot but at least you now have an dea where he is buried.
Sounds as if he was affected by his war experiences - very little help back then.
 
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