I found this letter in my newsletter from Elham Kent.
Hello,
I had a very enjoyable visit to your beautiful village
today, tasked to find and take photographs of any
Claysons in the graveyard of St Mary's on behalf of
my friend from New York who is descended from
that family. Whilst exploring I discovered the
wooden cross dedicated to Captain CLM Scott,
Royal Flying Corps. I have since read his story on
your website here http://www.elham.co.uk/elham/warmemorial /
clmscott.htm
Are you aware that rather than just being a wooden
memorial to Captain Scott erected locally in Elham,
this appears to be the original grave marker from his
grave in France? I have seen similar things before,
albeit they are very rare. I believe what happened
was a simple wooden cross was erected over the
rave at time of burial, these were then replaced by
uniform head stones by the Commonwealth War
Graves Commission. Most of the original wooden
markers were then destroyed but in very rare cases
the families arranged for them to be brought back to
England and placed in the local church yard in lieu of
a grave, to act as a local memorial to their loved
one. More info can be found here http://www.ww1-yorkshires.org.uk/html-files/wargraves.
htm
In the period photo on the above website you can
even see in the background a cross that seems to be
the same shape as the one in your churchyard. I'm
sure you're already aware of the significance of your
cross, how rare it is, and that it has travelled from
the battlefields of France where it marked the grave
of this brave son of your village, but I felt compelled
to write to you just in case you aren't. In any case it
might deserve mention on the relevant page of your
website.
Keep up the good work!
Richard Diedo
Editor's Note: Since receiving this email we have
written to St. Mary's PCC to raise their
awareness of the importance of this memorial
Posts: 1,020
By: PeterVerney - 11th February 2013 at 19:35
I found this letter in my newsletter from Elham Kent.
Hello,
I had a very enjoyable visit to your beautiful village
today, tasked to find and take photographs of any
Claysons in the graveyard of St Mary's on behalf of
my friend from New York who is descended from
that family. Whilst exploring I discovered the
wooden cross dedicated to Captain CLM Scott,
Royal Flying Corps. I have since read his story on
your website here
http://www.elham.co.uk/elham/warmemorial /
clmscott.htm
Are you aware that rather than just being a wooden
memorial to Captain Scott erected locally in Elham,
this appears to be the original grave marker from his
grave in France? I have seen similar things before,
albeit they are very rare. I believe what happened
was a simple wooden cross was erected over the
rave at time of burial, these were then replaced by
uniform head stones by the Commonwealth War
Graves Commission. Most of the original wooden
markers were then destroyed but in very rare cases
the families arranged for them to be brought back to
England and placed in the local church yard in lieu of
a grave, to act as a local memorial to their loved
one. More info can be found here
http://www.ww1-yorkshires.org.uk/html-files/wargraves.
htm
In the period photo on the above website you can
even see in the background a cross that seems to be
the same shape as the one in your churchyard. I'm
sure you're already aware of the significance of your
cross, how rare it is, and that it has travelled from
the battlefields of France where it marked the grave
of this brave son of your village, but I felt compelled
to write to you just in case you aren't. In any case it
might deserve mention on the relevant page of your
website.
Keep up the good work!
Richard Diedo
Editor's Note: Since receiving this email we have
written to St. Mary's PCC to raise their
awareness of the importance of this memorial