In what some would think a grave affair for a day our some of our members spent a fascinating day among the memorials of Haslar naval cemetery. From the opening of the Royal Hospital Haslar in 1753, all those who died in the hospital or aboard ships in Portsmouth Harbour, Spithead or the Solent were interred in the burial grounds of the hospital, many just in their hammocks. No records were kept, but many thousands were buried here. This carried on until the opening of Haslar Royal Naval Cemetery in Clayhall Road in 1859.
Funeral processions led by a band would proceed from the hospital to Clayhall Road which became known as “Dead Man’s Lane/Mile” but the noise of these events so agitated patients that bands could not start playing until they entered Clayhall Road.
So it was that on 18 June, eight members of the Society assembled at the Chapel for an introductory talk by Monica Shilling before a very thorough walking tour of the cemetery, which contains some 4,000 naval and merchant mariners, submariners, naval aviators, Marines, Wrens & children, with service personnel buried according to rank in different plots.
Funerals still take place here, including one during our visit, amongst the many magnificent monuments and memorials which commemorate the men who served on ships & submarines.
The WW2 plot includes ten Wrens from the billet Mansfield House, Lee on the Solent which was hit in a 1940 bombing raid. During WW2, a German bomb landed in the cemetery & damaged many stones & monuments.
Mention must be made of the Turkish Cemetery with the remains of 26 sailors & marines. In late 1850, two Turkish Navy ships (Mirat-i-Zafir & Sirag-i-Bahri) were visiting and anchored off Hardway when several crew were admitted to Haslar suffering from cholera & typhus. Originally the 26 dead were laid to rest in the hospital grounds, but when space was required for the Zymotic diseases block, they were removed and re-interred in 1900 in an area surrounded by railings and called the Turkish (Ottoman) or Mohammedan burial ground near to Stoke Lake. Members of the Turkish Embassy, representatives and families visit each spring to honour these men by praying & laying wreaths and flowers (the President of Turkey visited in 2011). This could be why Gosport is often referred to as ‘Turk Town’.
The cemetery has a wide selection of wildlife, birds, mammals, rodents, trees, fungi, orchids and bee hives, and is a haven of peace with an amazing array of naval history. Monica was able to give much background information & stories of those buried so the visit was much enjoyed by those attending. We all came away with a lot more knowledge. The Society gave Monica a donation to further the works in the grounds.
Please see our Events page for future attractions.