A guide to Netley Military Cemetery’s graves

A key part of the history of Royal Victoria Country Park can be found in Netley Military Cemetery. Spread over 6 acres of land, around 3,600 people have been buried in the area since 1860s. From the people who stayed, worked, and lived at Royal Victoria Hospital, and continuing through the Boer War and both World Wars, there’s so much history to be found in the cemetery.

Read on to learn more about the cemetery and how to discover who’s buried there.

What is Netley Military Cemetery?

Netley Military Cemetery in Royal Victoria Country Park belongs to the Ministry of Defence. It is managed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

The cemetery is located at the rear of the Royal Victoria Hospital site . It’s divided into sections based on religious denomination. There is also a section for officers. The cemetery was officially closed for burials on 20 November 2003.

Find out more about the history of Royal Victoria Hospital and Netley Military Cemetery by visiting this website run by a local historian and researcher. You can also find out more about Royal Victoria Country Park’s hidden history by watching our video.

Who is buried in the cemetery?

The cemetery was originally used for the burial of patients, hospital staff and their families. In fact, the oldest grave in the cemetery is that of Georgina Atwood, who died in 1864 aged 24. She was the daughter of a Staff Sergeant at the hospital and died from abscesses.

It was later used for the burials for soldiers and other people whose war injuries and illnesses were treated at Royal Victoria Hospital. War graves mark where members of the military or auxiliary forces who died during the official dates of World War One (4 August 1914 to 31 August 1921) and World War Two (3 September 1939 to 31 December 1947) are buried.

Netley Military Cemetery has 750 war graves: 714 from World War One graves and 36 World War Two graves. These graves include that of Nora Caveney, the first woman in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) to be killed in action. She died in April 1942, aged 19.

There are fewer burials from World War Two than World War One because there were better arrangements for repatriating casualties to cemeteries closer to home. After the war, most Americans who had died were taken from temporary cemeteries back to the USA for burial.

In addition to the graves of UK citizens, there are graves belonging to people of other nationalities, including the graves of 65 German prisoners of war, dating from the World War One. The German soldiers’ graves have a pointed top, while the British soldiers’ headstones have a slightly curved top. Some of the Germans don’t have their names on their headstones, instead ‘ein Deutscher soldat’ (a German soldier) is inscribed.

The Cross of Sacrifice, designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield for the Imperial War Graves Commission (now called the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) shows that the cemetery contains military burials. You can distinguish the nationalities of the graves, as each is engraved with their national emblem, service, or regimental badge. Over 80 Regiments are depicted on the headstones in this cemetery. There are also Canadian, American, Cypriot, South African, Polish, Indian, and Australian people buried here too, among other nationalities.

If you’re looking for specific war graves at Netley Military Cemetery, you can browse the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database.