I have been to ... Charlton Cemetery

Charlton Cemetery's Cross of Sacrifice.

Now that spring seems to be upon us, Sue and I began looking for interesting, quiet places to go for a walk. One of the places we decided to visit was Charlton Cemetery, which, because of its location, is the last resting place for a number of naval and military officers who were associated with the Royal Dockyard, the Royal Artillery, the Royal Military Academy, and the Woolwich Arsenal. These include:

• Brigadier Leonard Joseph Lancelot Addison, CMG, CBE (1902 - 1975): He was born in Woolwich and was commissioned into the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment in 1923. He transferred to the British Indian Army's Indian Army Service Corps (I.A.S.C.) in 1927. He served in various roles associated with supplies until the outbreak of the Second World War, at which point he joined the Directorate of Contracts as Deputy Assistant Director. He then became Assistant Director of Purchase before moving the the Indian Government's Food Department where he helped to deal with the Bengal famine of 1943. On his retirement from the army upon the partition of India, he joined the UK's High Commission in India, serving as acting Deputy High Commissioner before becoming Deputy High Commissioner in Calcutta in 1948. He retired from government service in 1952 and returned to the UK.
• General Sir Robert Biddulph, GCB, GCMG (1835 - 1918): He was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in1853 and served at the Siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War, the Siege of Lucknow during the Indian Mutiny, and the Second Opium War. He became Assistant Adjutant-General at the War Office in 1879 and then High Commissioner and Commander in Chief of Cyprus. In 1886 he returned to the War Office to become Inspector General of Recruiting and later Director General of Military Education. He served briefly as Quartermaster-General before becoming Governor of Gibraltar in1893. In 1900 he was made Colonel-Commandant of the Royal Artillery before retiring two years later. In 1904 he became Army Purchase Commissioner.
• Major General George Frederick Campbell Bray (1826 - 1884): He was born in Tilbury Fort and joined the 39th Foot in 1844. He served as Assistant Adjutant-General in the 2nd Division during the Abyssinian Expedition (1867 to 1868) and by 1870 he was a Lieutenant-Colonel with the 66th Foot. From 1872 to 1873 he served as Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General in Bombay before being placed on half-pay in 1878. He then returned to full-time service later that year and served as Assistant Adjutant-General and Quartermaster-General to the Southern District from 1878 to 1883.
• Admiral James Crawford Caffin, KCB (1812–1883): He was born in Woolwich and joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman in 1824. Her served aboard HMS Cambrian during the Battle of Navarino and survived her sinking in 1828. He passed his examination for lieutenant in 1831 and after undertaking a gunnery course at HMS Excellent, he served for two years as a gunnery-mate before being promoted to the rank of lieutenant in 1838. He then returned to HMS Excellent and became a Commander in 1842. After a short spell at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth, he was part of a small team that investigated the possible use of bomb-carrying unmanned balloons before joining the commission that looked at the relative merits of paddle wheel and screw-powered ships. In 1847 he became a Post Captain, and during the Crimean War he commanded HMS Penelope when the Royal Navy attacked Bomarsun and HMS Hastings during the bombardment of Sveaborg. After the war he became Director-General of Naval Ordnance and Vice-President of the War Office’s Ordnance Select Committee. In 1858 he was appointed Director of Stores in the War Department, an office which he held until he retired in 1868.
• Colonel George Wingate, CIE (1852 - 1936): Father of Rachel Orde Wingate and Major General Orde Charles Wingate. He joined the British Indian Army in 1871 and served with the Naga Hills Expedition (1879 – 1880), the Chitral Relief Force on the Northwest Frontier (1895), and with the Tochi Field Force (1897 – 1898). He was became a Colonel in 1902 and was appointed Inspector-General of Supply and Transport in India. He was also well-known as an amateur botanist.
• General Frederick Alexander Campbell (1819 - 1893): Born in Woolwich, he was Superintendent of the Royal Gun Factory from 1863 to 1875.

On a previous visit in 2016 we had noted other famous and distinguished people who were buried in the cemetery, including:

• Peter Barlow (1776 – 1862): An English mathematician and physicist who served as assistant mathematics master at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and who won the prestigious Copley Medal.

• William Henry Barlow (1812 – 1902): One of Peter Barlow’s two sons. He became a renowned the civil engineer who competed Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge.
• Sir Geoffrey Callender (1875 – 1946): He was an important English naval historian, who served as a Head of the History Departments at the Royal Naval College, Osborne and Dartmouth Royal Naval College before becoming the first Professor of History at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.
• George Cooper (1844 –1909): He was a London County Council councillor and the Member of Parliament for Bermondsey. He supported the extension of the franchise to women and helped to develop the famous People’s Budget.
• William Clark Cowie (1849 – 1910): A Scottish engineer, mariner, and businessman who helped establish British North Borneo.
• Sir William Cunningham Dalyell of the Binns, 7th Baronet (1784 – 1865): He was wounded over sixteen times in various actions during the Napoleonic Wars, was a prisoner of war in France from 1805 until 1813, and later served as Captain of Greenwich Hospital.
• Lieutenant General Sir William George Shedden Dobbie, GCMG, KCB, DSO (1879 – 1964): Served during the Second Boer War as well as the First and Second World Wars. He was the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Malta during the siege.
• Lieutenant Colonel Ronald Hastings Lascelles, DSO, MID, Legion d’Honneur (1880 - 1919): Commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery, he served - and was wounded - during the Second Boer War. After commanding a battery during the early years of the Great War, served on the Staff of the Cavalry Corps and was Commandant of 4th Army Artillery School. He died of heart failure after contracting 'flu during the 1919 pandemic.
• Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Walter Milward, CB (1826 -1874): Inventor of a lightweight steel cannon, he was an ADC to Queen Victoria, and served as Superintendent of the Royal Laboratory, Woolwich, for nearly five years.
• General Sir Charles Edward Nairne (1836 – 1899): He was commissioned into the Bengal Artillery in 1855 and saw service during the Indian Mutiny, the Second Afghan War, and the Anglo-Egyptian War. Her served as Inspector-General of Artillery in India, Commander of a District in Bengal, and became Commander-in-Chief of the Bombay Army, ending his career as acting Commander-in-Chief, India during 1898.
• Admiral Sir Watkin Owen Pell (1788 – 1869): Served under Lord Nelson and later became a Superintendent of Dockyards and a Commissioner of Greenwich Hospital.
• Admiral George James Perceval, 6th Earl of Egmont (1794 – 1874): He was a midshipman at the Battle of Trafalgar (aged 11) and took part in the Bombardment of Algiers. He was the nephew of Spencer Perceval, the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated.
• Lieutenant Colonel Victor Henry Sylvester Scratchley, DSO, OBE (1870 - 1936): Served with the King's Royal Rifle Corps and saw action in the Boer War. During the First World War, he served as Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General, Territorial Force Reserve.
• Sir John Maryon–Wilson (1802 – 1876): A land owner and early conservationist who helped preserve Hampstead Heath from development.
• Rachel Orde Wingate (1901 – 1953): She was an English linguist and missionary to Xinjiang in Western China, where she served with the Swedish Missionary Society.
• Major General Orde Charles Wingate, DSO and two bars (1903 – 1944): Nephew of Sir Reginald Wingate, he was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1923, and transferred to the Sudan Defence Force in 1927. He went to Palestine in 1936 as an intelligence officer, and by 1938 he had organised the Special Night Squads to counter increasing Arab sabotage. In late 1940 he helped to raise and lead Gideon Force, a guerrilla force that helped to defeat the Italians in Ethiopia and East Africa. He later created the 'Chindits', a jungle long-range penetration unit in Burma. He was killed in an air crash in Burma and his body was buried at Arlington Cemetery, Washington, U.S.A.