War graves

First World War Graves at Ocklynge Cemetery date from September 1914 (Private William Langford) to August 1921. (Company Sergeant Major Simmons) The ranks vary from Private to Lieutenant Colonel.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists 178 War Graves here of which 134 are from the Great War. The graves are not only for British soldiers but include Australians, Canadians, South Africans, Belgians and an airman from Brazil. 

Although initially the graves were marked with wooden crosses, they were later replaced by permanent headstones. In June 1922 it was reported that ‘in Sussex’ the War Grave Commissioners had completed the erection of a tombstone on each war grave and the ‘little mounds’ of the graves had been levelled.

Cemeteries with more than 40 war-graves were also enhanced with a Portland stone ‘Cross of Sacrifice’ on an octagonal base.  The centre of the cross was adorned with a bronze longsword, point down.  The original design of this sword by Sir Reginald Blomfield can be seen at the Ypres Tower Museum in Rye.  Blomfield was also responsible for designing the Menin Gate in Ypres and County Hall in Lewes. Ocklynge cemetery has such a cross at the main entrance in Willingdon Road.

Not all the war-graves here have standard CWGC headstones and many men are buried in family plots and commemorated on memorials provided by their family.  It should also be noted that many soldiers are commemorated on family gravestone here but are buried elsewhere or have no known grave. It would be impossible to list all these people in such a small guide.

Some War-Graves have now been removed from the Cemetery. There were two American Airman (Hugh HAMILL and Roy GARVER) who were exhumed and repatriated to the USA and four graves of Luftwaffe were moved to the German Military Cemetery, Cannock Chase, Staffordshire.

The cemetery also contains many memorials on family graves for service personnel who died and were buried elsewhere.

A book ‘The War Graves of Ocklynge Cemetery’ by Kevin Gordon is available from the Eastbourne Local History Society

Civilian War Dead

Committee member, Danielle Wilson, has been trying to track down all the burial locations of Eastbourne civilians who died from enemy action during WWII.  She has combined the Commonwealth War Graves Commission list with that of the Wishtower Memorial List.  They are virtually identical where most names are on both lists but a few names are on one list but not on the other, and vice versa.  Her combined list has 191 names on it and she has created a virtual cemetery on the website Find A Grave.  You can view it here: https://www.findagrave.com/virtual-cemetery/1672783  It currently has 100 names on it.  The majority are in Ocklynge and Langney Cemeteries.  Research is continuing to find the remaining 91 names.  Where a grave has not been located, Danielle has created memorials for them in Find A Grave.  This is so they can be viewed all together.

Researching Ocklynge Graves

We have two areas of research available for members of FoOC - firstly locating graves within the cemetery from enquiries we receive. Eastbourne Family Roots transcribed memorials at Ocklynge and their CDs are a valuable asset in finding graves. There are gaps we have discovered as many memorials were unable to be read or buried but once the cemetery ledgers are transcribed we hope to fill in these gaps. (Eastbourne Council is in the process of digitising all the ledgers from 1857 onwards.) The second is to help with researching those buried once we have tidied the plots. If the plot has been overgrown or the memorial buried over the years then they may have been forgotten. Every person buried at Ocklynge has a story waiting to be told.

We hope to utilise the help offered by those members with research in the near future. If you wish to become a research volunteer then please complete a membership form which has the different options listed on how you can help.

Find A Grave

This is a great resource for recording pictures of headstones, inscriptions, biographical information, burial locations and linking spouses to each other/children to parents.  You can even link siblings/aunts/uncles/etc. to each other even though there is no memorial for either or both parents.  It is also very handy when trying to locate headstones in Ocklynge Cemetery.  Many memorials have GPS on them, photos of the headstone and the section letter & grave number. Ocklynge graves can be viewed at: https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2218586/ocklynge-cemetery