Yet another mild but dull day. We gave the big Remembrance Service in Liverpool City Centre a miss and sought peaceful contemplation elsewhere. Kirkdale Cemetery has the graves of 478 servicemen from the two world wars, as well some other men with links to history. Many of the WWII victims buried there are from the Battle of the Atlantic, there are graves of Belgian and Russian servicemen, and of the 357 interments from WWI, over 100 were for Canadian servicemen who died at the country’s military hospital in Westminster Road, Liverpool.
The oldest soldier commemorated there is a Victoria Cross holder from the Indian Mutiny or Rebellion, Gunner William Connolly. He has a CWGC stone near the entrance but was buried somewhere near the far northern side.
We didn’t find the gravestone commemorating a Titanic connection, but found the one for Alexander Braid Johnston, Chief Engineer of the Carpathia, the ship that was first to arrive on the night of the disaster in 1912, and rescued over 700 survivors. He died in Liverpool 16 years later. His stone has fallen.
One of the greatest tragedies of WWI was the sinking of the passenger liner Lusitania, which was torpedoed off the coast of Ireland, on route from New York to Liverpool in 1915. The body of Chief officer John Piper was washed ashore near Kinsale 12 days later. The unusual letters “SPE” on his gravestone are thought to be an unauthorised later addition: when his body was found it wore a ring with those letters engraved on it, but nobody knows to this day what they mean.
As for wildlife, the cemetery has scattered mature trees, none looking like rarities, and no obvious new plantings.
We noted the usual birds of urban open spaces, Herring Gulls, Crows, Magpies and Wood Pigeons. The best bird of the day was a single shy Rook, which dodged behind a gravestone then flew off. It’s an awful picture, but it shows it’s definitely a Rook with that whitish beak and face. Unusual to see one on its own.
At lunchtime a fine drizzle started, so we abandoned plans to walk a section of the Loop Line, and headed for the bus.
Public transport details: Bus 20 from the temporary stop in Victoria Street at 10.17 (diverted from Queen Square for Remembrance Day) arriving Longmoor Lane / Greenwich Road at 10.45. Returned on bus 21 from Longmoor Lane / Bradville Road at 1.05m, arriving Queen Square at 1.40.