Bideford Higher Cemetery is the burial ground for

Bideford Bideford ( ) is a historic port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, South West England. It is the main town of the Torridge District, Torridge Districts of England, local government district. Toponymy In ancient records Bi ...

North Devon North Devon is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based just outside Barnstaple, the district's largest town. The district also includes the towns of Ilfracombe, Lynton and Lynmouth and Sout ...

. Today it is managed by Torridge District Council. Bideford Higher Cemetery Cottage

The cemetery was opened on Buckland Road in Bideford by W.L. Yellacott, the Mayor of Bideford, on 6 September 1889. The cemetery's records from 1899 to 1966 are held in the North Devon Athenaeum, a private library which shares the top floor of the Barnstaple Library building. The cemetery has 13 burials from

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

with their distinctive

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...

headstones. Bideford Higher Cemetery Chapel

Buried here are 20-year-old Pilot Officer Philip Henry Lowther RAF (1922–1942) who was killed in a flying accident when the

Bristol Blenheim The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until the end of the war. ...

he was flying crashed into a pylon at

Stoke Holy Cross Stoke Holy Cross is a village in South Norfolk which lies approximately south of Norwich. Geography Stoke sits on the River Tas. It covers an area of and had a population of 1,568 in 674 households at the 2001 census. The village is access ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

during an air test in 1942. Also buried here is

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

veteran Sergeant Major William Rogers (1823–1897) of the 21st

Royal Scots Fusiliers The Royal Scots Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1678 until 1959 when it was amalgamated with the Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment) to form the Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Ma ...

who was awarded the

Distinguished Conduct Medal The Distinguished Conduct Medal was a decoration established in 1854 by Queen Victoria for gallantry in the field by Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Army. It is the oldest British award for gallantry and was a second level military ...

in 1855. He ended his days as a

Chelsea Pensioner A Chelsea Pensioner, or In-Pensioner, is a resident at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, an Old soldiers' home, Old Soldiers' retirement home and nursing home for former members of the British Army located in Chelsea, London. The Royal Hospital Chelsea ...

at the

Royal Hospital Chelsea The Royal Hospital Chelsea is an Old soldiers' home, Old Soldiers' retirement home and nursing home for some 300 veterans of the British Army. Founded as an almshouse — the ancient sense of the word "hospital" — by King Charles II of Eng ...

.Colour Sergeant William Rogers in the UK, Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioner Soldier Service Records, 1760–1920
–

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Buried beside him is his son the historian and geologist Inkerman Rogers FGS (1866–1959). Here also is an early

Boy Scouts Boy Scouts or Boy Scout may refer to: * Members, sections or organisations in the Scouting Movement ** Scout (Scouting), a boy or a girl participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouting America, formerly known as Boy Scouts of America ...

burial, that of Robert James Alford, who died in 1912 aged 17 and who has the Scouting emblem on his headstone. There is a memorial to the Belgian refugees who died in Bideford during

and who are buried in the cemetery. Across the way on Bowden Green is The Annex, the cemetery extension which was opened when the original 1889 cemetery was closed to burials.

Gallery

File:William Rogers DCM grave Bideford.jpg, The grave of

veteran Sgt Major William Rogers File:P-O Philip Lowther grave Bideford.jpg, The grave of Pilot Officer Philip Henry Lowther RAF File:Robert James Alford grave Bideford.jpg, The early

burial of Robert James Alford File:Belgian Refugees Grave Bideford.jpg, The memorial to the Belgian Refugees who are buried here

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bideford Higher Cemetery Cemeteries in Devon Bideford Buildings and structures in Bideford Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in England