The Imtarfa Military Cemetery (or Ħemsija Military Cemetery) is a

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

Mtarfa Mtarfa () is a small town in the Northern Region of Malta, with a population of 2,572 as of March 2014. It was considered to be a suburb of Rabat until 2000, when it became a separate local council. History A number of historic silos were disc ...

on Triq Buqana in the Northern Region of Malta. The cemetery contains over 1,400 interments and commemorations including 254 graves of military personnel killed in the country in

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 ...

. Many graves are marked by

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 ...

(CWGC) gravestones. Some of the CWGC graves are damaged due to bombing of a nearby airfield in the Second World War. There is one New Zealand armed forces member buried in the cemetery, and a single Dutch war grave. There are 1,203 non war graves within the cemetery. They include pre and post WW1 and WW2 military burials and family members of military personnel. An example is Maud Elsie Holliday who died 1901 aged 6.

Notable interments

* Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Alexander Pollock (1888–1971) served in the

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 ...

in the First World War and in the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps in the Second World War. Pollock was the husband of the writers

Enid Blyton Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have been tra ...

, and

Ida Pollock Ida Julia Pollock ( Crowe; 12 April 1908 – 3 December 2013) was a British writer of several short-stories and over 125 romance novels that were published under her married name, Ida Pollock, and under a number of different pseudonyms: Joan M. ...

. * Captain Albany Kennett Charlesworth killed with 5 others in the Avro York crash carrying members of

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

's delegation to the

Yalta Conference The Yalta Conference (), held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the postwar reorganization of Germany and Europe. The three sta ...

Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke (23 July 1883 – 17 June 1963), was a senior officer of the British Army. He was Chief of the General Staff (United Kingdom), Chief of the Imperial Gene ...

laid a wreath to Charlesworth a few days after the crash. *

Flight sergeant Flight sergeant (commonly abbreviated to Flt Sgt, F/Sgt, FSGT or, currently correctly in the RAF, FS) is a senior non-commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and several other air forces which have adopted all or part of the RAF rank structur ...

s Charles Glanville and Wilfred Morris, who died in the

1952 Luqa Avro Lancaster crash The 1952 Luqa Avro Lancaster crash was a military aviation accident that occurred in Malta on 30 December 1952 when an Avro Lancaster bomber crashed shortly after takeoff from RAF Luqa into a residential area in Luqa. Three of the four crew memb ...

References

External links

* * {{coord, 35, 53, 26, N, 14, 24, 35, E, region:MT, display=title Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in Malta Tourist attractions in Malta World War I cemeteries World War I sites in Malta World War II cemeteries World War II sites in Malta Mtarfa