Private G Sanby - Yorkshire and Lancashire Regiment

There is a soldier who is honoured by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission who in all probability is related to my grandmother but I have not been able to establish the exact relationship apart from the fact that he is not her brother. He is more likely to be a cousin. My grandmother Rose was brought up in Walkley district of Sheffield and given that SANBY is an extremely unusual name in Sheffield it seems fair to assume that is the case. There was a George Henry Sanby born in the March quarter of 1898 in the Ecclesall Brierlow area of Sheffield (Ref 9C - Vol 418) but it is not possible to draw any further conclusions without corroborating evidence preferably in the form of a birth certificate.

In Memory of
G SANBY
Private
4929
York and Lancaster Regiment
who died on
Monday, 7th August 1916.

Commemorative Information
Cemetery: WALKLEY (ST. MARY) CHURCH CEMETERY, Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Grave Reference/
Panel Number: B487.

As I have stated I believe that quite a few of my ancestors may be buried in St Mary's Cemetery. St Mary's is one of three cemeteries on the hillside between Rivelin Valley Road and Bole Hill Road Sheffield. On the lower slopes there is St Michael's RC cemetery. Above that is St Mary's cemetery which is the cemetery for St Mary's Church, Walkley (CofE). St Mary's cemetery is now closed and in many places quite overgrown. There is still an occasional burial but that is in existing family plots.

I do not know anything about the life and indeed the death of Private G Sanby. Given the Regiment and the date of death it would be fair to assume that he fought in the Battle of The Somme which started on 1st July 1916. I can however state that George died in this country rather than in France. The Imperial War Museum have stated that NO British soldier who died abroad during the two World Wars was brought back to this country for burial. The war graves that people see throughout this country belong to those who actually died here, presumably through ill-health, the result of wounds received in active service or in accidents. The reasoning behind the decision was that all should be equal in death and consequently all bodies would be buried where they had died. This was to prevent those who could afford it, repatriating the remains of their loved ones for burial whilst those who could not afford it had the double distress of bereavement and no access to their graves.

I visited the grave on a number of occasions since finding its location. I must admit it does seem rather lost and forlorn amongst the other civilian graves. The photograph of the George's last resting place was taken in June 2006