Driver burial locations Options

[Doug Nye]

Originally posted by Paul Rochdale


Photo: Paul Narramore

The grave of John Heath in St.Peter's Churchyard, Hersham, Surrey, who died as the result of a crash in his HWM during the 1956 Mille Miglia.

Pilot brother James was killed not in an aircraft but instead, I believe, when he was riding a motor-cycle back to base at (or near) what is now Heathrow Airport in thick fog, and he ran into a car which - again if I recall correctly - was stationary.

DCN

[ErinKondratieff]

As well as visiting the Lance Macklin grave when I was in England last month, I also went to the Farnham cemetery where Mike Hawthorn is buried. Howden and I had lunch with Joy and Michael MacDowel (the former Cooper 'works' driver) and Martin & Linda Colvill. We spent a lovely afternoon and after discussing some of Michael's exploits racing against Mike Hawthorn, we realised that we were quite close to Farnham, where MH is buried. Howden had always wanted to make the pilgrimage there (since he was a teenager) so we decided to go. On the way there we called Doug Nye and he very kindly offered to meet us at the cemetery to show us the grave. Without him we wouldn't have found it because it was becoming quite dark and it's a big cemetery! It was a very emotional visit. We returned home via the Hogs Back and drove down the Guildford bypass where Mike had his accident. A very sobering and poignant day. Here are some of the pictures I took...

[Paul Rochdale]

Erin, It's nice to see the grave is so well kept these days. It's been a few years since I also visited there and was told that the grave had fallen into disrepair but that the TVR dealership at the old TT Garage (Hawthorns) took it upon themselves to care for it. Presumably the dealership now sells some other make of car? Had you visited there, they had a glass cabinet filled with Mike Hawthorn memorablia, including the front page of a national newspaper anouncing his death. The front page also gave a very detailed plan of the accident and how it happened.

PS Did you notice his father's grave (Leslie Hawthorn) a few yards away to the left? You say it was dusk and would have been difficult to locate the grave. During daylight, I found it easily. Entering the main gate on my motorbike, I saw it straightaway on the far right, up against the boundary hedge. It's brilliant white and looks brand new.

[ErinKondratieff]

Originally posted by Paul Rochdale
Did you notice his father's grave (Leslie Hawthorn) a few yards away to the left? You say it was dusk and would have been difficult to locate the grave. During daylight, I found it easily. Entering the main gate on my motorbike, I saw it straightaway on the far right, up against the boundary hedge. It's brilliant white and looks brand new.

Yes, Doug was kind enough to show us Leslie's grave as well! Here is a picture of it - it's a little hard to read as it was quite dark and I had to use a flash on it...

[speedman13]

Is there anyone out there who knows the locations of the following drivers resting places.
Albert Clement.
Guy Bouriat.
Gerard de Courcelles.
Jean Gaupillat.
Emile Levassor.
louis Trinignant.
Louis Renault.

[Paul Rochdale]

Discovering funeral details of those who died recently (Chuck Deigh, Graffenreid) has been difficult, so for those between-War drivers it'll be downright impossible.

[Vitesse2]

Not a driver, but an important figure in 1930s racing car design - Tom Murray Jamieson, associated with the ERA and Austin teams, killed in Joseph Paul's fiery crash at Brooklands in 1938. Interred at Great Northern Cemetery, Brunswick Park Rd, New Southgate (source: The Times, May 14th 1938 p14).

[Gregor Marshall]

I visited this on Tuesday as haven;t been for a few years. Apologies for the quality, I only had my mobile with me. It is very sad that where it is is very neglected and several headstones around it are in a very bad way but Graham's is one of the better ones there.

[speedman13]

I visited Graham Hill's grave a few weeks ago and found it to be unreadable, I asked the owner of the house for permissin to clean it, hence the now readable state.
The same day I visited St Mary's churchyard in Hendon to look for Bob Anderson's grave, I had looked for his grave on a previous occassion but was unable to find it. large parts of the churchyard are totally overgrown and part was sold off a few years ago. With the help of the archive centre in Mill Hill who allowed me to trawl through the cemetery records I pinpointed the spot where the grave was located. I returned to the churchyard and eventually found the grave completely covered with growth. I removed the growth and with the help of a church member cleaned the grave which can now be read.

[kayemod]

Originally posted by speedman13
I visited Graham Hill's grave a few weeks ago and found it to be unreadable, I asked the owner of the house for permissin to clean it, hence the now readable state.
The same day I visited St Mary's churchyard in Hendon to look for Bob Anderson's grave, I had looked for his grave on a previous occassion but was unable to find it. large parts of the churchyard are totally overgrown and part was sold off a few years ago. With the help of the archive centre in Mill Hill who allowed me to trawl through the cemetery records I pinpointed the spot where the grave was located. I returned to the churchyard and eventually found the grave completely covered with growth. I removed the growth and with the help of a church member cleaned the grave which can now be read.

Good man!

[Paul Rochdale]

A while ago I was in touch with Bob Anderson's son who lives in France - Bob's wife was French - and he mentioned that the grave was close to a public footpath and the grave and churchyard was in a deplorable state with litter and grafitti.

Will you be placing a photo on here, Speedman13?

[Gregor Marshall]

Originally posted by speedman13
I visited Graham Hill's grave a few weeks ago and found it to be unreadable, I asked the owner of the house for permissin to clean it, hence the now readable state.

Good work. I know my Mum goes once a year and gives it a tidy - such a shame it (and the others around it) have become like that.

[Greatest]

Can we somehow organize a group of enthusiasts, who by exchanging information can motivate each other to take care of these "forgotten" graves, more or less together? Is this a too difficult arraingement to do, what do you think? I also know I live in Finland (and right now I'm bloody lucky to even find myself in this snow storm and from under these snow banks), but I'm ready to do this while travelling abroad...

[kayemod]

Originally posted by Gregor Marshall


Good work. I know my Mum goes once a year and gives it a tidy - such a shame it (and the others around it) have become like that.

Well done, but don't any of Graham's relatives & family ever visit? Apparently not.

[fines]

Whose business is it if they do or don't? Not everybody needs to wear his heart on his sleeves...

[Gregor Marshall]

It is a tricky one - I only get to my Dad's grave/resting place once or twice a year so I can't really comment. The thing I was referring to as a shame was the fact that the churchyard next door was lovely and smart, whereas the eight or so graves in someone's front garden are all over-grown. I wonder how the other relatives feel and also what rights they have to tresspass on someone's private property to pay their respects to their loved ones??

[B Squared]

photos: B2

Final resting place for hometown driver, B.J. (Bernard) Swanson. Catholic Cemetary, Section O #128 in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. BJ's headstone is in the foreground right. His grandparents to the immediate left.

I grew up within a few miles of this cemetary, and I live close to it now. I was heartbroken when B.J. was killed almost as soon as he came to the attention of the professional racing world. For some reason, I would always drive by this cemetary on Lake Avenue for the past 33 years thinking that I should take the time to stop in & pay my respects. Well, I finally did. I regret that I did not do so much sooner. The office had no information on him and his chosen profession of race car driver. I've made copies of articles and the like and gave them to the cemetary records department to put in their files. I copied the following, for it says more than I ever could. I hope that it is old enough that it is not deemed to be repetitious.

Brian

From Dave Ware - Nov.28, 2000 TNF Speeds ultimate price: the Toll

Here is what Gordon Kirby wrote about B. J. Swanson in 1975:

"It is exquisitely rare. It has happened only once or twice in a generation of American road racing. A driver comes from nowhere and is almost immediately running with the best. There have been others before, Dan Gurney, Mark Donohue. This time it was B. J. Swanson.

There was something special about Swanson. Something that triggered memories of a young Gurney or a young Donohue. It was partly his smoothness. On the track he was cool, precise, consistant. His driving had that stamp of inbred maturity drawn from a source more amorphus than experience.

Away from the track he was matter of fact. He seemed to accept the fact that he was capable of driving his Bay Racing Lola only a tick or two slower than Andretti or Redman, as if it was a perfectly natural occurance. Yet, he did so with a modesty that rang true. He would give a calm assessment of his performance that would virtually lull a listener into believing that there was nothing very special about a young driver, only months removed from club racing, emerging as a serious challenger to two of the fastest and most experienced driver/team combinations in motor racing.

July thirteenth at Watkins Glen was potential realized. Racing for the first time on that very fast and demanding New York circuit, Swanson qualified fourth, bested only by Andretti, Redman, and Jean-Pierre Jarier. In that, his third professional race, Swanson was faster than Al Unser, Jackie Oliver, David Hobbs, Graham McRae, and Warwick Brown. In the feature he was nipping at Unser's tail and cooling holding off the accomplished Jarier. He finished a spectacular third."

(I live two hours from Mid-Ohio. I can't imagine why I didn't go to the 1975 race.) On the first lap of the August 10, 1975 event his throttle jammed open on the first lap, and he crashed into the earthen embankment of the auto bridge. Kirby reports that he died three days later. He was twenty-six.

I saw Swanson in the garages at Watkins Glen that year. There was a fan who was taking a photo of Swanson with his arm around the fans' wife. "Kiss him, Bev," the guy said. Corny, but Swanson smiled and played the part gracefully. As would Gurney or Donohue.

[Paul Rochdale]

Brian

I have compiled this memorial page for BJ Swanson and have credited your image by clicking on it. If you have a head & shoulders pic to add, please do.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?p...&GRid=31725085&

Paul

[B Squared]

Paul - Thank you. I've got the cemetary gate/ entrance photo(s) still in my camera. I'll do my best to find a good picture of B.J. in the interim and add both. Thank you again.

I must say that I'm a bit motivated to get down to Indianapolis' Crown Point Cemetary when Spring returns. It seems as if there are alot of prominent racers & automotive industrialists buried there. It would be interesting to search them out. Let me know if I can help you with any in particular.

Brian

[Paul Rochdale]

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?p...csr&GSvcid=4821

Brian

Here is my list of racing driver graves and I know there are quite a number at Indianapolis. I was actually there in 2006 but was unaware of the location of them. Please note that if you try to add pics on any FaG memorial which is listed as 'Famous', and they have a very strange system of defining that, the pic has to be sent to FaG for them to add it. Once they decide the memorial is a 'Famous' one, it then becomes blocked to the rest of us.

Anything you can add would be appreciated.

Paul

[Martin Dewey]

Originally posted by Vitesse2
Not a racing driver, but an important figure in pre-war racing: Albert Victor (Ebby) Ebblewhite died on 11th December 1939 and was buried four days later at the Church of St Peter-on-the-Forest, Woodford New Road, Upper Walthamstow.

Visited Ebby's grave today. Headstone inscription reads:

IN GOD'S KEEPING
IN LOVING MEMORY OF
MY DEAR HUSBAND
ALBERT VICTOR
EBBLEWHITE
PASSED AWAY DEC 11TH 1939
AGED 69 YEARS
AND HIS WIFE
EDITH HARRIETT
EBBLEWHITE
PASSED AWAY FEB 24th 1949
AGED 82 YEARS
TILL THE DAY BREAKS
AND THE SHADOWS FLEE AWAY

Did Ebby own a music shop in Aldgate? There are a few references on the internet to an A.V. Ebblewhite that ran such a shop at around this time. There is only one A.V. mentioned in the 1871 and 1901 Census. I would be interested in any info regarding Ebby. He was a real hero of the early British motor sport scene.

The grave itself was quite overgrown and the headstone had sunk a fair bit, although it was easily readable. It is easy to find: Go in the front gate of the church, turn immediate right, Ebby's grave is about six or so down on your right (the inscription is facing away from you though, towards the road).

[Paul Rochdale]

I've finally located the grave of Capt George Eyston in St.Mary's Church, East Hendred, nr Wantage, Oxfordshire. If anyone here lives locally and would care to take a photo, I'd appreciate it.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?p...r&GRid=32719971

[taylov]

Originally posted by Vitesse2


(Regarding the grave of Rudolf Hasse - "The location of this grave is now lost".)

It's in an area which saw some pretty intense conflict between the Wehrmacht and the Red Army. I doubt there's much left that was standing in 1941. And in the atmosphere of the time it wouldn't surprise me to find that the Red Army had just bulldozed the whole cemetery out of existence.

http://img157.imageshack.us/my.php?image=g...hasse9434co.jpg

A friend researching the history of the Eastern front has just returned to the UK. He confirms that many of the German graveyards from this period which had survived the destruction of war were later destroyed by the Soviets. Whilst massive memorials exist to the Red Army, little or nothing remains on many parts of the front to mark the fallen of the other side.

Hasse's death has been recorded by Etzrodt and Snellman as being from "a malicous sickness". A further search suggests that he died from a form of dysentery.

Tony

[Paul Rochdale]

Photo: Charles Eddie

The grave of Bob Anderson in St.Mary's Churchyard, Hendon, North London.

[Paul Rochdale]

Photo: Charles Eddie

The grave of Capt George E T Eyston MC OBE in St.Mary's Churchyard, East Hendred, nr Wantage, Oxfordshire.

[Paul Rochdale]

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?p...&GRid=15417114&

Memorial page for Rudolph Hasse.

[speedman13]

Recently refurbished grave of Raymond Sommer.



Photo Charles Eddie

[speedman13]

Grave of Libero Liberati in Terni



Photo Charles Eddie

[fines]

[speedman13]

Tomb of the Nuvolari family in Mantua.



Photo Charles Eddie

[Paul Rochdale]

Thanks for posting those images Charles. If I may, I'll add them to their appropriate memorial pages on FaG?

[speedman13]

No problem Paul.

[MCS]

Originally posted by Paul Rochdale


Photo: Charles Eddie

The grave of Bob Anderson in St.Mary's Churchyard, Hendon, North London.

Thanks for posting this Paul - I know that a number of us have looked for Bob's grave both in Haynes and Hendon without success (myself included).

Thanks again.

Mark

[Paul Rochdale]

Photo: www.valdyerres.com

The grave of Harry Schell in the family vault at Cimetiere de Brunoy, Brunoy, 25km south of Paris.

[Vitesse2]

Luis Fontes, 1935 Le Mans winner, killed in an air crash in Wales, was buried at St Margaret's Church, Mapledurham near Reading on October 16th 1940. (Source: The Times 16/10/40)

[Flat Black]

Anybody know where the burial site of Walt Faulkner is?

[380W]

Someone knows where were buried the drivers Enrico Platé (died in an accident in Argentina), Carlo Pintacuda (some sources says that he passed away in Argentina, others in Italy) and Piero Dusio (of Cisitalia marque)??????.

[Jim Thurman]

Originally posted by Flat Black
Anybody know where the burial site of Walt Faulkner is?

FB, I'll have to look into it, but probably Long Beach, California.

His widow was at Walt's 2006 induction into the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame.

[Paul Rochdale]

[URL=http://g.imageshack.us/img6/martynpiddockgrave
Photo: Geoffrey Gillon

The ashes of young speedway star Martyn Piddock were interred at the Kent County Crematorium, Charing. He and five others died in a horrific road accident between Gent and Antwerp, Belgium, when their mini-bus was in collision with two trucks, a petrol tanker and a house.

[Paul Rochdale]

Photo: Reg Fearman

The grave of Peter Craven, World Speedway Champion 1955 and 1962, at West Derby Cemetery, Liverpool. Killed in a racing crash attempting to avoid a fallen rider in Edinburgh 24 September 1963.