John Bedingfield who went to rest May 22nd 1919

In July 2008 when I visited Stalham to record the names on the War Memorial my normal practice had been to walk around the cemetery as well, looking for references to the names remembered on the memorial and other headstones with the same surnames from that period. The sheer number of queries I've been able to resolve over the years as a result is unbelieveable.

But I was also moving on from just regurgitating what other websites had to say to producing some original research. As part of my steep learning curve I had joined the Great War Forum and cannot speak highly enough of the help I have received there over the years.

One of the early things it made me realise was that the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, (CWGC), the government body responsible for ensuring that the war dead were remembered imperpetuity, were still accepting several hundred new cases each year. They also had a large number of individuals who probably had a grave in the UK, but they didn't know where it was.

So now my visits had grown to include photographing all those headstones that showed a man or women dieing in the official Great War period, (August 1914 to August 1921) that were aged between 17 and 50. Thus it was that I came to take a picture of the headstone of John Bedingfield.

The official defintion of the War Dead wasn't just those who died on the battlefield, sunk on a ship or generally died while serving. It extended to those who died after discharge as a result of the injuries they incurred or ill heath which they suffered because of their military service.

My intention with all these sorts of photographs was to check firstly whether the person remembered was on the CWGC database but they didn't know where he was buried, (John wasn't) and then at some point to find time to investigate further to see if they were a missed commemoration.

And that would probably have been that - I have so much research to do for the known war dead that I may never get round to the others.

But during the pandemic I was asked for help in researching the names on the Stalham War Memorial in greater depth.

And while doing that I came across references to a Stalham man, John Bedingfield, as having served and being released through ill-health.

I dug deeper and found a service record for a married man, John Bedingfield, who was discharged from the Royal Enginers in May 1917 on medical grounds as a result of tuberculosis. While it was deemed to be not caused by military service it was accepted as having been aggravated by his time in the army - and that satisfies part of the definition of "War Dead" that the CWGC are required to work to. As he both served in the qualifying period and his death post discharge occurred before the official end of the Great War, he was potentially a missed commemoration.

Next step was to order a death certificate. This came back to confirm Army Pensioner John Bedingfield, aged 34, died at Stalham on the 22nd May 1919. Cause of death was Phthisis, (an old term for tuberculosis), and the doctor went on to state that John had been suffering from the condition for some years.

So that was the final piece. He'd served in the qualifying period, died in the qualifying period, had been discharged as a result of an illness aggravated by his military service, and had died as a result of the same illness.

So on the 16th March 2022 I submitted a case to the CWGC for John to be considered for commemoration. Although some of my cases have only taken a few months, the norm is more like 2 to 3 years.

In this case I heard back on the 17th December 2022 that the case had been reviewed by the CWGC and the Army and the outcome was that he had been accepted.

As of today. 23rd August 2023, John is only shown as commemorated in the UK Book of Remembrance. www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/...

At some point the CWGC will hopefully take over management of the grave and so should the headstone ever become unreadable or fall into disrepair they will add one of their own.

Taken in: UK / England / North Norfolk District / Stalham (show map)

Taken on: July 5, 2008

Tags:

Stalham

Norfolk

John Bedingham

Royal Engineers

22/05/1917

22nd May 1917

Headstone

Military Headstone

Home fallen of the Great War

The Norfolk War Dead

Dulce et decorum est

Died after discharge

Missed commemoration

In memoria

Old soldiers rest in peace

Remember them « less

Sets appears in: • In memoria • Dulce et Decorum Est..Pro Patria Mori more » • Stalham « less

Groups appears in: • The Great War 1914 - 1918 • Old Soldiers (rest in peace) more » • The Norfolk Dead • REMEMBER THEM « less

Camera: Fujifilm FinePix6800 ZOOM, f/7.0, 12mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Fujifilm FinePix6800 ZOOM
Aperture:	f/7.0
Focal Length:	12mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Digital Camera FinePix6800 ZOOM Ver3.00
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