South Shields (Harton) Cemetery

• Country United Kingdom
• Total identified casualties 423 Find these casualties
• Region Durham
• Identified casualties from First & Second World War
• GPS Coordinates Latitude: 54.98345, Longitude: -1.41739

History information

During the two world wars, the United Kingdom became an island fortress used for training troops and launching land, sea and air operations around the globe. There are more than 170,000 Commonwealth war graves in the United Kingdom, many being those of servicemen and women killed on active service, or who later succumbed to wounds. Others died in training accidents, or because of sickness or disease. The graves, many of them privately owned and marked by private memorials, will be found in more than 12,000 cemeteries and churchyards. South Shields (Harton) Cemetery contains 206 scattered burials of the First World War. Second World War burials number 209, more than 100 of them forming a war graves plot in Section 9. The plot also contains 21 non-war service burials and one Dutch war grave. The cemetery suffered heavily during air raids on the Tyneside area during the first years of the Second World War. It was severely damaged on several occasions, both by bombs which fell on it and by a landmine which exploded there in April 1941. Another air-raid in October 1942 caused extensive damage to the cemetery.