HIDDEN beneath overgrowth, its inscription barely visible, the Atchison family grave was a sorry sight when volunteers at Undercliffe Cemetery discovered it in two pieces.
The headstone, more than a century old, had fallen over and when volunteers set about restoring it, they discovered a tragic story taking the family from their comfortable Bradford home to the battlefields of northern France and Flanders.
The story unfolds in a new film produced by Bradford Through the Lens - a popular YouTube channel exploring the history and heritage of hidden and unusual spaces in the district (youtube.com/BradfordThroughTheLens).
The film, called Undercliffe to the Somme, follows the painstaking process of restoring the grave, and a journey to France and Belgium in memory of two brothers named on the family plot.
Bradford Through the Lens, run by historian and photographer Riaz Ahmed, teamed up with Graham Swain, a grave digger and Undercliffe Cemetery volunteer, to make the film.
Riaz reveals that the damaged grave bears the names of two brothers - Ralph Graham Atchison, and Harold Vivian Atchison. But neither of them are buried at Undercliffe.
Both lost their lives in the First World War. Ralph died at Ypres on July 21, 1917, aged 25 and Harold died at the Somme on August 26, 1918, aged 34.
Today is the 105th anniversary of Harold's death.
Riaz films Graham and fellow volunteers Chris Lawson and Craig Magson restoring the family grave. A digger is brought in to clear overgrowth from the plot and the headstone is restored and cleaned, revealing the names of a father, a mother and a young child who died in infancy.
“The grave was gold-leafed at one time, the family is thought to have been quite wealthy,” says Graham. “They were cloth manufacturers of Drake Street in Bradford. The father went into partnership with his wife’s brother.”
The film follows the volunteers on a moving quest across the Channel to locate the brothers’ graves.
Graham reflects on the “war to end all wars”, when “out of date 19th century warfare tactics came up against 20th century industrialised mechanised weaponry, with the predictable outcome of the widespread slaughter of a generation of men across Europe and beyond”.
The volunteers visit the “two great theatres of war on the Western Front - Ypres and the Somme”.
Canada Farm Cemetery, north west of Ypres, has 980 burials. Among them the volunteers find the final resting place of Ralph Graham Atchison. At Meaulte Cemetery in Ypres, surrounded by fields, where birdsong is the only sound, they find Harold’s grave.
“It was very sad to see the graves of the two brothers,” says Graham, back at Undercliffe Cemetery.
“What we also have to understand is that this (family) grave is full of tragedy. The father died of gas poisoning, from a leaking gas lamp, in January 1914. The mother died in July 1917 and Ralph died two weeks after her. Harold died just over a year later. Very tragic times.”
The grave bears the names of the father, James Ralph Stanley, who died aged 58, and the mother, Eliza Dorothy, who died aged 60.
Ralph and Harold were both pupils at Bradford Grammar School. Riaz thanks Nicholas Hooper, former head of history at the school, for researching the brothers’ war stories.
Known as the ‘Highgate of the North’, Grade II* listed Undercliffe Cemetery is a microcosm of class and hierarchy in Victorian and early 20th century Bradford. The 26-acre, which opened in 1854, site has 23,000 graves, from the ornate headstones of wealthy industrial merchants and their families to mass unmarked paupers’ graves.
There are more than 200 military graves in the cemetery, from several conflicts.
Many of the 91 First World War burials at the site were men who died at the Bradford War Hospital.
A Remembrance Day service is held each year at the Cross of Sacrifice at the historic cemetery. The memorial is to those who died in both the First and Second World Wars.
Last year Undercliffe Cemetery Charity was presented with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service - the UK’s highest accolade for volunteering.
As well as maintaining the grounds, graves and monuments, and hundreds of military graves, volunteers research Bradfordians buried there, host tours and make burial records more accessible.
* For more Bradford Through the Lens - including its films about hidden Saltaire tunnels and an unsolved 19th century murder - go to youtube.com/BradfordThroughTheLens
* To see the film go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtMc0zOGxcQ
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here