Updates
14 November 2024
Ever since we began researching the lives of the Turin Men we have been trying to locate and contact any of their descendants. Our aims have been to find out any more information about the soldier’s life before the war, to alert families to our research and to show that their ancestors continue to be commemorated where they lie buried in Italy.
We are delighted to have recently been in contact with Julie Herbert, one of the descendants of Driver John Corey Alexander Taylor, whose grave is in the cemetery in the village of Oulx, 80km west of Turin, where he died in 1918. Julie, who lives in New Zealand is one of John’s Great Nieces and we have been able to tell her the circumstances of his accidental death and send her the photo of his grave, which was visited just a few weeks ago by Emma Pace. We now have a photo of John in his Royal Engineers military uniform, sitting alongside his older brother, Henry Edward.
9 November 2024
Ahead of Remembrance weekend, the graves of the 2 men who are buried outside of Turin were visited to ensure that they were not forgotten. Unlike the 16 men in Turin Town Cemetery, they lie in solitary graves in the villages of Oulx and Meana di Susa. Like the Turin Men, they too had survived the war but they died not from illness or disease, but in tragic circumstances and almost certainly on their way home.
Driver John C A Taylor was killed when attempting to rejoin the train that had stopped for some time on its journey at Oulx station and Sapper William Howard Lewis reportedly took his own life when travelling by train as it passed through Meana de Susa, where he is commemorated in the cemetery there on a Kipling Memorial panel.
20 August 2024
In 2018 when we started to research the Turin Men, we agreed with our contact, Emma Pace that we would include 2 soldiers who lie in solitary CWGC graves in cemeteries outside of the city of Turin. Sapper William Howard Lewis is commemorated in Meana Di Susa Communal Cemetery and Driver John C A Taylor is buried in Oulx Communal Cemetery.
Emma had noticed for a while that when she visited John Taylor’s grave it always had flowers on it, indicating that someone locally was also remembering him. Emma has visited John’s grave on many occasions and recently decided to leave a note with her contact details. Emma has now been put in touch with the local lady who has been leaving the flowers despite having no family connection with William. Her interest and care ensure that John’s grave is not forgotten and is always full of flowers. We are very grateful to her and have been able to share our research into John’s tragic death there in December 1918.
2 February 2024
The search for descendants of the Turin Men continued during 2023. We hope that by making contact we may be able to learn more about the soldier’s life before the First World War and to be able to let his descendants know that he truly hasn’t been forgotten. The graves are visited during the year and a Remembrance Service is held each November, at which the soldiers are commemorated and individually named during the Service.
In December 2023 we were delighted to make contact with one of Pte William Metcalf’s Great Nieces, who lives in Australia. Although she had only become aware of her Great Uncle since undertaking her family history research, she was able to send us some photographs from another descendant who has William’s medals and a small photograph of him. We have now located descendants for 9 of the 16 men who are buried in Turin. The search for the others will continue and if you can help then please contact us.
26 January 2022
As a result of our research into the Turin Men, we were able to confirm personal details, such as their full names and other information, in addition to aspects of their military service. For 3 of the soldiers, their full names had not been available at the time that their deaths were recorded by the Commonwealth (Imperial) War Graves Commission and their headstones only show initials.
By supplying the necessary evidence, we are pleased to report that the forenames for William Muir, Kenneth Reed Gubbin and Arthur Robson have been accepted as amendments to their CWGC entries. The headstones will remain unchanged, but future researchers will be able to locate these more complete records.
Also, we raised the question of Arthur Robson’s rank and requested a change to Gunner. He was listed as Gunner on his Medal Index Card but as Driver on records written after his death. It seems that soldiers frequently switched between these two ranks and the two terms were therefore used interchangeably; thus, the CWGC will not amend his rank.
3 November 2021
It was a pleasure to receive an enquiry today from Mr Andrew Webb-Trezzi, who is based in Canada. Andrew contacted us because he was interested in our research about Harry Edward Funnell, one of the ‘Turin Men’, as he had recently purchased 2 photos of him. Harry Edward Funnell enlisted as a Private with the 14th London Regiment shortly after the start of the First World War. He served with the Naval forces and the Army until his death in 1918. He rose through the ranks, becoming Temp/Lt Commander with the Royal Naval Division by the end of 1916 and on transfer to the Army he served as a Temporary Major with the Machine Gun Corps. He was Mentioned in Despatches in May 1917 and awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) on 4 June 1917. He died of pneumonia in Turin on 10 December 1918 whilst attached to the General Headquarters Staff (GHQ), Italy. His story is recorded in the Book of Remembrance.
We are very grateful to Andrew for sharing his photos of Harry Funnell with us and for allowing us to use them on our website. Andrew is a student of History and Archaeology and has a particular interest in First World War photos.
3 November 2021
Emma Pace returned to Blaise Pascal school today to tell a new group of students about the ‘Turin Men’. It was a preparatory lesson for the Remembrance ceremony that will be held in Turin’s cemetery on 14 November. Emma’s colleague wanted the students to be introduced to the topic of remembrance and is hoping that the students may be interested in attending the service, in the same way that Emma’s students did in 2018. The students heard about our research into the lives of the soldiers, and they were shown examples from the Remembrance Book. Emma described how the poppy had become a symbol of remembrance of the First World War and the students were introduced to the work of the CWGC.
2 November 2021
Earlier this year, we were contacted by Mr Mark Hawkins, a British resident of Sauze d’Oulx, who had become aware of Driver John C A Taylor’s grave in the nearby village of Oulx. Mark had read our research into the ‘Turin Men’, and how John Taylor had died in Oulx on 10 December 1918 after a tragic accident at the local railway station. In Italy, as in many other Christian countries, the day after All Saints’ Day (1 November) is All Souls’ Day, and both are traditional days of remembrance and a time when many people visit cemeteries to pay their respects.
We were delighted to hear from Mark today, who told us that all the graves in Oulx, including John Taylor’s were blessed by the local Priest yesterday, on All Saints’ Day. After today’s blessings in Sauze D’Oulx, Mark and his wife Karen went to visit John Taylor’s grave. Mark said some prayers, lit a candle at John’s grave and he said that he had found it to be, ‘an exceptional spiritual experience’. Sadly, we haven’t been able to trace any of John Taylor’s descendants. We would like them to know that although their ancestor lies in a solitary grave in Oulx cemetery, he will never be forgotten.
12 October 2021
We have now received a report from the CWGC, following a site visit to Meana di Susa cemetery regarding the location of Sapper William Howard Lewis’ grave. From the 1920 cemetery plan we know that his grave was originally along the eastern boundary wall and had been dug in front of an Italian headstone to Mr Bernard Battista.
We understand that after the Second World War several private chapels were built along the eastern boundary wall. It is unclear as to whether these were built before or after Sapper Lewis’ grave was reported as lost, but it is thought that any graves in that area were removed. The CWGC archive file appears to indicate that his grave was known to have been lost by 1949 – 1950, yet the private chapels were built around 1955. As the original grave location no longer existed, the Commission had decided to erect the memorial headstone on the nearest wall, as shown on this annotated version of the 1920 plan
Although this still leaves some uncertainty over what actually happened to Sapper Lewis’ grave, any graves in that area would have been removed for the building of the private chapels. It is possible that his remains were moved to the ossuary, which is inside an extension of the cemetery, but again there is no proof of that. We are grateful to the CWGC for their assistance with our enquiry.
We may never be able to find out what exactly happened to his grave, but we are pleased to have included him as one of our ‘Turin Men’. His life ended tragically in 1919, but he will not be forgotten.
28 July 2021
Following Emma’s visit to the Meana di Susa cemetery, we decided to contact the CWGC to enquire whether they had any more information about Sapper William Howard Lewis’ grave, which we know is documented as lost and has been replaced with a memorial stone. Today, we were delighted to hear from Mr Andrew Fetherston, CWGC Chief Archivist, who has been able to locate a relevant file in their archives. It provides a little more information and a request has been made for a site visit to the cemetery by the CWGC staff in Italy to see if it is possible to locate Sapper Lewis’ grave.
The file started in 1923 where there is a copy of the deliberation of the Comune of Meana di Susa granting perpetual concession and rights to the British war grave in the cemetery. The next records in the file date to 1949 – 1950 by which time the grave appears to have been lost. There is correspondence concerning attempts to find it (including a translation of a letter from the local Mayor who stated that no records could be found to assist in locating the grave, and that all people who may have been involved with the original burial, such as the mayor, parish priest and grave-digger were all now deceased), and then some internal CWGC correspondence regarding the decision to erect a memorial to Sapper Lewis instead. There is one later inspection report from 1995.
What is most interesting however is that the file included a plan of Meana di Susa cemetery, dating back to 1920, which shows the location of Sapper Lewis’ original grave. This has been sent to CWGC staff who work in Mediterranean Area office to ask if they can arrange for someone to visit the site to see if, with the aid of the plan, the grave can be relocated. We appreciate that with the passage of time it may no longer be possible to shed any light on what happened to Sapper Lewis’ grave, but we are very grateful that a site visit has been requested.
27 July 2021
Today we received a lovely new photo of Private Evan Lewis, one of our ‘Turin Men’. Evan Lewis had started his First World War service in 1914 as a Private in the Pembroke Yeomanry (4591) and as can be seen here, he was later transferred to the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade (50487).
Evan is known to have sent this photo to his brother Daniel, who had emigrated to Australia before the war. It was signed ‘From your loving brother, Evan’, and now a copy has found its way back to Wales, to his descendant, Deryc Rees.
Evan was with the 9th Company, Imperial Camel Corps Brigade when he was wounded in action at the 2nd Battle of Gaza in April 1917. Evan survived the war, but tragically he died from Influenza in the 29th Stationary Hospital at Turin on 10 April 1919, on his return from the Middle East, aged 25. His story and that of the other ‘Turin Men’, is summarised in the Book of Remembrance.
5 July 2021
Driver John C A Taylor’s grave is the only CWGC one in Oulx Communal Cemetery. As one of our ‘Turin Men’, his story and life during the First World War have been researched. Sadly, John died in Oulx on 10 December 1918 after a tragic accident at the railway station there. John’s grave is now visited by our Italian partner, Emma Pace as well as, we suspect, one or more local British residents. Emma visited Driver Taylor’s grave today and has sent us this photo. The cemetery is located in the mountains 64 kilometres west of Turin.
Emma also visited the cemetery in Meana di Susa, where Sapper William Howard Lewis is commemorated. According to his CWGC record, we know that his grave was lost, and he is remembered on a Kipling memorial stone, which is normally fixed to the cemetery wall. Today it was found to be placed against the wall, as can be seen in this photo. It is the anniversary of Sapper Lewis’ death this week; he took his own life just outside Meana on his train journey back to the UK on 7 July 1919.
You can find their stories, along with those of the other ‘Turin Men’, summarised in the Book of Remembrance.
9 June 2021
Today we were delighted to deliver an online presentation about the ‘Turin Men’ as part of a conference programme which has been organised this year by the Cemetery Services of the City of Turin. The 4-month conference programme is entitled ‘FRAGMENTS on the web 2021: Art, Architecture, Culture and Nature to deepen the cemetery issues’. Naturally, we were very pleased to be invited to join and to share the research that has been undertaken into the 16 British and Commonwealth soldiers who are buried in the CWGC plot in the Monumental Cemetery of Turin.
26 February 2021
Today we heard from Emma Pace that she had finally been able to pay a visit to the graves of the ‘Turin Men’ in the Town cemetery. Covid-19 restrictions have made such visits impossible over the last few months, but with an easing of the restrictions Emma decided to take the opportunity to visit the soldiers.
As we can see from the lovely photographs it was a bright sunny day and Emma was pleased to find that the Remembrance crosses are still in position from last November. It still seems impossible to believe that a pandemic is affecting the world today as it did over 100 years ago when so many of these men died from its effects.
27 November 2020
Recently we have had some more exciting news from Dan Hayes, Communications Manager at Fraser and Fraser, an International firm of professional genealogists and probate researchers. We were very pleased to hear that they had tracked down descendants of two more of the ‘Turin Men’; Private Robert Henry Edmondson and Company Quarter Master Sergeant Kenneth Reed Gubbin.
Unfortunately it hasn’t proved possible for us to communicate with CQMS Gubbin’s family, but Private Edmondson’s great nephew has allowed us to make contact with him. His grandmother was one of Private Edmondson’s younger sisters. We have been able to share the story of the ‘Turin Men’ and in particular our research into the military career of Private Edmondson. We hope to stay in contact and perhaps be able to share some family photos of Robert’s earlier life.
We are extremely grateful to Fraser and Fraser for their continuing support.
11 November 2020
With the kind support of the Cemetery Services of the City of Turin, it proved possible to commemorate the 16 ‘Turin Men’ today. Turin’s Esprit Club supplied Remembrance crosses and poppies and these were placed at the graves of the soldiers by Signora Renata Santoro, a member of staff at the cemetery. In addition, Peter Allen, Chairman of the Esprit Club and his friend Fulvio Baravalle prepared a lovely accompanying video to take the place of the usual Remembrance Service. This was based on last year’s Remembrance Sunday service.
8 November 2020
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the reintroduction of lockdown restrictions, it was not possible for the Turin’s Esprit Club to hold its usual Remembrance Sunday service in the Turin Town cemetery. However, the 16 ‘Turin Men’ were not forgotten and were remembered both in Italy and in the UK. All known descendants were contacted to update them on this year’s research and to remind them that their ancestors are still in our thoughts.
17 September 2020
Sapper William Howard Lewis died near Meana di Susa on his journey home to the UK in July 1919. It is known from his records that a Court of Enquiry was held into his death and it reported that he committed suicide by climbing through a window during the train journey. It would seem that his body was later recovered and he was buried in Meana di Susa cemetery on 9 July 1919 in grave No. 15. William’s CWGC entry indicates that his grave was later lost in the Meana di Susa Communal Cemetery and he was subsequently commemorated there on a ‘Kipling Memorial’. Although the village is some distance from Turin, William’s story was researched as part of the ‘Turin Men’ project and is summarised in our Book of Remembrance. His memorial is the only CWGC one in the village cemetery and he was visited again today by Emma Pace, our Project partner.
27 August 2020
John Carey (Corey) Alexander Taylor, a Driver with the 7th Div. Signal Company, Royal Engineers (74852), died on 10 December 1918, aged 22 years, in the village of Oulx, Italy. Although his grave is some distance from Turin, his story was researched as part of the ‘Turin Men’ project. With the help of the Mayor of Oulx, a document was found in the local archives which shed light on the tragic accident that led to John’s death. His story is summarised in our Book of Remembrance.
John’s grave is the only CWGC one in the village cemetery and was visited again today by Emma Pace, our Project partner. It seems that some work has been undertaken in the cemetery and a few other graves have been removed, leaving John’s grave looking even more isolated. However, he is not forgotten by us and the flowers on his grave indicate that another person, who is still unknown to us, also visits him.
2 August 2020
Today we have been able to add another soldier’s story to our small collection. Unlike many other soldiers, Private William Preston Sidney’s war was well documented because his service records survived as well as his personal diaries. William had left behind his sweetheart, Ethel Walshaw, and he was a prolific writer to her. He sent many letters and postcards to Ethel from the day he left her in Doncaster. William had one grandson, Martin, and his wife, Carol, has researched William’s story and transcribed his diaries. With love to Ethel, tells William’s story, including details of his stay in the hospital in Turin.
8 July 2020
Private Antonio Dellafera’s story is now available to read in our Soldiers’ Stories section. With the Canteens, tells the remarkable story of a young man of Italian descent who found himself enlisted in the army in the First World War and sent to serve in his ancestral homeland. Although details of his time in Italy are sketchy and he was unfortunate to have needed hospital treatment, his selection of photographs has enabled us to add to the story of the Turin Men.
5 May 2020
Our ‘Turin Men’ project has focused primarily on researching the stories and commemorating 16 soldiers who are buried in the town cemetery and who had died at what became the B section of the 29th Stationary Hospital in Turin. It is not known how many hundreds of men were treated there, but most would have recovered after their illness or surgery and continued their war or their journey home.
Today we were contacted by Professor Richard Holton who is researching the story of his grandfather, Pte Antonio Dellafera of the Army Service Corps (Expeditionary Force Canteens), who was a patient at the hospital and one of those fortunate to have survived the war. Professor Holton has discovered a small collection of photographs showing his grandfather with other patients in the hospital grounds and on visits to two monument sites, one of which is outside of city. Professor Holton has kindly agreed to write up Antonio’s story and we will be delighted to add it to our Soldiers’ Stories in due course.
20 April 2020
Today the Commonwealth War Graves Commission announced that they were making available more of their digitised files and a previously unreleased collection of photographs held in their archive. This gave us a chance to see if we could add further to the stories of the Turin Men.
Although we didn’t locate any more information about the men in the personal correspondence files, we were very excited to find images of the Turin cemetery from the 1950s and intriguingly discovered that not only had changes been made to the reburial of the men in the early 1920s, but a further change was made to the relocation of Driver Thomas Langan’s grave whose headstone is not on the photos taken in the 1950s.
The 16 men are named and listed together on the grave registration report dated 1919, whereas the 1924 report remarked that Thomas Langan’ grave remained in the original plot and was relocated in 1964. We now had photos from 1952 and 1954 which show the graves before all 16 men were later buried together in the CWGC plot.
11 April 2020
We were delighted to finally catch up with another descendant of one of the ‘Turin Men’ soldiers. Back in 2019, the team at Fraser and Fraser had very generously offered to help with our searches and they put us in contact with Dave Harris, the great nephew of Lance Corporal William Herbert Barnes, who died 101 years ago on 12 April 1919.
Although Dave didn’t have any family photos of his great uncle, he was very pleased to receive information about his forebear, who had originated from the Nottingham area before the family relocated to Liverpool. We were able to share details with Dave as William Barnes’ service record had survived so we know quite a lot about his early life and military career prior to his death in Turin. More details about Lance Corporal William Herbert Barnes and the other men can be found in the Book of Remembrance.
15 February 2020
Today we heard from Deryc Rees that his descendant, Private Evan Lewis is one of those named on the Imperial Camel Corps memorial in London. More information about this memorial can be found on the War Memorials Online website. Private Evan Lewis is also commemorated in his home town in Tregaron Memorial Hall; a photo of which along with full details of Evan’s story can be found in our Turin Men Book of Remembrance.
9 February 2020
Although buried some distance away from the other men in Turin’s Town cemetery, Driver John C A Taylor who lies alone in a solitary grave in Oulx Communal cemetery now has another visitor as a result of our project. Alessandra Ullu, one of Emma’s colleagues visits John’s grave whenever she is in the area. We know that another anonymous visitor refreshes the flowers on his grave but perhaps isn’t aware of the details of John’s accidental death in Oulx in December 1918. We thank Alessandra for visiting John and for sending us this and other photos.
11 November 2019
Following the successful Remembrance event of 2018, the Esprit Club of Turin and Emma Pace held a joint commemorative Remembrance Sunday Service yesterday for the ‘Turin Men’. The service took place at the CWGC plot in the Turin Monumental Cemetery.
Peter Allen, Chairman of the Turin Esprit Club played a key role in organising this year’s event and reported that it was ‘a great occasion with nearly 40 participants including 7 uniformed officers of the British, Australian and Italian armed forces’.
After Peter had delivered the opening remarks, a selection of poems were read by Emma’s students from the school, IIS Blaise Pascal.
The service was led by Pastor Thomas Noffke with readings and the exhortation delivered by Esprit members and the names of all 16 soldiers were read out.
The Last Post was played by Bruno Faenzi, an Italian colleague of Esprit member Sean Stringfellow of the RAF who is currently working in Turin.
12 – 14 August 2019
Emma visited the UK during August and spent 2 weeks on a tour of Wales, but the Turin Men were not far from her thoughts. Emma took the opportunity to meet up with Deryc Rees who is one of the descendants of Private Evan Lewis. Evan is remembered in his home town of Tregaron and Emma visited the Memorial Hall there and has kindly sent us this photo.
2 July 2019
On a return visit from the mountains today, Emma visited the grave of one of our ‘Turin Men’. Driver John C A Taylor is buried in Oulx Communal cemetery in a solitary CWGC grave. Each time Emma visits she finds that the flowers have been refreshed so we know that his grave is being visited by someone else who also cares about him and ensures that he will not be forgotten.
19 June 2019
David Mackie, a reporter at the Gazette & Herald has written a follow-up story since Fraser and Fraser successfully identified some of Sidney Baker’s descendants. The story entitled, ‘Family of Pickering soldier tracked down’ has been published in today’s edition of the newspaper. We are very grateful to David for his interest in our story which has helped us locate more descendants of the ‘Turin Men’.
28 May 2019
We had some exciting news today from Dan Hayes, Communications Manager at Fraser and Fraser, an International firm of professional genealogists and probate researchers. It seems that one of the case managers at Fraser and Fraser had spotted the news item about Sapper Sidney Baker in the Gazette & Herald and unbeknown to us decided to use their skills to assist. We are delighted to hear that they have tracked down a relative who is happy to be contacted by us. We will now be able to share the story of the ‘Turin Men’ with Sidney Baker’s great nephew, Edward and Kate, his great niece. We are extremely grateful to Fraser and Fraser who have included this on their website: Finding the relatives of a First World War soldier.
15 May 2019
We submitted a news item to the Gazette & Herald (Ryedale) to tell the story of Sapper Sidney Baker of Pickering who died 100 years ago on 2 May 1919. With thanks to one of their reporters, David Mackie, an article about Sidney appeared in the newspaper on the 15 May. We very much hope that we are able to locate any of his descendants, so that we can learn more about Sidney and share what we know of his life during the First World War and how he was commemorated in Turin last year at the ceremony in November.
4 May 2019
We have received these photos from our colleague Emma who has recently revisited the CWGC graves in Turin Town cemetery to pay her respects to the ‘Turin Men’. Emma says that she will never forget them, which we know is greatly valued by those descendants with whom we have made contact.
20 – 21 March 2019
A working visit to Scotland by Emma Pace from Italy enabled us to arrange our first meeting in person and to invite along descendants of Corporal William Muir, one of our ‘Turin Men’. Many of William’s descendants live in Scotland and one of his great-nieces lives in the house in Lugar where William’s family are known to have lived in 1918.
Our get-togethers enabled us to see items that related to William’s First World War service and his untimely death in Turin from pneumonia whilst on his return home on leave. It was a privilege to read the letters that had been sent to his parents from the hospital in Turin and to hold one of his books, and the death penny and scroll that had been kept safely for 100 years. Emma was thanked by everyone for her great interest in the soldiers, which has resulted in our collaborative work on the lives of the ‘Turin Men’.
24 February 2019
On 10 December 1918, Harry Edward Funnell, a soldier from Sydenham, London, died of pneumonia in Turin after serving for over four years in the First World War. We submitted a news item to the Sydenham Society to tell Harry’s story and to hopefully find any of his descendants. With thanks to their editorial team our story appeared in the Spring 2019 issue of the Sydenham Society News. We are particularly grateful for the interest shown by Steve Grindlay, a Local Historian from the area who confirms that in 1953 Harry’s mother, Catherine (or Kate), was still living at 6 Bishopsthorpe Road, the address given on his military records.
2 February 2019
Our colleague Emma Pace has sent this photo of the CWGC plot in Turin Town Cemetery in the snow. A century ago the war was ongoing for some of our ‘Turin Men’, but they all now lie together here and have not been forgotten. The changing seasons give us a sense of continuity over time.
12 January 2019
‘Away from the Western Front’ was represented at the meeting of the Wolverhampton branch of the Western Front Association; about 70 members were present. Lyn Edmonds spoke about the ‘Turin Men’, some of whom came from the West Midlands. One audience member commented: ‘Great research, preparation and presentation with a real passion for the subject‘.
2 January 2019
We submitted a news item to the Cumnock Chronicle to tell the story of William Muir of Lugar and hopefully to find any of his descendants. With thanks to one of their reporters, Stephen Bark, an article about William appeared in the Chronicle on the 2 January 2019 and within 24 hours we received an email to say that one of William’s great nephews had read the story. We have since heard from one of his great nieces too. It seems that several of William’s descendants still live in the area where he was born. We will be sharing what we know of William’s life and how he was commemorated in Turin last year at the ceremony on November 11.
4 – 5 December 2018
Over half of the men buried in Turin Town cemetery and both of those in Meana and Oulx died after the Armistice of November 1918. We have been attempting to find more descendants by contacting various news outlets with details of their stories. The Northern Echo published our story about Thomas Langan on 4 December, the centenary of his death. Thomas was from County Durham in North East England. As a result of this publicity we are delighted to report that we were contacted the next day by Thomas’ great granddaughter, Emma Langan. We are looking forward to sharing the story of the ‘Turin Men’, and learning more about Thomas’ early life.
26 November 2018
We received some very good news today that the Mayor of Oulx has kindly searched through their Municipal archives and has found a police report from 1918, which sheds light on exactly what happened to John Taylor, the soldier who we knew had died as the result of an ‘accident’, and is buried in the village of Oulx. The Mayor sent a copy of the document to Emma Pace, who transcribed it for us and after translating it we have been able to update John’s story in the Remembrance Book.
15 – 16 November 2018
We are very pleased that the ‘Turin Men’ commemorative events have attracted much publicity in Italy. Several newspapers reports appeared after the events and the Italian television channel TGR Piemonte recorded the ceremony in Turin and interviewed our project partner, Emma Pace.
11 November 2018
One of our ‘Turin Men’, Private Evan Lewis was also remembered in London by Deryc Rees who was honoured to take part in the People’s Procession on the centenary of the Armistice, where he laid a wreath at the Cenotaph which was dedicated to his Great Uncle Evan Lewis and his Grandfather, Rhystyd Davies. The message on the card is written in Welsh and reads:
‘In Treasured Memory of Evan Lewis and Rhystyd Davies, Both who did their part’
‘They shall not be forgotten’ The Family x
11 November 2018
One of our ‘Turin Men’, Gunner Alexander Sutherland Mackay had been a student at Brisbane Grammar School in Australia and on 11 November the school held a service of remembrance for all its former students who enlisted in the First World War. Alexander’s name is on the school roll of honour and several of his descendants were there to pay their respects and remember him, including Nicholas and Lincoln who will be following in his footsteps as students at the school.
10 November 2018
A short extract from Alexander Sutherland Mackay’s diary appeared in the Armistice supplement of ‘The Australian’, Australia’s national daily newspaper on 10 November 2018. His diary entry for 11 November 1918 read:
‘Just got official word that hostilities cease at 11am today. Here we are situated in a deserted village can’t even buy a bottle of soda water to celebrate the joyfulness. We are about 12 hours behind Aussie time so it would be about….’
Gunner Alexander Sutherland Mackay died of Pneumonia in Turin on 18 December 1918.
9 November 2018
Our project was featured with a full page article today in ‘La Stampa’, one of Italy’s leading papers. Undoubtedly this will raise public awareness about the wider history of the First World War, especially as most of the soldiers buried in the cemeteries near Turin were not involved on the Italian Front.
8 November 2018
An article has appeared today in La Valsusa, a local Italian newspaper which has reported on the grave of John Carey Alexander Taylor which is in the cemetery in Oulx. Emma’s visit to the cemetery has aroused the interest of the Mayor of Oulx, Paolo De Marchis who is intrigued to know more about the soldier and the fact that this solitary CWGC grave is always decorated with flowers. The Mayor has offered to look through the local archives to see if there is any more information about how John met his death in 1918.
8 November 2018
We are delighted to have received an email from Mr Adam Jones, a Defence and Security Specialist at the British Consulate in Milan who says:
‘I was pleased to hear about the project you have been undertaking to research the campaigns ‘away from the western front’ and I am delighted to support the initiative by attending the ceremony in Turin on Sunday. I have shared the information about your project in collaboration with Emma and Andrea’s article with British Embassy colleagues and they were very supportive of the initiative’.
‘I am pleased to report that the British Ambassador, Jill Morris, has written a letter to Emma expressing thanks for the project to research the lives of the soldiers buried in Turin’.
7 November 2018
Today we received an update from Emma Pace, who said:
‘We have been working hard at school. After studying the historical and literary background to WW1 we are now focusing on the ceremony. To tell the truth I was worried that by now the students may have had enough of all the lessons but this morning they really surprised me when they chose by themselves the poems to read and they wrote their messages on the wooden crosses. I am sure they are looking forward to meeting the soldiers who have become sort of special friends to them’.
6 November 2018
Emma will take two personal items to the Turin cemetery on November 11, from descendants of Evan Lewis and Alexander Mackay. On behalf of the Mackay family in Australia, Nick Jorss, his great great nephew has sent a photograph to be placed at Alexander’s headstone and Emma has made a card for Evan Lewis’ grave, using text supplied by his great nephew, Deryc Rees in Wales.
30 October 2018
At the beginning of November, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day are important dates on the calendar in Italy and are significant for honouring the dead, graves are visited and decorated in remembrance. Luna Nuova, a local newspaper in the Val di Susa, has published a full page article by Marco Giavelli on the stories of two men from our ‘Turin Men’ project, in particular that of William Howard Lewis, who is commemorated in Meana di Susa and John Carey Alexander Taylor, who is buried in Oulx cemetery. Emma hopes that maybe this publicity today may lead to local contacts as when visiting John’s grave some weeks ago Emma found that it had been tended and flowers laid there.
30 October 2018
A printed copy of the ‘Turin Men’, Remembrance Book was the centrepiece of the exhibition display at our National Conference today. One of the silhouettes that had been awarded to ‘Away from the Western Front’ from a charity called ‘There But Not There’, was placed on the chair at the display in honour of one of the men, who was representing all 18 of our Turin soldiers.
We were able to give a brief update about the ‘Turin Men’, project during the day, and many delegates were seen looking through the Remembrance Book. As a result of sharing this work at the conference, we have been asked to give a presentation at one of the branches of the Western Front Association in the West Midlands, where a few of the men had lived prior to the First World War.
15 October 2018
Today we have sent a batch of Royal British Legion poppies and remembrance crosses to Emma for her to use with her students on 11 November, when they will visit the Turin cemeteries and pay their respects to those soldiers, who we have named the ‘Turin Men’.
8 October 2018
We are delighted to have been contacted by Andrea Parodi, a journalist for the Italian newspaper, La Stampa. Andrea has been interested in the story of the Turin hospital and wrote an article earlier this year. Andrea is interviewing us and the two descendants that we‘ve contacted and he will be writing up the story of the ‘Turin men’, and how they will be remembered in November by Emma Pace and her students.
6 October 2018
Emma Pace visited Susa Public Library with Marco Giavelli, who was one of her former students, is now a journalist and will be writing an article on the ‘Turin Men’. Marco had offered to help Emma search through local newspapers to see if they could find any information about the two soldiers who are buried in the Meana and Oulx cemeteries.
Unfortunately they didn’t have any luck, but as they were nearby they visited the Meana cemetery where Sapper William Howard Lewis is commemorated. Whilst there Emma had a chance meeting with the mayor of the village who confirmed that in the past many renovations had occurred in the cemetery and perhaps that is why William’s grave was lost. He is commemorated on a memorial in the cemetery, which is named a Kipling memorial. Emma said, ‘I feel really sad for him. His story is a difficult one and the fact his grave was lost makes it even more sad’.
29 September 2018
After considerable research we have now completed a ‘Book of Remembrance’ for the eighteen soldiers in the cemeteries in Turin, Meana di Susa and Oulx. Click on the book to go to the webpage, where you can download it as a PDF.
26 September 2018
We are delighted to have received 2 versions of the English translation of the beautiful Welsh poem written in memory of Private Evan Lewis. We understand that the original poem was written by T H Lewis, one of Evan Lewis’ cousins. Deryc Lewis, one of Evan’s descendants has translated the poem and his version is entitled ‘A Tear in Longing’. The other, very slightly different interpretation is entitled ‘A Grieving Tear’, translated for us by Alun Evans.
23 September 2018
We have had another report from Emma Pace, who has now visited all the cemeteries near Turin with CWGC burials. She wrote:
‘It was a sunny afternoon, so my husband and I decided to make a quick trip to the mountains, (about 60 km from where I live) to visit John Taylor’s grave in Oulx. I had never been there before although I had planned to go many times. Before getting there I wondered about this poor soldier, one of the youngest of our ‘Turin men’, all alone in this small village, probably buried in a neglected corner of the cemetery, but to my great surprise when I arrived there I found a nicely-tended grave, among all the others, adorned with a pot of geraniums and some small plastic flowers, though these were a bit faded.
I like to imagine that the inhabitants of this nice little village care about him and consider him as one of them. The sun is shining and John’s grave is getting all of it. It is a peaceful place, similar to many other CWGC cemeteries I have visited around Europe even if this is a communal one. I have the sensation that although alone and with no comrades around, John is happy there.
I am sure the people of the village would be happy to know more about John and his story. Then all of a sudden I remember a lot of English people come here every year to go skiing. I am sure that if they knew about John they would come and visit him. And this is where Lyn’ s work comes in!
I leave the cemetery saying goodbye to John, I’ll be back on November 11th and try to find some poppies to put on his grave’.
Oulx is a beautiful place, as you can see from Emma’s photos:
20 September 2018
Another descendant of one of the Turin men has contacted us – this time from Wales. Deryc Rees is directly descended from Evan Lewis, who died of influenza in the Turin Hospital on 10 April 1919. Evan had served in the Pembroke Yeomanry and the Imperial Camel Corps in Egypt, North Africa and Palestine. We were able to share quite a lot of information with Deryc as a result of our research and he commented:
‘It’s very heart-warming to know that some of the stories of these men will be known and not forgotten’.
19 September 2018
Our project in Turin has been attracting attention in Australia. We had been searching for descendants of the men buried in the Turin cemetery. One of these, Gunner Alexander Mackay, tragically died of influenza just a month after the end of the war, aged 34. Alex was an Australian and we found his great great nephew, Nick Jorss from Brisbane. We had already discovered quite a lot of information about Alex including diaries and letters as well as service records, but Nick was able to supply more detail, including the letter written to Alex’s mother by his friend and comrade Bombardier H J Williams. He was absolutely delighted that we were telling his great great uncle’s story, and very moved that some young Italians were planning to lay poppies at his grave on Remembrance Day.
Nick wrote:
‘How amazing that you have done all of this work! I’m stunned and so grateful! We would love to send something over for Remembrance Day. I was just thinking how sad it is I don’t think anyone has visited from the family and I’ve only just become aware of where Alex is. I drove past many of the Western Front battle fields in September on holidays with the family and we also went near Turin! If we had realised then of course we would have stopped in to see Alex’ grave. It would be really nice to have some beautiful young students visit his grave and place something from the family. What an amazing project. It brings tears to my eyes’.
12 September 2018
The new school year has now started in Italy and Emma Pace has sent us the following notes:
‘I have just seen my students again for the first time after the summer holidays. I couldn’t wait to tell them about the project! Would they be interested in the idea?
I showed them some pictures, told them about the hospital and the cemetery in Turin and explained the role of the CWGC. They listened attentively. They are already studying the First World War with their history teacher and they also remember having seen some remembrance poppies when we went to Stratford upon Avon last year.
I explain to them that the world is preparing to commemorate the centenary of the end of the First World War on 11 November and we can do our small part, too. I suggested that we could go and visit the soldiers’ graves in Turin, adding that over the summer ‘Away from the Western Front’ has been doing a lot of research on their stories.
At the end of my introduction they all agreed with the idea of the project!
Great! We are ready to start’.
11 September 2018
Following lots of correspondence over the summer, Emma Pace is keen to tell her students about the research into the British soldiers buried in Turin. Over the weekend she visited the cemetery and took photos of the gravestones. She sent us some notes:
‘Early in the morning, when the light was right, I went to the cemetery to take pictures of the individual graves. As you can see the plot is a bit neglected and there are weeds so I also did a bit of gardening before taking the pictures. I hadn’t been here for five years and it is still very moving, especially now that these soldiers are coming alive thanks to the research done by Lyn from ‘Away from the Western Front’. I am looking forward to seeing my students on Wednesday and talking to them about the project. It will be interesting to see how they will react’.