The 13th August 2024 saw our team join the Mayor of Derby and local volunteers in completing the restoration and cleaning of 11 headstones at Chaddesden Derbyshire. This included the family plot of Sir Henry Wilmot VC and several generations including Emma Wilmot whose headstone cross had been severely damaged. The team were able to repin Emma's cross and re-stabilise a much older family headstone where the inscription had severely deteriorated, before cleaning each one and revealing beautiful white marble inlays in sandstone headstones.
Checking through the graveyard we found a World War 2 casualty Albert Boss, killed in action May 9th 1944 and whose announcement of death is contained in a newspaper cutting below. Sarah and Mathew Walker's headstone were tended to along with Lisa Jane Gabb, a baby who died in 1966. Local butcher Francis Oldershaw and family were also cleaned.
Sir Henry's citation for the Vc reads:
LUCKNOW 11 March 1858 He was 27 years old and serving in the 2nd Bn, Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort’s Own) when his company was engaged with a large number of the enemy near the Iron Bridge. At one point Wilmot and three other men found themselves confronting a considerable number of rebels at the end of a street. One of the three men was shot through both legs and Corporal Nash, together with Private Hawkes, who was himself wounded, lifted the man up and carried him for some considerable distance, while Captain Wilmot covered the retreat of the party using the other men’s rifles. All three men were awarded the VC. Wilmot was one of only a few VC holders who became MPs. He died on 7 April 1901.
Brazier, Kevin. The Complete Victoria Cross: A Full Chronological Record of All Holders of Britain's Highest Award for Gallantry (p. 245). Pen & Sword Books. Kindle Edition.
Checkout the gallery for images of the work completed.
