In Memory of
WALTER JAMES STARLING
Private 8749
1st Bn., Norfolk Regiment
who died on
Friday, 22nd June 1917. Age 23.
Additional Information:
Son of Walter and Ellen Starling, of Sculthorpe Lodge, Fakenham, Norfolk.
Commemorative Information
Cemetery:
NIKOLAI CEMETERY, Latvia
Grave Reference/
Panel Number:
I. C. 3.
Location:
The Cemetery is a small plot within the large civil cemetery of Jelgava. The Cemetery is
about 4 kilometres south-east of the town centre on Bauskas lela (P-82), which is the
road to Mezciems.
Historical Information:
LATVIA. NIKOLAI CEMETERY, JELGAVA. The graves marked by A/C are also commemorated
on the Brookwood (Russia) Memorial. JELGAVA , better known as Mitau, was founded in
1271 by the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights. With the rest of Courland, it became
Polish territory in 1561 and Russian in 1795. It was captured by German forces in the
summer of 1915; and in 1919 it became part of the Republic of Latvia. The establishment
of the Republic was followed by a successful struggle for national existence against
Russian and unofficial German troops. The Nikolai Cemetery is a national cemetery two
miles South-East of Jelgava, on the road to Bauske. To the right of the main path are the
memorial and the graves of Latvian soldiers killed in the war of independence; to the left
is the British plot, covering 299 square yards, and marked by a War Cross. Between the
two plots is a memorial chapel with a belfry. The British plot contains the graves of 36
sailors and soldiers from the United Kingdom, most of whom died as prisoners in 1917 on
what is now Latvian territory. Thirty-one (including three unidentified) belonged to
British
regiments, and five (including one unidentified) to the Royal Navy or the Royal Naval
Division. All the graves were brought in from other burial grounds after the Armistice; 17
came from MITAU RUSSIAN CEMETERY, four from MONIAK FARM CEMETERY (near the
prison camp at Latschen), three from LIBAU NORTH CEMETERY, three from KLIWENHOF
CHURCHYARD, and nine from other places. The Register records particulars of 36 War
Graves. (See plan on page 5.). LATVIA. NIKOLAI CEMETERY, JELGAVA. LATVIA. NIKOLAI
CEMETERY, JELGAVA. LITHUANIA (Lietuva).
Copyright The Commonwealth War Graves Commission