A memorial honouring 26 forgotten World War One soldiers has been unveiled at a Croydon cemetery.

The soldiers, all from Croydon, were treated for various mental illnesses in Coulsdon’s infamous Cane Hill Asylum after they returned from the Great War.

Soldiers admitted to the asylum suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, then known as shellshock, and having died while in institutional care were summarily disposed of in mass, unmarked graves.

Although they received full military funerals and were buried separately from other asylum patients, once buried they lay forgotten and their names were not included on the Debt of Honour until a campaign by the Croydon Guardian saw them added to the list two years ago.

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In 2008, the former hospital’s cemetery was deconsecrated to make way for a housing development and nearly 6,000 bodies of soldiers and ordinary patients were exhumed and their ashes scattered in various locations, including the garden of remembrance in Mitcham Road Cemetery.

A memorial recognising the servicemen was unveiled at the cemetery, previously known as Croydon Cemetery, in 2011 but it was later vandalised and stolen.

The new memorial, comprised of three stones – two listing the names of the soldiers admitted to the asylum and the other with a dedication of thanks for their service – was unveiled at a special service in the Croydon Crematorium East Chapel yesterday.

Michael Lyons, of the New Addington Royal British Legion, has dedicated the last two years to creating the memorial.

He said: “All they had was a grave marked by a number and then they were dug up, their bodies mixed with the other patients and they were brought here [to Croydon Crematorium] to be cremated.

“When we found this out we done our nut because as a serviceman they are entitled to, and they should have, a military grave.

“So what we have done is bring the memory of their service back today.

“It is so important to keep their memory alive, this is keeping their memory and their regiment alive.

“Once you start forgetting about the past you have got nothing.”

Mr Lyons, who himself served in the East Surrey regiment of the British Army before moving onto the 3rd Battalion of the parachute regiment, added: “These are the soldiers that suffered invisible injuries, like post-traumatic stress or brain damage.

“When you think of these people’s families’ years ago, when it happened, the families disowned them.

“They wouldn’t talk about it because of the terrible stigma around it.”

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Special guests paid tribute to the fallen servicesmen 

Emma Kitchener, the great grandniece of First Earl Herbert Kitchener, was a special guest at the service.

The former Secretary of State of War and face of the famous “Your country needs you” war-time propaganda posters, was one of more than 600 killed on board the HMS Hampshire when it sank near the Orkney Islands after hitting a German mine on June 5, 1916.

Lady Kitchener said: “They really deserve [this memorial] and we should honour them with pride.

“When you really look at the case studies each one moves you to tears and it would be quite wrong not to continue to remember them.”

Lieutenant Colonel Graham Jones, delivering the eulogy at the remembrance service, said: “Apart from the 900,000 killed in action over two million servicemen were injured, many returning home with life changing injuries to try and rebuild their lives with the help of friends and family, but what about soldiers returning from war suffering mental illness.

“In Croydon these brave soldiers were placed in Cane Hill asylum and hospital.

“These soldiers, too, were heroes. The only different between those who survived, the thousands who died and the poor souls who broke down mentally and were classed as mad, because of the constant strain and horrors they faced, was the fact that instead of losing their lives they lost their sanity.

“They risked just as much but lost more than most who were lucky enough to live through their ordeals.”

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Pipe Major Tony Daniel played as wreaths were laid at the memorial

Samantha Daynes, spokeswoman for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, said: "It is extremely important that those men and women who lost their lives during both world wars are remembered and commemorated for what they did.

“We have more than 300,000 war graves and memorials in Britain. There is at least one war grave three miles from everyone's front door. They must all be remembered.”

The names of the 26 soldiers are listed below:

  • Sergeant Alfred Charles Cartwright, Grenadier Guards
  • Sapper George John Lammie, Royal Engineers
  • Private Bertie Harvey, Royal Welsh Fusilers
  • Private Alexander John McKenzie, Northumberland Fusilers
  • Private William Penney, London Regiment Royal Fusilers
  • Lance Corporal Samuel Schoolneart, Kings Royal Rifle Corps
  • Rifleman Richard Leonard Skinner, Kings Royal Rifle Corps
  • Private Walter William Sutton, Royal Army Service Corps
  • Private Robert Thomas, Army Service Corps,
  • Private Leonard Dobson, The Queens Royal West Surey Regiment
  • Private John George Grrombridge, Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment
  • Private Charles William Fredrick Fray, Middlesex Regiment
  • Private Frederick Taylor, Somerset Light Infantry
  • Private George R Tullick, Welsh Regiment 
  • Private Albert Henry Wilson, South Wales Borderers
  • Gunner Edmund Cattley, Royal Artillery
  • Private Robert John Gibbon, Royal Army Medical Corps
  • Air Mechanic Second Class George Charles Lawrence, Royal Flying Corps

Still awaiting commemoration

  • James Charmont, Navy
  • Samual John Davis, Navy
  • Nelson Giles, Navy
  • William Edgar Agar, Army
  • Ralph Henry Hutcherson, Army
  • William John Budgen, Army
  • Albert Chapman, Army 
  • Paul Frant, Amry

Do you know the soldiers? Email andrea.downey@newsquest.co.uk