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Cheshire – Chester (Overleigh) Cemetery

Lieutenant-Commander James Sholto Douglas, who died on 18th December 1916, is buried in Chester (Overleigh) Cemetery, Cheshire (Old Cemetery, plot C of E 2433). 

The original Overleigh Cemetery was opened by the Chester General Cemetery Company in 1850.  The site was laid out between 1848 and 1850 in Overleigh Road in the south-west Handbridge area of the city, close to the River Dee and Grosvenor Bridge.  Its architect was a local man, Thomas Wainwaring Penson (1818-64). The chapels and entrance gate are now listed by English Heritage.  Besides two chapels, two lodges and a chaplain's house, the original Victorian cemetery contained an ornamental lake with three small islands; none of these survive.  A newer cemetery was built on the other side of Overleigh Road and opened in April 1953.

Overleigh Cemetery contains 127 graves from the First World War and 69 from the Second World War.  The majority of the burials are scattered throughout the cemetery but there is a small war graves plot made up of 32 graves from both wars.

Chester (Overleigh) Cemetery
Chester (Overleigh) Cemetery, © The War Graves Photographic Project.