LAST week, we told the story of Belgian soldier Pieter Vermote who lies in the old cemetery in Sedgefield, opposite the site of Winterton hospital, where he died in 1918. We were intrigued to find a couple of polished pebbles on top of his headstone with poppies painted on them.

READ FIRST: CORNERS OF SOUTH DURHAM THAT ARE FOREVER BELGIAN

For further information, Sheila Swanson points us to a thread on the Sedgefield Local History Society Facebook page which tells how the cemetery is being “rewilded” and gets a rough cut by the council once a year.

However, as a war grave, Pieter’s grave is looked after by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and is quite regularly tidied around and cleaned, and a tealight is lit on it every Christmas Eve.

The stones – signed with the initials NB – are the gift of a Belgian lady who leaves similar representations on the 13 Belgian graves at Birtley, near Chester-le-Street, where thousands of refugees worked in a munitions factory, and on one in Harrogate.

The Belgian headstone in North Ormesby cemetery. Picture: Peter LoughlinPIETER is not the only one to lie under an official Belgian headstone. As we told last week, there is another one in Darlington’s West Cemetery, and Peter Loughlin has got in touch to tell of one in St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Cemetery in North Ormesby.

It is of Anton de Saeger, a soldier in the Transport Corps, who was born in Dendermonde, a town which today has a population of 45,000, in 1883 and who died in Middlesbrough in 1918.

“The war graves record for the North Riding just says there is the grave of a Belgian soldier but gives no other details,” says Peter. “Middlesbrough reference library has the burial records for the cemetery but is unfortunately closed at the moment.”

Howden-le-Wear war memorial in the 1940sNOW to correction corner. Last week, we told how Howden-le-Wear war memorial was commemorating its 100th anniversary as it was unveiled on November 11, 1924. However, we were wrong to say that the name of Chief Engine Room Artificer Wilfred Elliott is on the memorial – although perhaps it should be.

Wilfred died on April 25, 1916, less than 24 hours after taking part with a trial in the North Sea to launch biplanes from a submerging submarine.

He was 35, and lived with his wife, Elsie, in Portsmouth, but his parents, Mr and Mrs JT Elliott were still in Howden-le-Wear having got married in Fir Tree, so we think he grew up in the area.

Jessie Childs: not bad for an octagenarian, or did we make another mistake?“I FOUND the article about the mysterious plane crash in the Middle East in 1943 in which diplomat Stephen Childs was killed really interesting,” says Alan Stewart in Crook. “I have seen Jessie Childs, whom you described as his daughter, on a few TV history programmes and find her very knowledgeable.

“However, if he was her father she would be in her eighties now, and looking at her photo and seeing her on TV, she is remarkably young looking for someone of this advanced age.

“She was actually born in 1976 so I presume that Stephen Childs was actually her grandfather! Keep up the good work.”

Sorry, but thanks for being eagle-eyed.

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