privatehudson
The Ultimate Badass
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2003
- Messages
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I got the idea for this thread on holiday in Paris the other week. I visited Père Lachaise cemetery and saw the graves of many famous people. The majority were French of course but there was quite a few famous non-French people buried there also. One of the more unusual burials is Sidney Smith, a British naval officer who was instrumental in getting up Napoleon's nose during the latter's campaign in Egypt (to such an extent that Napoleon is supposed to have said about him "That man made me miss my destiny").
This got me thinking about cemeteries around here and the unusual people buried locally. In Toxteth Park Cemetery there is the following unusual graves:
Buried here are two natives of Georgia, who would feature prominently during the American Civil War, James Dunwoody Bulloch and his half brother Irvine Stephen Bulloch.
James was the older and had served in the US navy for 14 years before the war broke out. He spent most of the war in Great Britain, arranging for the purchase or construction of commerce raiders and blockade runners. He purchased the CSS Florida and was instrumental in commissioning the CSS Alabama from Birkenhead shipbuilding firm of Laird Brothers. He also attempted to build ironclad rams on the Mersey for use in the Confederate Navy.
Irvine was 19 years younger than James and served on the CSS Alabama as its youngest officer. He later served on the CSS Shenandoah which was in the Pacific when the crew discovered that the ACW was over. Irvine was responsible for navigating the ship back from near San Francisco to Liverpool where it surrendered to the city authorities in November 1865, long after the war was over.
On the base of James' grave on this side it says "American by birth", on the next it says "Englishman by choice". This inscription was added in 1968 by the Daughters of the Confederacy and reflects the fact that both brothers felt it was impossible to return after the war, preferring to live out the rest of their life in the UK.
In an interesting twist their sister Martha married Theodore Roosevelt Senior so that in time the brothers became uncles to the future president of the United States of America, Teddy Roosevelt.
Anyway I would be interested in what unusual historical figures might be buried in other poster's local cemeteries.
This got me thinking about cemeteries around here and the unusual people buried locally. In Toxteth Park Cemetery there is the following unusual graves:
Buried here are two natives of Georgia, who would feature prominently during the American Civil War, James Dunwoody Bulloch and his half brother Irvine Stephen Bulloch.
James was the older and had served in the US navy for 14 years before the war broke out. He spent most of the war in Great Britain, arranging for the purchase or construction of commerce raiders and blockade runners. He purchased the CSS Florida and was instrumental in commissioning the CSS Alabama from Birkenhead shipbuilding firm of Laird Brothers. He also attempted to build ironclad rams on the Mersey for use in the Confederate Navy.
Irvine was 19 years younger than James and served on the CSS Alabama as its youngest officer. He later served on the CSS Shenandoah which was in the Pacific when the crew discovered that the ACW was over. Irvine was responsible for navigating the ship back from near San Francisco to Liverpool where it surrendered to the city authorities in November 1865, long after the war was over.
On the base of James' grave on this side it says "American by birth", on the next it says "Englishman by choice". This inscription was added in 1968 by the Daughters of the Confederacy and reflects the fact that both brothers felt it was impossible to return after the war, preferring to live out the rest of their life in the UK.
In an interesting twist their sister Martha married Theodore Roosevelt Senior so that in time the brothers became uncles to the future president of the United States of America, Teddy Roosevelt.
Anyway I would be interested in what unusual historical figures might be buried in other poster's local cemeteries.
