Hatfield Road Cemetery, St. Albans

During the two world wars, the United Kingdom became an island fortress used for training troops and launching land, sea and air operations around the globe. There are more than 170,000 Commonwealth war graves in the United Kingdom, many being those of servicemen and women killed on active service, or who later succumbed to wounds. Others died in training accidents, or because of sickness or disease. The graves, many of them privately owned and marked by private memorials, will be found in more than 12,000 cemeteries and churchyards. During the First World War, the County of Middlesex War Hospital was established in the Middlesex Mental Hospital at Napsbury, near St. Albans, and from 1914 to March 1915 the city of St. Albans was the Headquarters of the 47th London Division. The Second World War saw the Hill End Hospital, St. Albans, taken over by the Military authorities, and service war burials were carried out from this hospital. There are 147 First World War burials in Hatfield Road Cemetery, 93 of them forming a war graves plot. Some of the 79 Second World War graves form a separate plot. The rest of the graves are scattered throughout the cemetery.