THE MANCHESTER UNITED GRAVES SOCIETY

by Iain McCartney

Firstly, please do not be put off by the heading, it is far from being as morbid as it looks.

I was always aware of where the lads who sadly died in the Munich Air Disaster were buried, plus the likes of Sir Matt Busby and Billy Meredith, but while involved with writing ‘The United Tour of Manchester’ book, one or two more came to light – Charlie Roberts for one, and having always been interested in any aspect of United’s history, I decided to form the above mentioned ‘Society’ and see how many resting places of former players and officials I could find. No player, no matter if he played one game, or one hundred, should be forgotten. He was, and always will be a United, or Newton Heath player.

So, the search began.

Believe me, the task was not an easy one, although it was to prove immensely rewarding, and continues to be so, as I search for those resting places of former players in a manner that your much respected Sir Joseph Glanville searches for his missing programmes!

One huge bonus in those early days back in what must have been 2019 was coming into contact with a Blackley lady by the name of Catherine Mills. A United supporter and also keen on genealogy, Catherine has been a huge, enthusiastic help and without her I would not have found quite a few of the 280 or so that have been discovered to date.

Locating those resting places, or if a player/ official was cremated, is as mentioned, rewarding, but it can also be somewhat sad. Many of the players, and one manager, lie in unmarked graves, a patch of overgrown grass, others lie in graves that are in need of some tender-loving-care and restoration.

The latter was certainly the case when a friend pointed me in the direction of the grave of Ernest Mangnall in Lytham St Annes, near Blackpool. It did need a tidy up, but also the stone cross that formed part of the headstone lay broken and had done so for some considerable time. Mangnall was the manager of the first United team to win a trophy, the F.A. Cup in 1909, and deserved better.

I therefore made contact with the local authorities and asked if there was any problem in restoring the grave to its former condition. Thankfully there wasn’t, so it was all systems go. Knowing a United supporting Manchester based stone mason, he was approached to give me a price for doing the work required and when that was received, it was then a case of raising funds. This proved not to be overly difficult thanks to Steve Donoghue and the lads at Stretford Enders Wordwide and also Irish Red Keith Norris, who obtained a signed shirt from the United Foundation to raffle. We were up and running.

Covid19 put the restoration on hold, but it eventually happened and it is hopefully the first of many.

I say ‘hopefully’ as not everything is straight forward. Another United manager, Herbert Bamlett lies in an unmarked grave in Stretford Cemetery, a half hour walk from Old Trafford, a cemetery where another manager, Jack Robson, former secretary/ manager Walter Crickmer, and players Jack Mew, John Hanlon and Maurice Setters also lie. Where there is no headstone, a grave marker stone, showing the ‘United Graves Society’ crest – a remake of the old United club badge, has been designed, but in order to lay this, permission is required by the grave owner. In Bamlett’s case that w as his wife, but she died, so it passed to their daughter, who cannot be traced, so …..

Of the 280 or so found, some are Newton Heath players who played only one friendly, but at least their resting place is now known, although more often unmarked, which is sad. Others are scattered the length and breadth of the UK, in Canada, America, South Africa and Australia. I even have one less than half an

hour from my home, with sixties goal machine David Herd buried in a small village cemetery, with his father, who also played one game for United, buried a mere throw in from him.

David’s grave wasn’t hard to find, as I went to his funeral. The only non-family member there, but that’s another story.

Thankfully, with interest in the ‘Graves Society’ gathering momentum United supporters who live near to a grave are visiting them and making sure that they are neat and tidy. Respect to them who do this.

Another plus point regarding the ‘Society’ came from a mention I put on a Facebook site which saw the formation of a similar one for Chelsea players. A supporter of the Stamford Bridge club got in touch, asked me what I did etc and he was so taken in by it all, he set up the Chelsea one. This had the additional benefit of him being able to locate a couple of players involved with both sides. He also went out of his way to get me a photo of Laurie Cunningham’s grave.

That photo, like countless others goes onto a database, where I log the individuals, birth/ death details, along with a small or at times, large biography. To date all that stretches to over 450 pages – and I still have about a dozen players to enter. The club are now aware of the ‘Society’ and will hopefully be of help when required in the future. There are still many to be found, probably another 280, but the they will be searched for until every possible avenue has been exhausted.

Sadly, there are none in Malta or I would have you looking, but next time you are in Manchester and the weather is nice, perhaps a visit to Stretford Cemetery can be arranged in order to pay your respects to a few former United men.

So, there we have it: ‘The Manchester United Graves Society’ – ‘Gone But Not Forgotten.’