 GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

by Iain McCartney

In the last issue of ‘Echoes’ I spoke of the development of the ‘Manchester United Graves Society’ and since writing that article, it has continued to flourish, with more resting places of United players being discovered. As I may have mentioned, it is a far from easy task and one that has no definitive road map as in how to go about things and find a particular cemetery or a crematorium. In all honesty, it is a mixture of amateur detective work and pure luck.

Before proceeding, I have to add that there are one or two players whose resting places I have found but will never be able to visit, nor obtain a photograph of their headstone for my records. In the formative years of Newton Heath, two of their most noted individuals were brothers Roger and Jack Doughty, celebrated Welsh Internationals. I discovered that the brothers were both buried in the same Manchester cemetery – All Saints, Newton Heath, as were the likes of Herbert Dale, Charles Fenton and George Robinson, but on doing further research I was shocked to discover that the cemetery is no more and the land forms part of a school playground!

I am led to believe that many of the bodies were removed prior to the construction of the playground and re-buried in Phillips Park Cemetery, a short distance from City’s Etihad ground, but there are no markers or whatever to identify who is where.

Although cemeteries can be sad, depressing places, they can be interesting places to walk round, more so if you are to find the grave of a former United player or two. For those of you who travel from Malta to Manchester for games and want something a little different than a visit to the Trafford Centre, or you are looking for something to do in order to pass the time pre-match, then why not take a half hour walk down Chester Road and head towards Stretford Cemetery.

Walking down Chester Road, keeping to the left, you will come to what used to be a cinema on the corner of Edge Lane [you can’t miss it], turn left here and about a couple of hundred yards on the right is Lime Road, which takes you to the cemetery.

However, let us backtrack slightly. As you are walking down Chester Road, you will come to the Greatstone Hotel and on the opposite side of the road you will see a war memorial. If you cross the road towards the memorial, or do it on the way back, there is a plaque on the wall behind the memorial which contains the name of the man whose goal won the FA Cup for United in 1909 – Alexander (Sandy) Turnbull, who lost his life in May 1917 at Arras in France during the First World War. His body was never found.

But why are we heading to Stretford Cemetery, I hear you ask? Because it allows you to pay your respects to not one, but four [perhaps five, as will be explained] individuals with United connections.

Many are well aware of the fact that former club secretary, and stand-in manager, Walter Crickmer was buried here following his death at Munich and his headstone is easy to spot, a short walk down the main path from the front gate, as there is always a red, black and white scarf hanging from the cross of his headstone. However, none of those who visit Walter’s grave are aware that they have walked past the grave of an England international who made one short of 200 appearances for United and also won a Football League international cap. The

player is goalkeeper Jack Mew, whose grave is just inside the gates on the left. I have to admit that I myself had walked past Jack Mew’s grave a couple of times before I knew that he was buried in this cemetery.

Mew joined United in July 1912 and left to join Barrow in 1926, having been awarded two benefits with the club. His solitary England cap came in October 1923 against Ireland, played by pure coincidence in his home town of Sunderland.

On one of those visits, I had come to look for the grave of former manager Jack Robson, who had actually lived and died in one of the houses on what is now Sir Matt Busby Way. Jack’s grave can be found in Section G, grave 93, which can be found down behind the chapel in the centre of the main path.

Also in this Cemetery, on the same side as Crickmer, in section R1, grave 238 is Johnny Hanlon who played both pre- and post-war for United and also spent time as a prisoner of war during the hostilities in the 1940’s. Hanlon was to make some 70 appearances for United, scoring 22 goals, having joined the club as a schoolboy in 1934 and leaving to join Bury in 1948.

So, four United servants within a short walk of each other, but I did say that there was possibly five. That possible fifth is Maurice Setters, a hard tackling individual from the team of the early 1960’s. Maurice died in November 2020 and was cremated, but there was the possibility that his ashes were either going to be interred, or scattered at the grave of his young son who is buried in Stretford Cemetery. It has yet to be confirmed to me if either of those two actions were carried out, as let me just say, things were far from straight forward.

Possibly there may be one or two more United people in Stretford Cemetery, but if so, they have still to be found. At least with this particular Cemetery, the individuals concerned have headstones, as is not always the case, as there are a few in Phillips Park and Gorton where there are none, just an empty space or two. This was something I also discovered when visiting three in the Glasgow area, where only one had a headstone. Sad, but unfortunately, due to red tape etc, there is not much that can be done, but the search will continue and if it is possible to do something to keep the names of those who wore the shirt alive, then it will be done.