The Jewish cemetery in Dover
Marilyn Stephenson-Knight
Marilyn Stephenson-Knight, from the Dover War Memorial Project, has kindly provided information on the Dover Tram Disaster, the worst ever UK tram disaster, and its Jewish victims - it seems that Rabbi Barnstein witnessed the death of his brother in law, who had come to celebrate his golden wedding anniversary. She also provides details on Jewish war-graves in the Dover cemetery.
It was recently our great pleasure to visit the cemetery in Dover with one of our Jewish friends. She permitted me to read a kaddish by the grave of the person we had come to visit, and she sang a song of praise in the cemetery, quite beautifully.
I thought you might be interested in a little more information regarding some of the burials. Amongst them is the grave I went to visit, that of Solomon Joseph. He was a councillor in Folkestone, and sadly was killed in the Dover Tram accident (the worst in the UK) on 20 August 1917. Even more poignantly, he died on a day of celebration in his family, having come to help celebrate the golden wedding of his brother-in-law, Rabbi Bernstein.
This link to our website gives more details about the accident and other victims:
http://www.doverwarmemorialproject.org.uk/Information/Jottings/Dovercemeteries/Roberts%20Tram.htm
Also buried in the cemetery are two casualties from war-time, Philip Myers, who served in the Canadian Infantry and died in 1917 (he was, however, a sailor before he joined up on 12 June 1915), and Jack Barnston of the Rifle Brigade, who died in 1940. They are both marked by Commonwealth War Graves headstones; there is a third casualty there also, whose headstone I have asked a Dutch friend to translate - I am not yet certain of the words. However, the casualty is named L. Zwartser and his dates are 2 August 1908 to 25 June 1944.
With best wishes, Marilyn Stephenson-Knight
Founder, The Dover War memorial Project
