West Pinchbeck farmer finally finds the grave of his baby brother
A retired West Pinchbeck farmer has a new sense of closure in his life after visiting the grave of his “baby brother” who passed away 75 years ago.
John Davis (88) was only 12 when Jeffrey was laid to rest in an unmarked place at Spalding Cemetery during World War II.
Jeffrey, one of five children born to John’s parents, James and Lillie Davis who lived in Spalding, died of bronchitis in February 1945 when he was just days away from turning seven months old.
But efforts to trace Jeffrey’s grave by Julie Grant and Jane Davis, John’s niece and daughter-in-law respectively, resulted in the two brothers being reunited at Spalding Cemetery on Sunday.
John said: “I didn’t know where my brother’s grave was and I told my niece that I’d like to know.
“But I thought my niece hadn’t taken any notice of me.”
Julie, of Swineshead, said: “My uncle mentioned to me many times that he wanted to find out where his younger brother was buried.
“I love my uncle to bits so I thought to myself: ‘I’ve go to do this for him’.
“So I contacted South Holland District Council to see if there was any way of finding out where Jeffrey was buried.
“The council sent me a map of the cemetery but I thought finding Jeffrey’s grave would be like looking for a needle in a haystack as his parents didn’t mark it out.
“We were thrilled to bits when the cemetery superintendent told us that he could find out from old records exactly where Jeffrey was buried and, between Jane and myself, we managed to get the grave sorted for my uncle to visit it.”
Jane, of Spalding, said: “Julie did most of the work in finding the grave, while I found Jeffrey’s birth certificate and death certificate.
“Once we found the plot, we agreed to have a memorial made, with John’s parents named on it.
“Despite lockdown, the company that made the memorial was able to bring it all together and it looks amazing.
“When my father-in-law saw it, he was absolutely over the moon and it’s brought him a sense of closure.”