Sunday’s volunteer Community Clear-Up day in Marlborough’s old cemetery produced an astonishing – and moving – moment for town councillor Stewart Dobson, whose family goes back at least four generations in the town’s history.
He uncovered the hidden grave of William Thomas Dobson, a gunner in World War I, who died of his wounds in a German prisoner-of-war camp in 1918, aged 37.
But whether the late gunner was a member of 67-year-old Councillor Stewart’s own family he has yet to discover – and hopefully will do so when his elder sister, Rosemary, currently away, returns home to Marlborough.
“She knows more about the family history than I do,” he told Marlborough News Online. “It was an absolutely amazing moment when I read the name on the gravestone. And quite moving to find it by chance in such a very strange way.
“While we were clearing up, Richard Beale, the town council’s estate manager, asked if we could discover exactly where any lost graves were hidden so he could then strim the grass areas between them.
“Then I came across this hidden grave and started clearing away the grass…”
His great grandfather, William Dobson, was a Marlborough resident. So was his grandfather, Albert Stewart Dobson, who served in the Wiltshire Yeomany in World War I.
“It was he who started the family motor business in New Road, which my father, Raymond John, took over,” he recalled. “And I worked alongside him and was later in charge myself.
“I don’t know if the grave is that of my maybe my grandfather’s brother or perhaps a cousin or someone like that. At the moment it still remains a mystery.”
Several town councillors took part in the clear-up operation – it also tackled the Common — among them the Mayor, Councillor Guy Loosmore, as well as members of the public who answered a town council appeal for help.
“It was a very successful outing, and made quite an effective difference to the old cemetery,” the Mayor told fellow councillors last night (Monday). “We managed to take away 10 loads of rubbish from the site.
“I would like to thank all the councillors who took part and indeed the public for coming along, our estate manager Richard too, who was there master-minding and controlling all our activities.”