Memorial Unknown Warrior Dover

"Near this spot on 10th November 1920
the body of the Unknown Warrior
was brought ashore from HMS Verdun
on its way to its final resting place
at Westminster Abbey"

On 10th November 1920, HMS Verdun, carrying the coffin of the Unknown Warrior tied up on Admiralty Pier Dover.
A memorial was unveiled by General Guthrie in the Cruise Terminal in 1997.
Under escort from the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers the coffin was taken to the Dover Harbour railway station where it was loaded onto the prototype Parcels and Miscellaneous Van Number 132 of the South Easter and Chatham Railway. Van 132 is also known as the Edith Cavell Van as it had been used in the repatriation of the bodies of Nurse Edith Cavell and Captain Charles Fryatt from Belgium in 1919.

The Royal Irish Fusiliers had been formed from the amalgamation of the 87th and 89th Regiments of Foot. At the Battle of Barrosa, 5 March 1811, the 87th had captured the Imperial Eagle of the 8e Regiment d'Infanterie de Ligne who had guarded and escorted the Unknown Warrior in Boulogne the day before.

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Source

• Text: Sharky Ward
• Photos: RM Bigrigg (1), Terry Giles (2, 3)