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A plan to pay tribute to the Unknown Warrior’s links to Dover by re-naming a road after him has been praised.
Dover District Council leader Cllr Trevor Bartlett is now supporting the scheme which, he said this morning, he is willing to explore.
On Wednesday Dover councillor Graham Wanstall had asked the leader for his support via questions section at DDC's full council meeting, and Cllr Bartlett reasoned that the road in question already has a name. And a plaque to the nation’s anonymous war hero already exists in the town.
But since then he has discussed the merits with Cllr Wanstall who revealed he wants Station Approach Road by Dover Priory to be re-named Unknown Warrior Way in honour of the First World War hero's link to the railway.
Cllr Wanstall said: “Recently the important anniversary was passed when the famous British Unknown Warrior made his train journey from Dover to London.
“It was not commemorated as planned due to the restrictions. Therefore, I propose that the short Approach Road from Folkestone Road to the Railway Station along with the Railway area in front of Dover Priory Railway Station be called Unknown Warrior Way to commemorate the fact that the train passed through the Priory station from Dover Marine Station on the journey to London.”
Cllr Wanstall is a representative for Town and Castle, Dover’s biggest ward which includes the priory station.
He has been successful in gaining DDC’s backing in re-naming a path to the White Cliffs after forces sweetheart Dame Vera Lynn.
The singer’s daughter Virginia Lewis-Jones has also supported Cllr Wanstall in his endeavour, and wrote to thank him in November.
Vera Lynn Way, part of the North Downs Way, which goes to Langdown Cliffs via Athol Terrace, is expected to be unveiled in the spring.
On Wednesday night, in answer to the question about Unknown Warrior Way, Cllr Bartlett said: “I’d like to take the opportunity to thank Graham for bringing this to our attention and highlighting the role Dover played in the journey of the Unknown Warrior to his final resting place in Westminster Abbey. It’s very sad this event was not commemorated as we would have wished it to happen but due to the pandemic it could not take place.
“Whilst I welcome the suggestion being made by Graham the area he has proposed is already Priory Station Approach Road and the event is already marked with a plaque, erected by the Dover Society in 1997.
“I’m happy to follow this up further with Graham outside this meeting but that is my answer for him tonight.”
The existing plaque is inside a building at Dover Cruise Terminal, the former Marine Station.
Since Wednesday the leader has found out more about Mr Wanstall's plan.
He feels there could be scope for putting a plaque at the station approach explaining the link for visitors and residents who don't already know it.
The Unknown Warrior, although completely anonymous, symbolises all those who died during the First World War.
His body was buried with full military honours at Westminster Abbey two years after the end of the conflict.
The idea that an unknown serviceman should be buried among Britain's monarchs came from the Rev David Railton to “ease the pain of father, mother, brother, sister, sweetheart,
wife and friend.”
Dover War Memorial Project says: "On the night of November 7, 1920, bodies were exhumed from each of the main British battle areas on the Western Front, and brought to the chapel at St Pol, in northern France. Each was covered with a Union Flag.
"Brigadier-General L. J. Wyatt, the commander of British troops in France and Flanders, chose at random a body.
"This was placed in a coffin, which was taken to Boulogne, and transported aboard HMS Verdun to Dover on November 10, 1920. From Dover Marine Station the coffin travelled by train to Victoria Station, London, arriving at 8.32pm on platform 8. It remained there overnight.
On the morning of November 11, 1920, the second anniversary of the Armistice, the Unknown Warrior’s coffin was draped with the Union Flag that the Rev Railton had used for battlefield services in France, and was drawn through silent crowds to the Cenotaph.
"This war memorial on Whitehall, designed by Edwin Lutyens, [the same designer of The Salutation in Sandwich] was then unveiled by King George V."
"After a two-minute silence at 11 am, the Unknown Warrior was taken to Westminster Abbey. The coffin entered the Abbey through a ceremonial guard formed mainly by recipients of the Victoria Cross and was interred at the west end of the nave.
The coffin was buried in soil from the main battlefields. Some hundred women who had lost their husbands and all their sons also witnessed the burial.
The grave was eventually capped with a black Belgian marble stone. This is the only tombstone in the Abbey on which it is forbidden to walk. It features an inscription made from melted-down wartime ammunition. Unknown Warrior, a symbol of national grief.
Cllr Wanstall said: "I am extremely grateful to Cllr Bartlett for his genuine co-operation on this and many other matters in the past year."
He also initiated the installation of a memorial plaque at the site of The Crypt, a restaurant in Bench Street with flats above that caught fire in 1977. The blaze killed seven people including three children.
