Wellshill Cemetery

Wellshill Cemetery is a 19th century cemetery in northern Perth in Scotland. The cemetery is still operational and is under the control of Perth and Kinross Council.[1]

Silhouetted stones at sunset in Wellshill Cemetery, Perth
The grave of the Polish pilots from WW2 at Wellshill and Jeanfield Cemetery, Perth
The central roundel, Wellshill Cemetery, Perth
Monuments in Wellshill Cemetery, Perth

In general the grounds are well-landscaped and well-maintained but with some minor vandalism in the central sections. Unlike many council cemeteries stones are not laid flat if considered dangerous but instead are marked with caution tapes.

History

The cemetery was opened in 1844 as a private cemetery. The original section and original entrance gates lie to the south-east. A parochial (free section) was added to the north around 1860 and further private sections added to the west (now the centre) and far north. A modern section was added by the Council on former Jeanfield recreation ground to the west, and is known as Jeanfield Cemetery. A wall exists between the two cemeteries but the wall has a gap at each end for mutual access.[2]

Modern access is from the south-west on Jeanfield Road. The feature nearest the modern entrance is the monument and attached graves of the 381 Polish pilots who died serving Britain during the Second World War. There are over 90 Commonwealth service personnel and one Belgian soldier buried in the cemetery from the First World War and over 120 Commonwealth personnel from the Second. The cemetery contains a total 573 war graves, maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, of persons who died of wounds, mainly at Perth Royal Infirmary, and other causes.[3]

The Polish code-breaker Lieutenant Colonel Gwido Langer was also originally buried here in 1948, as a Polish Signal Corps grave within the Polish war graves, but his body was exhumed in 2010 for reburial in Poland with full military honours.[4]

Notable interments
  • Thomas Morrison Barr (1834-1903) civil engineer
  • Memorial to Lord Cameron, Neil Cameron, Baron Cameron of Balhousie (1920-1985) commander of the RAF
  • Jown Dewar (1859-1923) Lord Provost of Perth John DEWAR is buried in ABERDALGIE Churchyard to S of Perth. His first wife, Johann TOD is buried in Wellshill Cemetery. Source Findagrave
  • Charles Stuart Douglas (d. 1942) naval architect
  • Matthew Gloag (1850-1912) whisky distiller, creator of the Famous Grouse
  • Andrew Graham (1803-1887) Lord Provost of Perth
  • Giulianotti memorial - a wonderful miniature version of Michelangelo's Pieta
  • John Henderson (1818-1890) early photographer
  • Thomas Love (1836-1909) Lord Provost of Perth
  • John Sturgeon Mackay FRSE (1843-1914) mathematician
  • John McLeish (1819-1884) Lord Provost of Perth
  • Prof William Martin (d.1890) Professor of Moral Philosophy at Aberdeen University
  • Robert MacGregor Mitchell, Lord MacGregor Mitchell (1875-1938)
  • Stirling Malloch (1865-1901) artist
  • Andrew Martin (1838-1905) Lord Provost of Perth
  • Francis (1859-1947) and Stanley Norie-Miller (1888-1973) the Norie-Miller baronets
  • William Paterson (1810-1881) resident engineer overseeing the construction of the Tay Bridge
  • James Pullar (1835-1912) of Pullars of Perth, first person to use modern dry-cleaning methods in Scotland (1867)
  • John Pullar (1803-1878) founder of Pullars of Perth, Lord Provost of Perth
  • Sir Robert Pullar FRSE (1828-1912) of Pullars of Perth, MP for Perth
  • John Murray Robertson (1844-1901) architect
  • Very Rev Vincent Rorison (1851-1910) Dean of St Andrews
  • Robert Smith Shaw (1885-1939) civil engineer
  • James Smart (1847-1903) architect
  • Matthew Hepburn Speedie (1861-1913) shipowner in Leith (memorial only)
  • Sgt. Alexander Thompson VC (1824-1880) recipient of the Victoria Cross
  • Robert de Bruce Trotter (1834-1907) author
  • Andrew Wilson Walker (1884-1913) killed by a train at Perth station
  • George Wilson (1837-1910) Lord Provost of Perth 1890 to 1893

The only grave of note (apart from war graves) in the Jeanfield section is the poet William Soutar (1898-1943)

References
  1. "Perth & Kinross Council - List of burial grounds". Pkc.gov.uk. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  2. "Wellshill Cemetery from The Gazetteer for Scotland". Scottish-places.info. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  4. "The best kept secret of the Enigma Secret « Polish Scottish Heritage". Polishscottishheritage.co.uk. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
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