Page 13 - James Eric Frederick Paton

Sir Frederic Kenyon summed up his vision for the Commission Cemeteries in February 1918.

'The general appearance of a British cemetery will be that of an enclosure with plots of grass or
flowers (or both) separated by paths of varying size, and set with orderly rows of headstones,
uniform in height and width. Shrubs and trees will be arranged in various places, sometimes as
clumps at the junctions of ways, sometimes as avenues along the sides of the principal paths,
sometimes around the borders of the cemetery. The graves will, wherever possible, face towards
the east, and at the eastern end of the cemetery will be a great altar stone, raised upon broad
steps, and bearing some brief and appropriate phrase or text. Either over the stone, or elsewhere
in the cemetery, will be a small building, where visitors may gather for shelter or for worship, and
where the register of the graves will be kept. And at some prominent spot will rise the Cross, (the
cross of sacrifice) as the symbol of the Christian faith and of the self-sacrifice of the men who now
lie beneath its shadow'

Many of the graves in Hanover War Cemetery were brought in from prisoner of war camp
cemeteries, small German cemeteries and from isolated positions in the surrounding country.

The cemetery contains 2,407 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 62 of them
unidentified. There are also 39 non-war burials and 10 war graves of other nationalities, most of
them Polish. It was designed by P.D. Hepworth.

Hanover War Cemetery adjoins Hanover Military Cemetery, a substantial post war military
cemetery of more than 3,000 burials.