This page on Skopje British Cemetery is one of a series of articles I’ve written on the Salonika Campaign which can be viewed by clicking on the link below:
- The Salonika Campaign
- Guides to Researching Soldiers who Served in the British Army
Skopje British Cemetery
The Skopje British Cemetery is the only Commonwealth War Graves Commission (C.W.G.C.) cemetery in the Republic of North Macedonia. It is quite unusual to only find one C.W.G.C. cemetery in a country, especially in Europe. The cemetery contains the graves of 118 service personnel who died during and after the First World War, six unidentified graves and special memorials to six soldiers whose graves in the Uskub German Cemetery couldn’t be found after the war. The cemetery was created after the Armistice by concentrating British burials in what was at the time Serbia, including at the Kumanovo British Cemetery and Veles British and French Military Cemeteries.
Skopje British Cemetery is located over a mile north of the capital’s train station. The cemetery is out of the main tourist area and is a short walk from the Hotel Continental. There are a couple of paths leading off Alexander the Great Boulevard which will take you to the cemetery, passing through blocks of student accommodation. The cemetery is next to St. Michael the Archangel Church which is a better location to ask for if you’re coming by taxi/get lost walking there. The cemetery is open from 8 am to 8 pm between 1 April and 30 September and 8 am to 4 pm between 1 October and 31 March.
Nurse Caroline Toughill is the earliest death in the cemetery by far, as she was killed in a car accident on 14 November 1915. The Scottish Women’s Hospital was founded by Dr Elsie Inglis and provided medical assistance on a variety of fronts during the war. The Scottish Women’s Hospital sent a unit to Serbia towards the end of 1914 which did excellent work under very trying conditions. Toughill died when the car in which she was travelling went over a precipice near Mitrovica during the great retreat of the Serbian Army into Albania. A report of Toughill’s death was published in The Scotsman, 25 December 1915:
The withdrawal of the Scottish lady doctors and nurses from Serbia was, unfortunately, not accomplished without loss of life. In the case of Dr M’Gregor’s party, the overturning of a motor car near Mitrovitza resulted in the death of Mrs Toughill, one of the nurses. She was much beloved of the unit, and her death was deeply regretted.
Mrs Toughill was the only daughter of the late Major Robert Brown, 29th Madras Native Infantry, and a widow of independent means, and prior to going to Serbia she had resided for some time in Morningside Road, Edinburgh. She has a son in the Navy. Mrs Toughill was buried at a particularly beautiful spot in the neighbourhood, which previous to her accident she had greatly admired.
Of those buried in the cemetery, ninety-one were serving with the Royal/Army Service Corps at the time of their deaths. The Army Service Corps was responsible for the army’s supplies and transport and received the Royal prefix on account of its war service in late 1918. Service records don’t survive for most of these soldiers but almost all of them would have died of Spanish Flu. One of them was Corporal Edward Charles Thomas James of the 880th Mechanical Transport Company who died on 28 October 1918. Edward enlisted on 7 June 1916 at Cricklewood and gave his address as 25 Kingsley Road, Kilburn age as 27 and occupation as Motor Driver. Mobilized a month later, Edward trained at the Mechanical Transport Depot at Grove Park, London before he was posted to the 880th Mechanical Transport Company. The Company left Britain for Salonika (Thessaloniki, Greece) on 21 May 1917 and after crossing France, arrived at the port on 15 July. Edward caught sandfly fever in August of that year and only returned to the Company in March 1918. Edward died at Veles of influenza in a hospital run by Major. F. S. Langmead, who commanded a detachment of the 60th General Hospital there.