War historians believe that a different officer who died at Loos in 1915 lies in cemetery
David Smith, Sunday November 4, 2007
The Observer
‘Known unto God’ – the simple, consoling epitaph on the graves of nameless soldiers will resonate next week on Remembrance Sunday. It was penned by Rudyard Kipling, the writer whose own son went missing in action on a First World War battlefield. It was not until 1992 that John Kipling’s resting place was located and, amid much publicity, a headstone erected bearing his name.
But the headstone – inscribed with the words ‘Lieutenant John Kipling, Irish Guards’ – stands over the grave of the wrong man, according to two war historians. Tonie and Valmai Holt, who have spent years studying letters and military records, argue it is most likely to be the burial place of Arthur Jacob, a lieutenant in the London Irish regiment who went missing two days before Kipling. They have called on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to reopen the case.
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