Hillingdon and Uxbridge Cemetery

During the two world wars, the United Kingdom became an island fortress used for training troops and launching land, sea and air operations around the globe. There are more than 170,000 Commonwealth war graves in the United Kingdom, many being those of servicemen and women killed on active service, or who later succumbed to wounds. Others died in training accidents, or because of sickness or disease. The graves, many of them privately owned and marked by private memorials, will be found in more than 12,000 cemeteries and churchyards. Hillingdon House Canadian Convalescent Hospital was opened in September 1915 and taken over by the Royal Flying Corps in 1917. During the Second World War, many of the hospitals in Middlesex, including those at Hillingdon and Uxbridge, became Military Station Hospitals and the Royal Air Force station at Uxbridge played a significant role throughout the war. Hillingdon and Uxbridge Cemetery contains 38 First World War burials scattered throughout the cemetery. The Second World War burials number 58, 30 of the graves, mostly those of airmen, forming a war graves plot towards the centre of the cemetery. The cemetery also contains a number of post war Royal Air Force graves.