EARLY HISTORY OF MOUNT DESERT ISLAND MAINE: A BRITISH SOLDIER BURIED FAR FROM HOME

The Bar Harbor Record
August 19, 1931

BRITISH SAILOR IS BURIED HERE

JOHN ARTHUR CORNISH
Ledgelawn Vemetery
Bar Harbor, Maine

Bar Harbor Joins Officers and Men of H.M.S. Scarborough in Paying Last Respects to Able Seaman John Arthur Cornish
by Richard J. Morgrage

Funeral services for Able Seaman John Arthur Cornish, late a member of the crew of H,M.S. Scarborough, were held at St. Saviour's Episcopal Church on Mount Desert street Monday afternoon, conducted by the Right Reverend William T. Manning, Bishop of New York. Seaman Cornish died Sunday, August 16, at the Mount Desert Island Hospital, following an operation for appendicitis. The beautiful rites were exceedingly impressive and were attended by the town officials, members of George Edwin Kirk Post American Legion, and by members of the British Legation, including Mr. and Mrs. F. Hamilton McCormick Goodhart. Commander A.W.S. Agar, V.C.D.S.O., commander of the Scarborough, and the officials of the ship were present in a body, as were all of the enlisted personal who could be absent from the ship. The chancel was banked with beautiful floral pieces, mute tokens of the love and esteem in which the deceased sailor was held by his sorrowing shipmates and officers. The church itself was filled with members of the summer colony and permanent residents of the town who were gathered to pay their last respects to a guest whose ship came to Bar Harbor on July 13 to take part in the annual international maritime tennis tournament recently completed. Outside in the street itself was a large number who were unable to get into the church, and who waited patiently in the hot sun to pay their tribute to the English sailor who had died while a guest of the town.
John Arthur Cornish was a most esteemed member of the crew of H.M.S. Scarborough, thirty four years of age, and had given nineteen years of his eventful life to the service of his country, having enlisted in 1912. During the World War he served aboard torpedo boat destroyers, armed trawlers, and submarine chasers. He came through the wartime perils with an enviable record of achievements in the face of many dangers, and in testimony whereof was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal, and the Victory medal. Mr. Cornish was nearly ready to retire, having but two more years to serve before being retired on a pension. For his long and distinguished services he had been awarded the Long Service and Good Conduct medals.
Following the impressive rites at St. Saviours, the funeral cortage formed on Mount Desert Street, and with muffled tread followed the hearse to Ledgelawn Cemetery where full naval honors were given the deceased sailor. On either side of the motor hearse filed six stalwart sailors, watch mates, with tear-furrowed checks and heavy hearts, who wished to perform with their own hands the last sad rites for their departed comrade who had shared so much of danger and sacrifice with them. Immediately following the flag-draped coffin came the firing sward, with reversed arms, and following the hearse with muffled tread and bowed heads, marched practically the entire ship's company and the entire commissioned personnel of the Scarbourough. Next came the draped colors and color guard of George Edwin Kirk Post, and a large number of the members of the post, under command of Past-Commander Oliver G. Hall, gathered to render homage of a comrade who served with them during the World war. Following in line were many cars of the summer and permanent residents, and the cortège wound its way to the beautiful cemetery amid silent, reverent throngs whose sympathy had been stirred by the death of this English sailor, so far from his homeland and those so dear to him.

At Ledgelawn Cemetery, Bishop Manning performed the committal services, and as the flag-draped casket slipped into its lasting resting place, the firing squad fired three volleys as a parting tribute to their comrade who had shoved off on his last voyage. Earl Eldridge, a member of George Edwin Kirk Post, played "taps" following the volleys of the firing squad and this most beautiful of all bugle calls expressed most effectively the sadness in the hearts of all those who were present in the cemetery. So strongly did the comrades of the popular sailor feel, that restraint was useless, and tears stained the bronzed checks of many of the sailors, as the casket slip slowly from sight into its last resting place.
The entire community sorrows with the wife and two children left to mourn the death of Seaman Cornish, and following the services many of the members expressed their sympathy to the comrades of the dead sailor. Beautiful, impressive, sad, a lasting impression had been left in Bar Harbor, and a lasting link has been forged which makes our community seem nearer England, as members of the town feel that it is both a sacred privilege and a signal honor to have here the final resting place of so gallant a man as Seaman John Arthur Cornish.

JOHN ARTHUR CORNISH GRAVESTONE

N 44 22.598
W 068 12.505