'We are the guardians of nearly 100,000 people'

A Bedford cemetery that is the resting place of 33 Scottish servicemen, the man who married the abdicated Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson and a locally famous dog is "full of history", a trustee said.

Special events to mark Foster Hill Road Cemetery's 170th anniversary are due to take place on Saturday and Sunday.

Caroline Jones, part of a group that looks after the site, said: "We are extremely mindful we are the guardians of the resting place of nearly 100,000 people.

"It gets into your blood and we're keen to share how wonderful it is."

In June 1855, the town's first municipal cemetery opened in response to overcrowded churchyards in the town and concerns around public health.

It is a closed cemetery, meaning there is no more space available for burials.

It is now managed by the Friends of Foster Hill Road Cemetery, which has more than 20 active volunteers who repair and clean the headstones and record information.

Trustee Adrian Bean, who regularly hosts walks around the site, admitted no-one "really famous" was buried in its grounds but "lots of very interesting people are".

"It's the lesser-known people I find the most interesting," he added.

Some of those buried include brewer Charles Wells, members of the Panacea Society which runs a local religious group and Danuta Gruszczynska-Alasinska - a member of the Polish Resistance who was captured and imprisoned in Germany in World War Two.

The aunt and cousin of World War Two codebreaker Alan Turing have also been laid to rest at the site.

Among the most poignant burials are the graves of 33 Highland Division men, who were billeted to the town in 1914 during World War One.

The men did not die in action but from infectious diseases like measles, scarlet fever and diphtheria, Mr Bean said, as they were from a remote part of Scotland and had not built up immunity.

Elsewhere, an unmarked grave shows the final resting place of Reverend Robert Anderson Jardine - the man who defied the orders of the church to marry the former King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson in France in 1937, and was said to have ended up penniless.

"He has no connection to Bedford - he just happened to be passing through and died," said Mr Bean.

Meanwhile, the cemetery is also the resting place of a furry friend that made the cemetery its home for a decade.

One grave is marked "In memory of C.D.", which stands for Cemetery Dog.

Telling its story, Mr Bean said in the 1980s the cemetery was manned by grave diggers, groundsmen and admin staff before the new cemetery on Norse Road was opened.

"One day a stray Jack Russell dog appeared, mainly at lunchtime. Staff fed him and he came back every day.

"They tried to take him home, but he stayed - and one day they arrived and he was dead."

He said at the time, in 1994, there was a big debate that appeared in the local newspapers regarding where he should be buried, "but they buried him here anyway".

Describing the cemetery, Ms Jones added: "You can see the heritage of Bedford played out in front of you - from nurses, doctors, suffragettes, servicemen and women, and ordinary folk here.

"We want everyone to be able to come here and see the history of the town, the wildlife and the landscape - it's well worth preserving for future generations."

To mark the anniversary, a private event will take place on Saturday where a memorial will be unveiled for anyone buried on the site without a headstone.

On Sunday, the chapel will be open from 13:30 BST, with two guided walks taking place to showcase the site's history.

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