Station Name: DOVER MARINE/DOVER WESTERN DOCKS

On 10 November 1920, the coffin holding the body of the Unknown Warrior was taken to Boulogne where HMS Verdun lay waiting to bring him home to Britain. As HMS Verdun approached Dover, the Prince of Wales Pier was overflowing with people who had come to pay their respects. The town’s shops had closed, and flags were flown at half mast. Six bearers, Lieutenant-Colonels or the equivalent rank from all of the armed forces, boarded the ship, and the coffin was received by General Sir J. Longley, Commander of the Eastern Area, and Colonel Knight, Commander of the Dover Garrison. The party processed to the western platform of the Marine station, from which the train to London was due to leave at 5.50pm. A plaque now commemorates the Unknown Warrior’s home-coming. The coffin was placed in passenger luggage van No.132 of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway Company, the same van which had carried the bodies of Nurse Edith Cavell and Captain Charles Fryatt. Frostation the Unknown Warrior was to London for burial the following day at Westminster Abbey.

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