The Grave of a Heroic War Horse Gets Landmark Protection in England

Buried with fanfare in 1942, a famous British warhorse named Blackie was the first equine of its kind to receive its own grave. Now, The Telegraph reports that the animal’s final resting place in Merseyside, England has been officially granted heritage protection by Historic England, a governmental body that protects the nation’s important monuments and sites.

Blackie’s owner was Lieutenant Leonard Comer Wall, a poet and World War I officer from the town of Kirby in Merseyside. The two prevailed through some of the war’s bloodiest conflicts, including the battles of Arras and the Somme, before a 20-year-old Wall died in action at Ypres in 1917.

Wall had been riding Blackie at the time of his death, but the horse survived shrapnel wounds and stayed on the Western front until the war’s end. Once World War I ended, Wall’s mother transported Blackie back to England, where he became famous for being one of few warhorses to return to its native soil.

Blackie lived a quiet life at a riding school in Liverpool, and spent his final days at a refuge for ex-warhorses. Wall had requested that his trusty companion be buried with his war medals and decorations, so when Blackie finally died in 1942, the 37-year-old horse was given a hero’s funeral.

Historic England granted Blackie’s grave protection as part of a World War I centenary listing project. The five-year project—which honors the hundredth anniversary of World War I’s 1914 outbreak—is adding 2500 war memorials total to England’s National Heritage List.