"IT IS FINISHED"

PRIVATE ALFRED BURDEN

ROYAL FUSILIERS

29TH JULY 1916 AGE 18

BURIED: HEILLY STATION CEMETERY, MERICOURT-L'ABBE, FRANCE


This inscription quotes Christ's last words on the cross:

"After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. ... When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost."
St John 19: 28 & 30

I wonder who the Mr Watson was who confirmed this inscription. He is neither Alfred Burden's father nor his step-father. It is difficult to decide what he meant by it. In the case of Christ it meant that his task on earth was done.