Unmarked wartime grave relatives found 83 years on

Charlotte Tasselli-Arnold, right, with sister Victoria Cogan and grandmother Doris Tasselli

Relatives of the victim of a wartime tragedy who was buried in an unmarked grave in Ayrshire have been traced.

Francesco D'Inverno died in the sinking of the Arandora Star in 1940 - one of hundreds of Italian internees to lose their lives.

His body was found near Lendalfoot, South Ayrshire, and he was laid to rest in Girvan's Doune Cemetery but he was only identified decades later by detailed research.

Now members of his family have been tracked down in Kent and hope to come and visit the grave.

Charlotte Tasselli-Arnold, from Southfleet, is the great-granddaughter of Ginevra Tasselli who married Francesco after her first husband died.

Francesco D'Inverno, second from right, married Ginevra Tasselli, centre, after her first husband died

He became stepfather to her four children before he died in the sinking of the passenger liner converted to carry "enemy aliens".

Charlotte was contacted by Ritchie and Lorna Conaghan of the Girvan and District Great War Project who helped to identify Francesco's burial site.

"Ritchie tracked me down on Facebook and got in contact with the family that way," she said.

"At first I was thinking, you know, is this legit?

"He name-dropped a few of the people in my family - Ginevra and Francesco - and then obviously I quickly realised that it was all true.

"I mean, he probably knew at the time more about the family history than me."

Francesco died in the sinking of the Arandora Star in 1940

Her great-grandmother Ginevra had four children with her first husband but she was widowed quite young and met and married Francesco who became their stepfather.

"To the children he would have been around - especially for Teresa, the youngest - she probably would have known him more than she did her own dad because he died so young," said Charlotte.

She said she felt finding out where Francesco was buried provided "some comfort" to the family after so many years.

"It's unbelievable, really, there's been some twists and turns to the story," she said.

"My nan is still alive, she's 94. Ginevra would tell her about about Francesco, and so she would tell us.

"She felt relief for Ginevra that he was laid to rest - he was found, he had a Catholic burial. My nan's found a lot of comfort in it I think."

She said it had been a learning curve finding out more about the Arandora Star too.

It is hoped a proper gravestone can be put at the spot where Francesco D'Inverno is buried

"There is so little documented about it," she said.

"I learned about World War Two in school - a lot of people do and you hear all the war stories - but this is a really big story that doesn't really get talked about.

"These were all innocent people you know, that were just rounded up - it just wouldn't happen today would it?"

She said she was grateful for all the work that had been carried out by Ritchie, Lorna and others to find Francesco's last resting place.

"If it wasn't for their perseverance of trying to find out the history of this person we would never have known any of this information," she said.

Now the family hopes to visit the grave in Ayrshire where fundraising efforts are taking place to put a gravestone in place.

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"We would like to come and sort of pay our respects," said Charlotte.

"Obviously Ginevra never managed to get there or find out where he was so we feel that, you know, as a family we want to see where he is and also say thank you and meet the people that made it all happen.

"He would have just remained buried there and none of us would have known."

The discovery has also sparked a lot of conversation and discussion among her relatives.

Charlotte said: "I said to Ritchie: 'You know you've rewritten the story for our family, because it's now so current.

"I think it definitely will be passed down for generations now whereas it would probably have just got forgotten which would have been so sad."