This page gives the information that has been discovered in respect of the names recorded on Husbands Bosworth war memorial.

 


 

RICHARD FREDERICK ADNITT Private 23368

2nd Bn., Grenadier Guards who died on Saturday, 16th September 1916.

Commemorative Information

Memorial: THIEPVAL MEMORIAL, Somme, France

Grave Reference/ Panel Number: Pier and Face 8 D

Location: The Thiepval Memorial will be found on the D73, off the main Bapaume to Albert road (D929).

Historical Information: On 1 July 1916, supported by a French attack to the south, thirteen divisions of Commonwealth forces launched an offensive on a line from north of Gommecourt to Maricourt. Despite a preliminary bombardment lasting seven days, the German defences were barely touched and the attack met unexpectedly fierce resistance. Losses were catastrophic and with only minimal advances on the southern flank, the initial attack was a failure.

In the following weeks, huge resources of manpower and equipment were deployed in an attempt to exploit the modest successes of the first day. However, the German Army resisted tenaciously and repeated attacks and counter attacks meant a major battle for every village, copse and farmhouse gained. At the end of September, Thiepval was finally captured. The village had been an original objective of 1 July. Attacks north and east continued throughout October and into November in increasingly difficult weather conditions. The Battle of the Somme finally ended on 18 November with the onset of winter.

In the spring of 1917, the German forces fell back to their newly prepared defences, the Hindenburg Line, and there were no further significant engagements in the Somme sector until the Germans mounted their major offensive in March 1918. The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. The memorial also serves as an Anglo-French Battle Memorial in recognition of the joint nature of the 1916 offensive and a small cemetery containing equal numbers of Commonwealth and French graves lies at the foot of the memorial.

The memorial, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, was built between 1928 and 1932 and unveiled by the Prince of Wales, in the presence of the President of France, on 31 July 1932. The dead of other Commonwealth countries who died on the Somme and have no known graves are commemorated on national memorials elsewhere.

 

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CECIL THOMAS GETHEN BOTT Private 66506

32nd Bn., Royal Fusiliers who died on Tuesday, 7th August 1917. Age 33.

Additional information: Son of Frederick Bott, of Naseby, Rugby; husband of Hilda Chester Bott, of Theddingworth, Rugby.

Commemorative information:

Memorial: YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL, Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium

Grave Reference/Panel Number: Panel 6 and 8

Location: Ypres (now Ieper) is a town in the Province of West Flanders. The Memorial is situated at the eastern side of the town on the road to Menin (Menen) and Courtrai (Kortrijk).

Historical information: The Menin Gate is one of four memorials to the missing in Belgian Flanders which cover the area known as the Ypres Salient. Broadly speaking, the Salient stretched from Langemarck in the north to the northern edge in Ploegsteert Wood in the south, but it varied in area and shape throughout the war. The Salient was formed during the First Battle of Ypres in October and November 1914, when a small British Expeditionary Force succeeded in securing the town before the onset of winter, pushing the German forces back to the Passchendaele Ridge.

The Second Battle of Ypres began in April 1915 when the Germans released poison gas into the Allied lines north of Ypres. This was the first time gas had been used by either side and the violence of the attack forced an Allied withdrawal and a shortening of the line of defence. There was little more significant activity on this front until 1917, when in the Third Battle of Ypres an offensive was mounted by Commonwealth forces to divert German attention from a weakened French front further south. The initial attempt in June to dislodge the Germans from the Messines Ridge was a complete success, but the main assault north-eastward, which began at the end of July, quickly became a dogged struggle against determined opposition and the rapidly deteriorating weather. The campaign finally came to a close in November with the capture of Passchendaele. The German offensive of March 1918 met with some initial success, but was eventually checked and repulsed in a combined effort by the Allies in September.

The battles of the Ypres Salient claimed many lives on both sides and it quickly became clear that the commemoration of members of the Commonwealth forces with no known grave would have to be divided between several different sites. The site of the Menin Gate was chosen because of the hundreds of thousands of men who passed through it on their way to the battlefields. It commemorates those who died in the Salient before 16 August 1917. Those who died after that date are named on the memorial at Tyne Cot, a site which marks the furthest point reached by Commonwealth forces in Belgium until nearly the end of the war. New Zealand casualties are commemorated at Tyne cot and on memorails at Buttes New British Cemetery and Messines Ridge British Cemetery. The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial now bears the names of more than 54,000 officers and men whose graves are not known. The memorial, designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield with sculpture by Sir William Reid-Dick, was unveiled by Lord Plumer in July 1927.

 

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GEORGE WILLIAM COSTO CROSS Private 28220

2nd Bn., Grenadier Guards who died on Thursday, 11th October 1917. Age 20.

Additional information: Son of Henry Costo Cross and Clara Cross, of Husbands Bosworth, Rugby.

Commemorative information:

Cemetery: DOZINGHEM MILITARY CEMETERY, Poperinge, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium

Grave Reference/Panel Number: IX. H. 5.

Location: The cemetery is located to the north-west of Poperinge near Krombeke. From Ieper follow the directions to Poperinge along the by-pass. At the end of the by-pass at the traffic lights turn right into Oostlaan. Follow Oostlaan over the roundabout to the end of the road. Turn left into Veurnestraat and follow along here to the first turning on the right. (From Poperinge centre, follow the directions to Veurne along the Veurnestraat to the second turning on the left.) Turn into Sint-Bertinusstraat and follow this road up the rise and round a left hand bend. After the bend, take the right hand turning in the direction of Krombeke along the Krombeekseweg. Follow the Krombeekseweg past the ''De Lovie'' centre and past a cafe on the left. Shortly after the cafe on the left, you will see a sign for the cemetery pointing to a track on the right into the woods. The cemetery is along here at the end of the track.

Historical information: Westvleteren was outside the front held by Commonwealth forces in Belgium during the First World War, but in July 1917, in readiness for the forthcoming offensive, groups of casualty clearing stations were placed at three positions called by the troops Mendinghem, Dozinghem and Bandaghem. The 4th, 47th and 61st Casualty Clearing Stations were posted at Dozinghem and the military cemetery was used by them until early in 1918. There are now 3,173 Commonwealth burials of the First World War in the cemetery and 65 German war graves from this period. The cemetery also contains 73 Second World War burials dating from the Allied withdrawal to Dunkirk in May 1940. The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.

 

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EDWIN GEORGE GLOVER Private 14349

4th Bn., Coldstream Guards who died on Saturday, 31st August 1918. Age 22.

Additional information: Son of William and Louisa Glover, of Husbands Bosworth, Rugby.

Commemorative information:

Cemetery: BAC-DU-SUD BRITISH CEMETERY, BAILLEULVAL, Pas de Calais, France

Grave Reference/Panel Number: III. D. 19.

Location: Bailleulval is a village in the Department of the Pas-de-Calais about 13 kilometres south-west of Arras, and the Cemetery is one kilometre west of the village on the north side of the main road from Arras to Doullens (N25)

Historical information: In March, 1918, the 7th, 20th and 43rd Casualty Clearing Stations made the cemetery; but when the German advance began at the end of the month their place was taken by the Field Ambulances of the units (notably the 31st Division and the Canadian Corps) fighting on the Arras Front. In August and September the tide had turned and the 45th and 46th Casualty Clearing Stations came to the neighbourhood. There are now nearly 700, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. The cemetery covers an area of 2,380 square metres. At the left of the entrance is a shield erected by the French ex-soldiers of Bailleulval ''a leurs Allies''.

 

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ARTHUR REGINALD MARSH Private 44561

''D'' Coy. 1st Bn., Yorkshire Regiment who died on Tuesday, 25th June 1918. Age 33.

Additional information: Son of the late William and Mary Augusta Marsh, of Husbands Bosworth, Leics. (Buried Peshawar (Right) B.C. XXV. 729.)

Commemorative Information:

Memorial: DELHI MEMORIAL (INDIA GATE), India

Grave Reference/Panel Number: Face 1

Location: The Delhi Memorial (India Gate), which stands at the eastern end of the Rajpath, or Kingsway, is a stone arch 40 metres high with a span of 15 metres. The Memorial honours all the 70,000 soldiers of undivided India who fell in Defence of the British Empire during the years 1914-1921, the majority of whom are commemorated outside the confines of India. It also commemorates those who served with the forces of the United Kingdom and Australia. Of the 13,300 commemorated by name on the memorial just over 1,000 lie in cemeteries to the west of the River Indus, where maintenance was not possible. The remainder died in fighting on or beyond the North West Frontier and during the Third Afghan War and have no known grave.

 

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JOHN THOMAS MARTIN Private 24287

11th Bn., Royal Warwickshire Regiment who died on Tuesday, 9th October 1917. Age 20.

Additional information: Son of William and Rhoda Martin, of Husbands Bosworth, Rugby.

Commemorative Information:

Cemetery: ZANTVOORDE BRITISH CEMETERY, Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium

Grave Reference/Panel Number: IV. B. 16.

Location: Zandvoorde British Cemetery is located 8 Km south east of Ieper town centre, on the Kruisekestraat a road leading from the Meenseweg (N8), connecting Ieper to Menen. From Ieper town centre the Meenseweg is located via Torhoutstraat and right onto Basculestraat. Basculestraat ends at a main cross roads, directly over which begins the Meenseweg. 7.5 Km along the Meenseweg in the village of Geluveld lies the right hand turning onto Zandvoordestraat. At the end of the Zandvoordestraat is the left hand turning onto Kriusekestraat. The cemetery itself is located 100 metres along the Kruisekestraat on the left hand side of the road.

Historical information: On the 30th October 1914, the village was held by the 1st and 2nd Life Guards, numbering between 300 and 400 men. It was bombarded for over an hour with heavy guns, and then taken by the 39th German Division and three attached battalions. The whole front of the 3rd Cavalry Division was driven back to the Klein-Zillebeke ridge. It was not possible to retake the village, which remained in German hands until the 28th September 1918.

The Household Cavalry Memorial, unveiled by Lord Haig in May 1924, stands on the South side of the village at the place where part of the Household Brigade was annihilated in 1914. The Cemetery was made after the Armistice by the concentration of graves from the battlefields. Of these, a very large number are those of soldiers who fell in the latter part of October 1914, in the desperate fighting round Zantvoorde, Zillebeke and Gheluvelt. There are now over 1,500, 1914-18 and a small number of 1939-45 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, two-thirds from the 1914-18 War are unidentified and a special memorial is erected to a soldier from the United Kingdom, believed to be buried here. Other special memorials record the names of 32 soldiers from the United Kingdom, buried in two German cemeteries, whose graves cannot now be found. The Cemetery covers an area of 4,766 square metres.

 

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HORACE WILLIAM MATTHEWS Corporal 29744

13th Bn., Yorkshire Regiment who died on Friday, 5th October 1917.

Commemorative Information:

Cemetery: ROCQUIGNY-EQUANCOURT ROAD BRITISH CEMETERY, MANANCOURT, Somme, France

Grave Reference/Panel Number: I. D. 29.

Location: Rocquigny and Equancourt are two villages in the Department of the Somme, some 13 kilometres north of Peronne and 12 kilometres south-east of Bapaume. Rocquigny and Equancourt are approximately 8 kilometres apart and the Rocquigny-Equancourt British Cemetery lies about halfway between the two villages on the north side of the road just west of the crossing road from Etricourt to Ytres.

Historical information: Etricourt was occupied by British troops at the beginning of April, 1917 during the German Retreat to the Hindenburg Line. It was lost on the 23rd March, 1918, and regained at the beginning of September. The cemetery was begun in 1917, and used (mainly by the 21st and 48th Casualty Clearing Stations, posted at Ytres) until March, 1918. It was used to a small extent by the Germans, who knew it as ''Etricourt Old English Cemetery'', and resumed by British troops in September, 1918. The 3rd Canadian and 18th Casualty Clearing Stations buried in it in October and November, 1918. There are now nearly 2,000, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, a small number are unidentified and nine British graves made by the Germans cannot now be found, and are represented by special memorials. The bodies of two French soldiers and one American Medical Officer have been removed. The cemetery covers an area of 6,807 square metres and is enclosed by a low rubble wall.

 

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GEORGE WEST Private 3145

9th Bn., Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regt.) who died onThursday, 4th October 1917. Age 26.

*Note: There were apparently two Pte. G Wests of the Sherwood Foresters killed on the same day in 1917. Both entries are listed here. These entries from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site may be open to doubt. Please check authenticity by alternative means.

Additional information: Husband of Ethel Winifred West, of Cemetery Lodge, East St., Northampton.

Commemorative Information:

Memorial: TYNE COT MEMORIAL, Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium

Grave Reference/Panel Number: Panel 99 to 102 and 162 to 162A

Location: The Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing forms the north-eastern boundary of Tyne Cot Cemetery, which is located 9 kilometres north east of Ieper town centre, on the Tynecotstraat, a road leading from the Zonnebeekseweg (N332). The Memorial is a semicircular flint wall 4.25 metres high and over 150 metres long, faced with panels of Portland stone on which are carved nearly 35,000 names of those who have no known grave. There are three apses and two rotundas. The central apse forms the New Zealand Memorial commemorating the names of nearly 1200 men who gave their lives in the Battle of Broodseinde and the Third Battle of Ypres in October 1917; the other two, as well as the rotundas and the wall itself, carry the names of United Kingdom dead who fell in the Salient between 15 August 1917 and the Armistice, in the Third and Fourth Battles of Ypres. Two domed arched pavilions mark the ends of the main wall, each dome being surmounted by a winged female figure with head bowed over a wreath. The following inscription is carved on the frieze above the panels which contain the names: 1914 - HERE ARE RECORDED THE NAMES OF OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE ARMIES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE WHO FELL IN YPRES SALIENT, BUT TO WHOM THE FORTUNE OF WAR DENIED THE KNOWN AND HONOURED BURIAL GIVEN TO THEIR COMRADES IN DEATH - 1918

 

GEORGE H WEST Private 306365

1st/8th Bn., Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regt.) who died on Thursday, 4th October 1917.

Commemorative Information:

Cemetery: PHILOSOPHE BRITISH CEMETERY, MAZINGARBE, Pas de Calais, France

Grave Reference/Panel Number: II. U. 4.

Location: Philosophe lies between Bethune and Lens. From the Lens-Bethune road (N43), follow the D165E road for 400 metres to a right turn. The cemetery lies to the left 100 metres along this track. The first CWGC sign for the cemetery is at the junction of the N43 and the D165E.

Historical information: The cemetery was started in August 1915. In 1916 it was taken over by the 16th (Irish) Division, who held the Loos Salient at the time, and many of their dead were brought back to the cemetery from the front line. The cemetery continued in use until October 1918. After the Armistice, many isolated graves from the Loos battlefield were brought into the cemetery, including those of 41 men of the 9th Black Watch. There are now 1,996 Commonwealth burials of the First World War in the cemetery, 277 of them unidentified. The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

 

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GEORGE ROY DAWSON Driver 2351876

Royal Corps of Signals who died on Monday, 26th October 1942. Age 32.

Additional information: Son of Arthur and Maud Emily Dawson, of Great Bowden.

Commemorative Information:

Cemetery: Market Harborough (Great Bowden) Cemetery, Leicestershire, United Kingdom

Grave Reference/Panel Number: Sec. F. Grave 15.

 

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FREDERICK CYRIL KNIGHT Private 5888160

5th Bn., Northamptonshire Regiment who died on Monday, 30th November 1942. Age 22.

Additional information: Son of Frederick William and Beatrice May Knight, of Husbands Bosworth, Leicestershire.

Commemorative Information:

Cemetery: BEJA WAR CEMETERY, Tunisia

Grave Reference/Panel Number: 1. R. 11.

Location: Beja is a town at the junction of three highways; 96 kilometres from Tunis, 150 kilometres from Souk Ahras and 76 kilometres from Tabarka. Beja War Cemetery lies just outside the northern limits of the town. Turn right after the railway crossing and the cemetery can be found 100 metres on the left.

Historical information: There are 396, 1939-1945 war casualties commemorated in this site, of these 87 are unidentified.

 

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WILLIAM ARCHIBALD MOORE Lance Bombardier 933559

74 Field Regt., Royal Artillery who died on Tuesday, 13th July 1943. Age 25.

Additional information: Son of Herbert and Florence Moore, of Husbands Bosworth, Leicestershire.

Commemorative Information:

Cemetery: SYRACUSE WAR CEMETERY, SICILY, Italy

Grave Reference/Panel Number: III. F. 8.

Location: Syracuse War Cemetery is located in the Contrada of Canalicchio in the Commune and Province of Syracuse. It lies 3 kilometres west of Syracuse. Turn left at the end of the Catania to Syracuse autostrada and the cemetery will be found approximately 5 kilometres along on the left hand side.

Historical information: The site of the cemetery was selected in 1943 at an early stage in the operations for the capture of Sicily. In this cemetery most of the graves are those of men who lost their lives in the landings in Sicily on 10th July, 1943, and in the early stages of the campaign on the island. They include those of a considerable number who belonged to the airborne force that was landed immediately west of the town during the night 9th-10th July. Graves were brought into Syracuse War Cemetery from as far north as Lentini. There are now a small number of 1914-18 and over 1,000, 1939-45 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, over 100 from the 1939-45 War are unidentified and a special memorial has been erected to one British soldier known to have been buried among them. In addition, three special memorials commemorate men known to have been originally buried in other cemeteries in the region, but whose graves could not be found on concentration. The grave from the 1914-18 War, was transferred here from Marsala British Cemetery.

 

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REXLEY HUGH EDWIN LEE Marine PO/X 5904

No. 3 R. M. Commando., Royal Marines who died on Wednesday, 29th January 1947. Age 18.

Additional information: Son of Ernest Arthur and Martha Ellen Lee, of Bosworth, Leicestershire.

Commemorative Information:

Cemetery: STANLEY MILITARY CEMETERY, China, (including Hong Kong).

Grave Reference/Panel Number: 7. A. 10

Location: Stanley Military Cemetery is just beyond the small fishing village of Stanley in the southern part of Hong Kong island on the Tai Tam Peninsula. From Stanley Village take the Wong Ma Kok Road. The cemetery is adjacent St Stephen''s College and is close to St Stephen''s beach. It is reached from Victoria by car along a winding, hilly road which at first overlooks the harbour and mainland. After climbing to the pass called Wong Nei Cheng Gap the road descends to the sea at Repulse Bay and then continues along the rocky hillside to Stanley village.

Historical information: Hong Kong fell to the Japanese on Christmas Day 1941 following a brief but intense period of fighting. During the Japanese occupation, Stanley jail and village were used as a prisoner of war and civilian internment camp and the cemetery, which had not been used for more than 70 years, was reopened for burials from the camp. After the war, the cemetery was extended on its northern side when graves were brought in from civilian burial grounds and isolated sites in the surrounding country. Although the cemetery as a whole is laid out and maintained as a military cemetery, in the older part, service graves and the graves of civilian internees who died during the Japanese occupation are intermingled. A number of the graves in this part of the cemetery are still marked by the original headstones erected by the prisoners of war, who collected the granite from the 19th century fortifications and carved the inscriptions themselves. Nearly all casualties of the local defence forces, chiefly the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Force and the British Army Aid Group, are buried in this cemetery. The British Army Aid Group was a military establishment which came into being early in 1942 to encourage and facilitate escapes, to assist escapees and to get information and medical supplies into the camps. Attached to the establishment was a large staff of civilian employees operating in an extensive area of enemy held territory and the group gradually developed into an organisation for the collection of intelligence of military value and later into an escape and evasion organisation for the American Air Force. There are now 598 Commonwealth servicemen of the Second World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 175 of the burials are unidentified but a number of special memorials commemorate casualties known to be buried among them. The names of the 96 civilian internees buried in this cemetery are recorded in volume 7 of the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour. The cemetery also contains special memorials to three First World War casualties buried in cemeteries in Kowloon and Hong Kong, whose graves have since been lost.

 

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AUSTIN KIRK SHENTON MC

Captain 12th Signal Coy., Royal Engineers who died on Friday, 26th July 1918. Age 22.

Additional information: Son of the Rev. G. D. Shenton (Rector of St. Anthony''s, Stepney, E.) and Mrs. H. E. Shenton, of 20, Gore Rd., Victoria Park, London.

Commemorative Information:

Cemetery: CROUY BRITISH CEMETERY, CROUY-SUR-SOMME, Somme, France

Grave Reference/Panel Number: IV. B. 13.

Location: Crouy is a village about 16 kilometres north-west of Amiens on the west side of the River Somme, on the Amiens-Abbeville main road. The British Cemetery is a little south of the village on the west side of the road to Cavillon and there is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission signpost on the main road.

Historical information: The cemetery was used between April and August 1918 for burials from the 5th and 47th Casualty Clearing Stations, which had come to the village because of the German advance. In October 1919, 42 graves were brought to Crouy from the small military cemetery at Riviere, a few kilometres away to the north-west. These burials had been made from the 12th, 53rd and 55th Casualty Clearing Stations at Longpre-les-Corps Saints between May and August 1918. They now occupy rows E and F of plot IV and part of row D, plot VI. The cemetery now contains 739 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, and a number of French and German war graves. The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.

 

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OSMOND STAPLETON-BRETHERTON

Lieutenant 9th Lancers who died on Friday, 22nd March 1918. Age 22.

Commemorative Information:

Cemetery: POZIERES MEMORIAL, Somme, France

Grave Reference/Panel Number: Panel 4

Location:Pozieres is a village 6 kilometres north-east of the town of Albert. The Memorial encloses Pozieres British Cemetery which is a little south-west of the village on the north side of the main road, D929, from Albert to Pozieres. On the road frontage is an open arcade terminated by small buildings and broken in the middle by the entrance and gates. Along the sides and the back, stone tablets are fixed in the stone rubble walls bearing the names of the dead grouped under their Regiments. It should be added that, although the memorial stands in a cemetery of largely Australian graves, it does not bear any Australian names. The Australian soldiers who fell in France and whose graves are not known are commemorated on the National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux.

Historical information:The POZIERES MEMORIAL relates to the period of crisis in March and April 1918 when the Allied Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields, and the months that followed before the Advance to Victory, which began on 8 August 1918. The Memorial commemorates over 14,000 casualties of the United Kingdom and 300 of the South African Forces who have no known grave and who died on the Somme from 21 March to 7 August 1918. The Corps and Regiments most largely represented are The Rifle Brigade with over 600 names, The Durham Light Infantry with approximately 600 names, the Machine Gun Corps with over 500, The Manchester Regiment with approximately 500 and The Royal Horse and Royal Field Artillery with over 400 names. The memorial encloses POZIERES BRITISH CEMETERY, Plot II of which contains original burials of 1916, 1917 and 1918, carried out by fighting units and field ambulances. The remaining plots were made after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the battlefields immediately surrounding the cemetery, the majority of them of soldiers who died in the Autumn of 1916 during the latter stages of the Battle of the Somme, but a few represent the fighting in August 1918. There are now 2,755 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 1,375 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 23 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. The cemetery and memorial were designed by W H Cowlishaw.

 

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ARCHIE MOORE

Private 2nd Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales Own) who died on Monday, 15th April 1918. Age 19.

Additional information: Son of James and Kathleen Moore of Stockgrove, Leighton Buzzard. Born Husbands Bosworth.

Commemorative Information:

Cemetery: ROSIERES COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION, Rosieres, Somme, France

Grave Reference/Panel Number: Remembered with honour

Location: Rosieres is a village about 32 kilometres east of Amiens and 7.5 kilometres south of the main road from Amiens to St Quentin. From Peronne take the N17 towards Roye. Travel for approximately 7 kilometres to Villers Carlonne then turn right towards Amiens on the N29. Travel for 13 kilometres then turn left on the D329 towards Rosieres, then take the D28 towards Caix. Follow the signs for the communal cemetery which is situated on the northern side of the village.

Historical information: Rosieres was the scene of heavy fighting between the French Sixth Army and the German First Army at the end of August, 1914. It came within the British lines in February, 1917. With the advance to the Hindenburg Line in the spring of 1917, Rosieres became part of the back area; but in the German offensive of March, 1918, it was reached by the enemy on the 26th. It was defended on the 27th, in the Battle of Rosieres, by the 8th Division and the 16th Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery; but these troops had to be withdrawn in the night. On the 9th August, after a stubborn defence, the village was retaken by the 2nd Canadian Division and Tanks. The Extension was made by the units which retook Rosieres. It consisted until the Armistice of four rows (Plot I, A-E) containing 97 graves. It was enlarged subsequently by the concentration of graves from the small cemeteries and battlefields surrounding Rosieres. There are now over 400, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, over one-third are unidentified and the names of three soldiers from the United Kingdom, two from Australia and one from Canada, known or believed to be buried among the unknown graves, are recorded on special headstones. In addition, special headstones are erected bearing the names of five soldiers buried in Camouflage Cemetery, Rouvroy, and one buried in Rosieres German Cemetery, whose graves were not found on concentration. The Cemetery covers an area of 1,699 square metres and is enclosed on the East by the Communal Cemetery wall, on the West by a wall, on the North by a concrete curb. The more important cemeteries concentrated into Rosieres Communal Cemetery Extension were:- Camouflage Cemetery, Rouvroy-en-Santerre, near the South-West side of the road from Rouvroy to Warvillers. It was made by the 32nd Division in March, 1917, and contained 16 graves of soldiers from the United Kingdom, 13 of whom belonged to the 2nd K.O.Y.L.I. Poplar Trench Cemetery, Meharicourt, which contained 19 graves.

 

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LAW, CHARLES, M2/121627

Private Royal Army Service Corps, who died on October 24th 1918

Additional information: Born Husbands Bosworth.

Commemorative Information:

Cemetery: Delsaux Farm Cemetery, Beugny, Pas De Calais, France

Grave Reference/Panel Number: IH24

Historical information: Delsaux Farm was a point on the German defensive system known as the Beugny-Ytres line, which was reached by Commonwealth troops on 18 March 1917, and passed on the following day. The farm was lost on 23 March 1918 after the gallant defence of Beugny by the 9th Welsh Regiment and their withdrawal, but it was retaken by the 5th Division on 2 September 1918, and on the next day the same division occupied Beugny village. After their advance in March 1918, the Germans made a cemetery (Beugny Military Cemetery No. 18) at the cross-roads, and in it buried 103 Commonwealth and 82 German dead. The site was extended in October - November 1918 by the 29th and 46th Casualty Clearing Stations, which came to Delsaux Farm and made the present cemetery. A little later, the German graves of March 1918 were removed and the 103 Commonwealth dead reburied in Plot I, Row J, Plot II, Row A, and Plot III, Rows B, C and D. The rest of the cemetery was made when graves were later brought in from the battlefield. Delsaux Farm Cemetery contains 495 burials and commemorations of the First World War. 61 of the burials are unidentified and 32 others, identified as a whole but not individually, are marked with headstones inscribed "Buried near this spot". The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

 

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POWELL, FRED, 302281

Private Tank Corps, (formerly 2251 Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars) who died on August 30th 1918

Additional information: Enlisted Oxford. Killed in action.

Commemorative Information:

Cemetery: Vis-en-Artois Memorial, Harcourt, France

Memorial Reference/Panel Number: Panel 11

Historical information: This Memorial bears the names of over 9,000 men who fell in the period from 8 August 1918 to the date of the Armistice in the Advance to Victory in Picardy and Artois, between the Somme and Loos, and who have no known grave. They belonged to the forces of Great Britain and Ireland and South Africa; the Canadian, Australian and New Zealand forces being commemorated on other memorials to the missing. The Memorial consists of a screen wall in three parts. The middle part of the screen wall is concave and carries stone panels on which names are carved. It is 26 feet high flanked by pylons 70 feet high. The Stone of Remembrance stands exactly between the pylons and behind it, in the middle of the screen, is a group in relief representing St George and the Dragon. The flanking parts of the screen wall are also curved and carry stone panels carved with names. Each of them forms the back of a roofed colonnade; and at the far end of each is a small building.

 

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