Ypres 2020 - Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery Northumbrian Gunners

   
Buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery are three  Northumbrian Gunner Officers;

1st Northumbrian Brigade RFA -  Lt Veron Parker 
315 Brigade RFA                          -   2/Lt Bert Berry
4th Northumbrian Brigade RFA - Major Charles Chapman   

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Lt Victor Parker
1st Northumbrian Brigade RFA

Victor Parker was born in Newcastle on 29th August 1877, the son of The Honourable Reginald Parker. He was the oldest  child with 3 sisters.  Victor was educated at Eton. He was an officer in the Volunteer Artillery rising to the rank of Captain, resigning his commission in 1908 on the formation of the Territorial Force. On the outbreak of the First World War, Victor Parker re-joined the Colours and was appointed a Second Lieutenant in the 1st Northumbrian Brigade Royal Filed Artillery. He promoted to Lieutenant in March 1915, deploying to France in April.

The War History of the 1st Northumbrian Brigade RFA records in March 1916 ;

He went up the trenches to do his turn as F.O.O. on March 4th, after the show [Re-capture of the Bluff] was over. The weather was intensely cold, and snow lay everywhere. It was his first experience of front line work; he did not realize what he was going to have to put up with, and did not take enough warm things with him. Whatever the cause, he came back to the Battery with a severe chill, and died in hospital two days later.

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Second Lieut. George Herbert Berry
315 Brigade RFA

George Herbert (Bert) Berry was born in Alberta, Canada, 18th May 1894. He attended Upper Canada   College Toronto from 1910 to 1912, then Toronto University where he was awarded a BA in 1915.

On completion of his degree, he enlisted into the Canadian Army Medical Corps as a private soldier. Berry joined No 2 Stationary Hospital in Lemnos, in the Aegean, as part of the Gallipoli Campaign. The unit moved to France in 1916. Bert Berry attended the Royal Field Artillery no 1 Officer Cadet School, St John’s Wood, commissioning in November 1916.   He joined 315th Brigade in France in June 1916.

Second Lieutenant  Bert Berry was carrying out the duties of a Forward  Observation Officer when he received a severe abdominal wound whilst  locating a new OP near Hooge Crater, just outside Ypres.
He was taken to no 10 Casualty Clearing Station at  Remy Siding, where he died 3 days later on 9th March 1917, aged 23.

2/ Lieutenant Bert Berry is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery.

2nd Lt. George Herbert Berry

315 Brigade RFA

An officer from his battery wrote;

A few weeks prior his death he was recommended for the Military Cross for bravery under fire, when he put out two burning gun pits and carried two wounded men to safety. He was never the least bit afraid and we have lost an officer who can never be replaced. I have been out here three years now and have seen many men go, but some how they weren’t like Bert. He was a clean manly chap and the Battery seems empty now; the men were all so fond of him because he was such a splendid section officer. Somehow I can’t realize it even yet and even when I stood by the little mound of earth in the cemetery it seemed    unreal and that he would grip me by the arm in the old way and say, ‘Well, John, how goes it?’”

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Major Charles Lancelot Chapman MC
4th Northumbrian Brigade RFA

Charles Lancelot Chapman was born in South Shields August 1st 1892. He was the son of local Chartered Accountant Henry Chapman and his wife Dora. He would be one of eleven children (7 boys and 4 girls). All the boys would attend South Shields Grammar School. Charles left scholl in 1909 to join his fathers Chartered Accountant’s office. 

Like all his brothers, Charles played for Westoe Rugby club. Brother Frederick played for England and is credited with scoring the first try, first conversion and first penalty goal at Twickenham.
Charles Lancelot Chapman was commissioned into the 4th Northumbrian (County of Durham) (Howitzer) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery 2nd November 1911. He was promoted to Lieutenant in July 1913.

He mobilised with the 4th Northumbrian Brigade RFA in Augut 1914 at the start of WW1. He was promoted temporary Captain in November 1914. Captain Chapman deployed with the 4th Northumbrians to France in April 1915 . 

His brother Robert , who would later command the Battery, the Brigade and ultimately become Honorary Colonel  74 (Northumbrian) Field Regiment was with him.
Lieutenant (Temporary Captain) CL Chamman was awarded the Military Cross (MC) in the New Years Honours list  for 1915. His brother Robert was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO).

In spring 1916, Captain Chapman was posted back to England. He would return to the Western Front and by March 1917 was 2 I/C of     D Battery 173 Brigade RFA, taking over command in the June. The Brigade was part of the 36th (Ulster) Divisional Artillery.

Major Chapman was wounded when a shell hit his dugout. He died of wounds 22nd August 1917 aged 25. 

Major CL Chapman MC  is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery 

Major CL Chapman MC
4th Northumbrian Brigade RFA

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NVAA Wreath

Pas de Calais - Boulogne Eastern Military Cemetery

During World War one, Boulogne was a base port for the British Expeditionary Force and the location of many military hospitals. The dead from those hospitals were buried in the cemeteries around Boulogne and Wimereux.

During WW2 Boulogne was briefly used in May 1940 for medical evacuation until the town was occupied by the Germans. The town remained in German hands until it was recaptured by the Canadin Army in September 1944.

The Boulogne Eastern Cemetery contains 5,577 graves from WW1 and 224 from WW2.

BOULOGNE EASTERN CEMETERY

 

Boulogne Eastern Military Cemetery
Cross of Sacrifice

 

Boulogne Eastern Military Cemetery

The headstones of those lost during the First World War were laid flat on the ground due to the sandy soil in the area. Unusually the graves separate commissioned officers from other ranks.  

Boulogne Eastern Military Cemetery
British headstones lying flat

The cemetery includes graves and memorials of French and Portuguese soldiers.

Boulogne Eastern Military Cemetery
French Memorial

Boulogne Eastern Military Cemetery
Portuguese Memorial and CEP graves

Boulogne Eastern Military Cemetery
Portuguese Memorial

Boulogne Eastern Military Cemetery
Portuguese Memorial inscription

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 The first Northumbrian Gunner Officer to loose his life to enemy action, Lieutenant Miles Miley of the 1st Northumbrian Brigade RFA is buried within the Boulogne Eastern Cemetery. Lieutenant Miles died of  wounds on 30th December aged 26.

Lieutenant Miles Miley

Miles Miley was educated at Rugby School which he attended from 1903 to 1908. He went up to Trinity College Cambridge gaining a double first in Mathematics and Mechanical Sciences. Whilst at Cambridge, he enlisted in the Officer Training Corps gaining the rank of Cadet Corporal.  On leaving university he joined Parsons Engineering in Newcastle. Miles was commissioned into the 1st Northumbrian Brigade RFA on 1st April 1913. Shortly after mobilisation he was promoted to Lieutenant on 29th August 1914. On deployment to France he acted as the Brigade Signals Officer.
Lieutenant Miley was wounded by a stray shell when returning from the trenches. He died of his wounds on 30th Decmeber 1915 on an ambulance train en route to a base hospital.
He was buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery.

CWGC - Lieutenant Miley Miles

Boulogne Eastern Military Cemetery
Lieutenant Miles Miley
1st Northumberland Battery RFA

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One of those buried in Boulogne Eastern Military Cemetery is Captain Frederick William Campbell VC, 1st Bn. Canadian Infantry (Western Ontario Regiment), who died of wounds 19th June 1915.

CWGC - Captain Frederick William Campbell

Boulogne Eastern Military Cemetery
Captain FW Campbell VC

Captain FW Campbell VC

His citation for the Victoria Cross published in the  London Gazette, No. 29272, dated 20th Aug., 1915 reads;

For most conspicuous bravery on 15th June, 1915, during the action at Givenchy. Lt. Campbell took two machine-guns over the parapet, arrived at the German first line with one gun, and maintained his position there, under very heavy rifle, machine-gun and bomb fire, notwithstanding the fact that almost the whole of his detachment had then been killed or wounded. When our supply of bombs had become exhausted, this Officer advanced his gun still further to an exposed position, and, by firing about 1,000 rounds, succeeded in holding back the enemy's counter-attack. This very gallant Officer was subsequently wounded, and has since died.

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Another notable casualty buried in the cemetery is Captain Julian Henry Francis Grenfell. Eton and Oxford educated, Grenfell joined the Army in 1911 serving with the Royal Dragoons. He served in South Africa and India, his Regiment returning to Britain in 1914  to serve on the Western Front. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1914 for a daring individual reconnaissance.
 His citation read:
 On 17 November he succeeded in reaching a point behind the enemy's trenches and making an excellent reconnaissance, furnishing early information of a pending attack by the enemy.

Julian Henry Francis Grenfell

On the 13th May 1915 he was hit in the head by a shell splinter near Ypres. Grenfell died from his  wounds on the 26th May and buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery.

CWGC - Captain The The Hon. JULIAN HENRY FRANCIS GRENFELL

Boulogne Eastern Military Cemetery
Captain The Hob JHF Grenfell DSO

 

The day after his death his poem 'Into Battle' was published in the Times. 

Into Battle

 

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Rupert Oswald Sternberg

Rupert Oswald Sternberg was the son of shipping merchants  Siegfried and Louise Sternberg, both originally of Germany. He was educated at Chartherhouse from 1906 to 1911 before going to Clare College Cambridge to study medicine. He volunteered in September 1914 and trained as a despatch rider. He served on the Western front till 1915, returning to Britain when he commissioned. He returned to France in the December. He died of wounds on 1st July 1916. His brother, Edgar Adoplh was killed in October 1916.

 

Second Lieutenant STERNBERG, RUPERT OSWALD

 

Boulogne Eastern Military Cemetery
Second Lieutenant RO Sternberg

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Reginald Harry Myburgh Sands, the son of Sir Harry Sands a British Colonial Politician was born and educated in South Africa. He went up to Oxford in 1907 where he was a Rugby Blue. Sands  played Rugby for Blackheath and gained two caps for England in 1910. In 1911 he became a lawyer  returning to South Africa. He was capped at cricket by South Africa in 1914.

 

Sands joined the Imperial Light Horse in November 1914 serving in German South West Africa. He transferred to the South African Heavy Artillery volunteering to go to the Western front on secondment to the Royal Garrison Artillery.

 

Reginald Sands was 2IC of 73rd Siege Battery when he was badly gassed during the German Spring Offensive in March 1918. The effects of the gas would result in his death on 20th April 1918. He was buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery.

 

CWGC - Captain REGINALD HARRY MYBURGH HANDS



 

Reginald Harry Myburgh Sands

 

Boulogne Eastern Military Cemetery
Captain RHM Sands

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The positioning of the gravestones in Boulogne Eastern Military Cemetery is unusual for a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery as Officers and Ordinary Ranks are buried in separate plots.

 

Amongst the OR's plots is a Royal Field Officer, Second Lieutenant William A Flack DCM.

 

 

The Distinguished Conduct Medal indicates he was commissioned from the ranks which may explain why he is not buried amongst the Officer's plots.

Ashwell Museum WW1 Roll of Honour - William Arthur Flack DCM

William Arthur Flack served in the Royal Garrison Artillery Regiment, 24th Trench Mortar Battery in the Western European Theatre of War, France and Flanders.
While a corporal, he showed extreme bravery and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal.  “For conspicuous gallantry at Hooge on 13th November 1915.  He unscrewed a burning fuse from a 50lb trench mortar bomb, which had fallen  back into the bore of a gun owing to a misfire. By his prompt and brave action he saved the lives of the detachment and averted the destruction of the gun. The unscrewed fuse exploded as he threw it from him”.  He was then promoted to 2nd Lieutenant.
He was shot in the head by an enemy sniper and was being transported back to England but died in Boulogne on 19th December 1915.

 

BBC Wall of Remembrance - WILLIAM ARTHUR FLACK D.C.M.



Pas De Calais - Hazebrouk Commumal Cemetary

Hazebrouk Communal  Cemetery
French Memorial

 CWGC - Hazebrouck Communal Cemetery

 

During the First World War Hazebrouck was the location of casualty clearing stations from October 1914 to July 1918. Those who died were buried in the town's communal cemetery among civilian graves. After the war, the burials were moved to a military section.

 

Hazebrouk Communal  Cemetery
British World War One Graves

The cemetery was once again in use during World War Two. Hazebrouk was garrisoned as part of the defences of the Lille Corridor which allowed the British Expeditionary Force to withdraw to Dunkirk. Casualties from the battles  in late May 1940 are buried there.

 

Hazebrouk Communal  Cemetery
British World War Two Graves

The cemetery contains 877 Commonwealth burials of the First World War (17 of them unidentified) and 86 from the Second World War. Adjacent to the Commonwealth War Graves is a French cemetery and  French memorials from World War One.

 

Hazebrouk Communal  Cemetery
French World War One Graves

 

Hazebrouk Communal  Cemetery
French World War One Memorial

A combined Anglo-French memorial flanks the Cross of Sacrifice.

 



Hazebrouk Communal  Cemetery
Anglo-French Memorial World War One



 

 Hazebrouk Communal  Cemetery

Anglo-French Memorial World War One

 

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 Buried in the cemetery is the first Northumbrian Gunner Officer to loose his life during WW1,  Lieutenant Guppy Elliot, who died on the 16th October 1915 aged 28.

2.Lt Guppy Elliot
1st Northumbrian Brigade RFA

On 14th October  1915,  Guppy Elliot’s horse bolted and in the ensuing fall he fractured the base of his skull. Guppy never regained conscientious and died in hospital in Hazebrouk. He was buried in the Hazebrouck cemetery.

 

CWGC - Lieutenant TGV Elliot

 

 Guppy was born in 1887 and took his name from his mother Henrietta Guppy who was born in Naples where she married. Guppy was one of six children. Guppy Elliot was commissioned into the 1st Northumbrian Ammunition Column on the 5th February 1909. It is believed left the Territorial Force  before the war and re-joined on the outbreak of  hostilities. He was              re-commissioned on 29th August 1914. He deployed to France in April 1915, loosing his life 6 months later.

 

Lieutenant Guppy Elliot's headstone is unusual in that it is a private headstone erected by his fellow officers and can be prominently identified amongst the CWGC headstones.


Hazebrouk Communal  Cemetery
2.Lt Guppy Elliot
1st Northumbrian Brigade RFA

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Hazebrouk Communal  Cemetery
Private Edward Rust
4th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment

CWGC Private Edward Rust

The headstone of Private Edward Rust, 4th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards), is rather unusual as it chronicles the events that caused his death.

1839 PRIVATE
EDWARD RUST

YORKSHIRE REGIMENT

30TH APRIL 1915 AGE 19

 

SERIOUSLY WOUNDED WHILE ADVANCING WITH HIS REGIMENT IN THE FIGHTING NEAR ST. JULIEN SAT. APRIL 24. 1915 HE WAS TAKEN TO THE FIELD HOSPITAL BUT WAS SO EAGER TO UPHOLD THE HONOUR OF HIS REGIMENT AND TO SERVE HIS COUNTRY THAT HE RETURNED NEXT DAY TO THE FIRING LINE AND REMAINED WITH HIS COMRADES UNTIL THEY WERE RELIEVED AND DIED ON APRIL 30TH COURAGEOUS TO THE END AND BELOVED BY ALL WHO KNEW HIM

The 4th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards), were part of the Yorkshire and Durham Brigade of the Northumbrian Division. The Division deployed from the North East on 18th April 1915, arriving in Ypres on the 22nd. As they arrived,the Germans unleased Chlorine Gas triggering the 2nd Battle of Ypres. The newly arrived soldiers from the NE were immediately thrown into battle. Many like Private Rust lost their lives within days of arriving in Belgium. 

Source: http://ww1-yorkshires.org.uk/html-files/soldiers-photos/rust-edward.htm 

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Gunner Graves

 

Hazebrouk Communal  Cemetery
Gunner Graves

101st Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery 

CWGC - Gunner J Pearson

 

CWGC - Corporal J Lord

 

"B" Battery 64th Brigade Royal Field Artillery

 

CWGC - Serjeant T Henderson

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Chinese Labour Corps

Hazebrouck Military Cemetery
 WANG LAI HSIANG

CWGC - WANG LAI HSIANG

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Indian Army

 

Hazebrouck Military Cemetery
Sepoy Shamshad

CWGC - Sepoy Shamshad 

Sepoy SHAMSHAD

 

Service Number 4783

Died 01/05/1915

59th Scinde Rifles (Frontier Force)

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Hazebrouck Military Cemetery

 



Ypres 2010 - Pilkem Ridge / Langemarck

Pilkem Ridge
On the 24th October 1917, the Commanding Officer 250 Brigade led his Battery Commanders onto Pilkem Ridge.



“Fifty square miles of slime and filth from which every shell that burst threw up ghastly relics and raised stenches too abominable to describe; and over all, dominating all, a never-ceasing ear shattering fire and the sickly reek of the deadly mustard gas “
The history of the 1st Northumberland Bde RFA (TF) 1914-1919

Langenarck
After the BC’s recce, it was onto Langemarck, where the guns of 250 Brigade deployed. In 1917 Langemarck had been reduced to rubble, the Northumbrians using the floors of the demolished buildings to provide firm platforms.

Ypres 2010 - Kemmel

When Northumbrian Gunners deployed there in 1915, the Bavarians opposite were observed raising a sign to intimidate the Geordies “Buck up Newcastle United”.

1915......


2010.....

Ypres 2010 - Northumbrian Gunners

The 1st Northumbrian Brigade RFA (TF) deployed 24th April 1915 along the Robaarsbeek, east of Poperinghe. The 1st Battery on the extreme left under some willows on the stream its self, the 2nd Battery on the right some 100 yards east of the brook, and the 3rd in an orchard in the centre. The Brigade Ammunition Column was a mile to the rear in a farm.


1st Northumbrian Brigade RFA (TF)

On the very day ninety five years later...............






4th Northumbrian (County of Durham)Howitzer Brigade RFA (TF)

The 4th Northumbrian (County of Durham) Brigade deployed 6th May 1915 under command of the 27th Division. At 20:00 the batteries advanced and went into action, the first Territorial field gunners to take part on the Ypres fighting.
The 4th Durham Battery deployed just north of the Menin Road, 3,000 yards east of Ypres. The 5th Durham Battery was 300 yards south of La Brique, 1,000 yards North East of Ypres. The wagon lines were 800 yards east of Vlamertinghe on the Poperinghe-Ypres Road, with the Brigade Ammunition Column (BAC) at Brandhoek, where it was collocated with Brigade Head Quarters. The Batteries were within 2 miles of the front line.

Northumbrian (East Riding) Heavy Battery
The Northumbrian (East Riding) Heavy Battery moved into position just east of the Vlamertinghe – Elverdinghe Road. The Battery was placed under the command of th 4th Division.

Northumbrian Gunners 6th May 1915