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Yorkshire
Regiment War Graves, - Blighty Valley Cemetery, Authuille Wood (France) |
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Blighty Valley Cemetery, Authuille Wood
(Photo from the Commonwealth
War Graves Commission website)
Blighty Valley was the name given by the Army to the lower part of the deep valley running down South-Westward through Authuille Wood to join the river between Authuille and Aveluy; a railway was carried along it soon after July, 1916, and it was for some time an important (though inevitably a dangerous) route. The upper part of the valley was called Nab Valley. Blighty Valley Cemetery is almost at the mouth of the valley, a little way up its northern bank. It is partly in either commune.
Blighty Valley Cemetery was begun early in July 1916, at the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, and used until the following November. At the Armistice it contained 212 graves but was then greatly enlarged when 784 graves were brought in from the battlefields and small cemeteries to the east. Most of these concentrated graves were of men who died on 1 July 1916.
The cemetery now contains 1,027 burials and commemorations of the First World War. 536 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 24 casualties known or believed to be buried among them, and to five others buried by the Germans in Becourt German Cemetery in the spring of 1918, whose graves could not be found on concentration.
14 of the burials in Blighty Valley Cemetery are for soldiers of the Yorkshire Regiment.
For a larger sized image of a headstone which opens in a new window, please select a thumbnail image below.
Lance Corporal John Samuel Brundred.
15878. 6th Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Killed 8 September 1916. Born Leeds, Enlisted Wakefield. Photo by Stephen Erskine (<erskine615@gmail.com>) |
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Private Frank Burgin, 12830. 6th Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Killed 10 September 1916. Born Attercliffe (Sheffield), Enlisted Sheffield. Photo by Stephen Erskine (<erskine615@gmail.com>) |
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Lieutenant Colonel Cusack Grant Forsyth.
2nd Battalion Yorkshire Regiment, attached to 6th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. Son of Ellen Sanford Forsyth, of Ashley House, Lillington Avenue, Leamington Spa, and the late Lt. Col. Frederick Arthur Forsyth. Killed 14 September 1916. Aged 29. (Listed in the Commonwealth War Graves Register as being in the Northumberland Fusiliers!) Photo by Stephen Erskine (<erskine615@gmail.com>) |
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2nd Lieutenant Stanley Kentfield Edwards
Hildersley. 6th Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Killed 12 September 1916. Photo by Stephen Erskine (<erskine615@gmail.com>) |
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Private Isaac William Hodgson, 16905.
6th Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Son of Isaac Hodgson, of 5, Hackworth St., Dean Bank, Ferryhill, Co. Durham. Killed 13 September 1916. Aged 22. Born Ferryhill, Enlisted Ferryhill (Co. Durham).
"KNOWN TO BE BURIED IN THIS CEMETERY
THEIR GLORY SHALL NOT BE BLOTTED OUT" Photo : John Maguire of the Find a Grave website |
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Lieutenant Colonel Bertram Lionel Maddison. 2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment, attached 8th Battalion York & Lancs Regt. Killed 1 July 1916. Photo by Stephen Erskine (<erskine615@gmail.com>) |
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Private James Neil. 16656. 6th Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Son of Robert Henry Neil, of 4, Bede St., Easington Colliery, Co. Durham. Killed 14 September 1916. Aged 26. Born Crook, Enlisted Sunderland, Resided Easington Colliery.
"ASLEEP IN JESUS" Photo by Stephen Erskine (<erskine615@gmail.com>) |
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Corporal James Robert Pearson, 18208.
6th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment. Killed 13 September 1916. Born Birtley (Durham), Enlisted Houghton-le-Spring, Resided Hetton-le-Hole. Photo by Stephen Erskine (<erskine615@gmail.com>) |
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Private John Richardson, 10666. 6th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment. Killed 11 September 1916. Born Whitby, Enlisted Middlesbrough, Resided Whitby. |
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Private John Sayer. 33270. 6th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment. Brother of Mrs. Annie Knock, of "Kirkgate," Market Place, Thirsk, Yorks. Killed 15 September 1916. Aged 23. Born Osmotherley, Enlisted Northallerton, Resided Osmotherley.
"EVER IN OUR THOUGHTS" Photo by Stephen Erskine (<erskine615@gmail.com>) |
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Private Robert Hall Storey. 18240.
6th Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Killed 15 September 1916. Born Hetton Downs, Enlisted Sunderland, Resided Hetton Downs. Photo by Stephen Erskine (<erskine615@gmail.com>) |
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Lance Corporal Taylor Storey. 18340.
6th Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Son of John and Alice Storey, of Hetton-le-Hole; husband of Mary Jane Storey, of 22, Houghton Rd., Hetton-le-Hole, Co. Durham. Killed 11 September 1916. Aged 28. Born Hetton-le-Hole, Enlisted Sunderland, Resided Hetton-le-Hole. "LOVED"
Photo : John Maguire of the Find a Grave website |
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Private Norman Walker. 11050. 6th Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Son of Arthur and Agnes Walker, of 9, Oak Rd., Scarborough. Killed 11 September 1916. Aged 27. Born Kingston-on-Hull, Enlisted Malton, Resided Scarborough. Photo by Stephen Erskine (<erskine615@gmail.com>) |
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Private James Wilson. 16998. 6th Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Killed 15 September 1916. Born Sheffield, Enlisted West Hartlepool. Photo by Stephen Erskine (<erskine615@gmail.com>) |
Blighty
Valley Cemetery, Authuille Wood
(Photo from the Commonwealth
War Graves Commission website)
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