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Yorkshire
Regiment War Graves, - Chocques Military Cemetery (Pas de Calais, France) |
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Chocques
Military Cemetery (1)
Photo : Chris Cosgrove (<trainscpc@aol.com>)
Chocques was occupied by Commonwealth forces from the late autumn of 1914 to the end of the war. The village was at one time the headquarters of I Corps and from January 1915 to April 1918, No.1 Casualty Clearing Station was posted there. Most of the burials from this period are of casualties who died at the clearing station from wounds received at the Bethune front.
From April to September 1918, during the German advance on this front, the burials were carried out by field ambulances, divisions and fighting units. The groups of graves of a single Royal Artillery brigade in Plot II, Row A, and of the 2nd Seaforths in II D, and III A, are significant of the casualties of the 4th Division at that time. The big collective grave in VI A contains the remains of 29 soldiers of the 4th King's Liverpool Regiment killed in a troop train in April 1918. The stone memorial in IA is placed behind the graves of eight men of the 3rd Squadron, RFC, killed in a bomb explosion on the aerodrome at Merville in March 1915.
After the Armistice it was found necessary to concentrate into this Cemetery (Plots II, III, IV and VI) a large number of isolated graves plus some small graveyards from the country between Chocques and Bethune.
Chocques Military Cemetery now contains 1,801 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, 134 of them unidentified. There are also 82 German war graves, 47 being unidentified.
Amongst the graves are those of 10 soldiers who served with the Yorkshire Regiment, and one Yorkshire Regiment Officer attached to the Devonshire Regiment (and buried with a Devonshire Regiment headstone.)
We are very grateful to Chris Weekes (<weebex12@hotmail.com>) and Chris Cosgrove (<trainscpc@aol.com>) for having taken the photos of the cemetery and the headstones.
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Private William George Archer.
10388. 2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Son of Mrs. Archer, of 2, Berthon St., Deptford, London. Killed 20 August 1915. Aged 19. Born Deptford (London), Enlisted Woolwich, Resided Deptford. Photo : Chris Weekes (<weebex12@hotmail.com>) |
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Private Robert Middleton Brown. 204159. 6th Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment, formerly 43924 Northumberland Fus. Son of Joseph and Elizabeth Brown, of "Tynvale House," Acomb, Hexham, Northumberland. Killed 2 January 1918. Aged 34. Born Hexham (Northumberland), Enlisted Hexham, Resided Acomb (Hexham). Photo : Chris Weekes (<weebex12@hotmail.com>) |
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Private John Garden. 13708. 10th Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Son of James and Margaret Ann Garden, of Red Burn House, Chilton Moor, Fence Houses, Co. Durham. Killed 13 November 1916. Aged 21. Born Morton Grange (Houghton), Enlisted Houghton-le-Spring , Resided Fencehouses. "TILL WE MEET AGAIN" Photo : Chris Weekes (<weebex12@hotmail.com>) |
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Private Samuel Kirk Lambert.
30337. 6th Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Son of Wilfred and Frances Kirk, of Cotterdale, Hawes, Yorks. Killed 12 November 1917. Aged 23. Born Cotterdale (Yorks), Enlisted Leyburn, Resided Cotterdale. "IN THE MIDST OF LIFE WE ARE IN DEATH" Photo : Chris Weekes (<weebex12@hotmail.com>) |
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Private James Middleton. 7509. 2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Son of James Middleton, of 3, Rockett Terrace, Coatham, Redcar, Yorks. Killed 25 September 1915. Aged 31. Born Warrenby (Redcar), Enlisted Middlesbrough, Resided Warrenby. Photo : Chris Weekes (<weebex12@hotmail.com>) (Sole legatee = father, James. Cause of death = suicide. In the 1911 Census was serving overseas with the 1st Battalion Yorkshire Regiment.) |
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Captain Frederick Raymond Milholland. 6th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment. Son of Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Milholland, of Jamaica, and 6, The Downs, Wimbledon, London. Killed 26 February 1918. Aged 22. "LEST WE FORGET" Photo : Chris Weekes (<weebex12@hotmail.com>) |
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Lieutenant Charles Gordon Oliver.
3rd Battalion Devonshire Regiment attached to the Yorkshire Regiment. Killed 14 October 1915. From the 2nd Battalion War Diaries, 2nd Lieutenant Charles Gordon Oliver was attached to "A" Company, 2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. He joined the Yorkshire Regiment on 25 June 1915. On 13 October, in the Battle of Loos, he was hit by a rifle grenade and died the following day. Photo : candat anthony of the Find a Grave website However, there was also a Serjeant Charles Gordon Oliver in the Yorkshire Regiment (Regimental No 17513). He first served in France on 9 September 1915. From the GH Gazette he served in the 10th Battalion and was wounded in early 1916. He was then promoted to 2nd Lieutenant, and served with the Northumberland Fusiliers. He survived the war, and retired from the Army in April 1922. He was a resident of Wallsend-on-Tyne, and died in Q3 1945 aged 60. Information on the above two Charles Gordon Oliver soldiers who saw service with the Yorkshire Regiment has been obtained by Richard Roberts (<richard.nsw@googlemail.com>). |
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Private Cecil Bertram Render. 9828.
2nd Battalion Border Regiment, formerly 8382 the Yorkshire Regiment. Son of Frank Render, of 65, Volta St., Selby, Yorks. Killed 26 September 1915. Aged 26. Born York, Enlisted Sunderland, Resided Pallion (Sunderland). Photo : Chris Cosgrove (<trainscpc@aol.com>) |
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Private Joseph Edward Sawdon, 9680. 2nd Battalion Yorkshire Regiment. Son of Sarah Farndale (formerly Sawdon), of 41, Whitcliffe Terrace, Loftus, Yorks., and the late Edward Sawdon. Killed 25 September 1915. Aged 22. Born Loftus, Enlisted Guisborough, Resided Loftus. "HE ANSWERED HIS CALL" Photo : Chris Weekes (<weebex12@hotmail.com>) |
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Private Lawrence Hill Solomon, 3/7475.
2nd Battalion Yorkshire Regiment. Son of John and Elizabeth Solomon, of 78, Cleveland St., Eston, Yorks. Killed 1 December 1915. Aged 24. Born Eston (Yorks), Enlisted Normanby, Resided Eston. "HE GAVE HIS LIFE
Photo : Chris Weekes (<weebex12@hotmail.com>)FOR HIS COUNTRY" |
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Private Arthur Wilson. 29005. 10th Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Son of Mrs. Mary Ann Wilson, of 3, Quarry Hill, Sowerby Bridge, Yorks. Killed 29 October 1916. Aged 32. Born Sowerby Bridge (Yorks), Enlisted Halifax, Resided Sowerby Bridge. "AT REST" Photo : Chris Weekes (<weebex12@hotmail.com>) |
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The headstone below is that of an Officer of the Royal Berkshire Regiment
who was awarded the Victoria Cross;-
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2nd Lieutenant Alexander Buller Turner, VC. 1st Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment. Son of Major and Mrs. Charles Turner, of Thatcham House, Newbury, Berks. Killed 1 October 1915. Aged 22. An extract from the Third Supplement to the London Gazette of 16th Nov., 1915, No. 29371, records the following:- "For most conspicuous bravery on 28th Sept., 1915, at "Fosse 8," near Vermelles. When the regimental bombers could make no headway in Slag Alley, Second Lieutenant Turner volunteered to lead a new bombing attack. He pressed down the communication trench practically alone, throwing bombs incessantly with such dash and determination that he drove back the Germans about 150 yards without a check. His action enabled the reserves to advance with very little loss, and subsequently covered the flank of his regiment in its retirement, thus probably averting a loss of some hundreds of men. This most gallant Officer has since died of wounds received in this action." Photo : Chris Weekes (<weebex12@hotmail.com>) |
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Chocques Military Cemetery (2)
Photo : Chris Weekes (<weebex12@hotmail.com>)
Chocques Military Cemetery (3)
Photo : Chris Weekes (<weebex12@hotmail.com>)