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Yorkshire
Regiment War Graves, - Flesquieres Hill British Cemetery (France, Nord) |
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Flesquieres
Hill British Cemetery (1)
Photo : Commonwealth
War Graves Commission
Flesquieres village was attacked by the 51st (Highland) Division, with tanks, on the 20th November 1917, in the Battle of Cambrai, but held for a time by a German officer with a few men; it was captured on the 21st. It was lost in the later stages of the battle, and retaken on the 27th September 1918, by the 3rd Division.
Flesquieres Hill Cemetery was originally made by the 2nd Division, in 1918, behind a German cemetery ("Flesquieres Soldiers' Cemetery No.2"); but the German graves were removed after the Armistice to FLESQUIERES COMMUNAL CEMETERY GERMAN EXTENSION (which in its turn was removed, with 583 graves, in 1924). Plots III-VIII were created on the site of the German cemetery and in them were reburied 688 British soldiers from the battlefields of Havrincourt, Flesquieres, Marcoing and Masnieres and from a few other burial grounds.
There are now over 900, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, over one-third are unidentified and special memorials are erected to five officers and men from the United Kingdom and two from New Zealand, known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of three men of the R.N.D., buried at the end of 1917 in the 63rd Division Cemetery, Marcoing, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire.
Amongst the graves are those for 6 soldiers who served with the Yorkshire Regiment.
We are very grateful to Chris Weekes (<weebex12@hotmail.com>) for photographs of the cemetery and headstones.
Click on the thumbnail image of a headstone for a larger version of the photo which opens in a new window.
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Private Henry Barnsdale. 77357.
2nd Battalion Durham Light Infantry, formerly 42753 Yorkshire Regiment. Son of Mrs. Elizabeth Barnsdale, of 20, Camberwell Gate, London. Killed 25 March 1918. Aged 19. Born Walworth (Surrey), Enlisted Southwark, Resided Walworth. "GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
MOTHER" |
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Private James Blencowe Keating. 92304. 1st Gun Carrier Coy. Tank Corps, formerly 4344 the Yorkshire Regiment. Son of James M. and Ida E. Keating, of 13, The Pleasance, Putney, London. Native of Middlesbrough. Died 27 September 1918. Aged 19. Born Middlesbrough (Yorks), Enlisted Middlesbrough. "A BROKEN MELODY"
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Private Herbert Herman Mordecai.
30727. 1st Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, formerly 46488 the Yorkshire Regiment. Killed 10 September 1918. Born Seaham Harbour (Co. Durham), Enlisted Sunderland, Resided Hebburn. (Biographical information on Herbert Herman Mordecai is provided on the North East War Memorials Project website.) |
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Private Charles Parkinson Pickering.
32847. 87th Battalion Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), formerly 2699 the Yorkshire Regiment. Son of Parkinson and Ann Pickering, of Lockington, Yorks. Killed 3 December 1917. Aged 19. Born Woolwich (Kent), Enlisted Driffield, Resided Beverley. (The Lockington memorial gives his battalion as being the 5th Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment)
"AT REST" |
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Private Frederick Shipley. 229074.
1st Battalion London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), formerly 2641 the Yorkshire Regiment. Killed 19 September 1918. Born Beverley, Enlisted Hull. |
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Private G Sydney Webster. 105715.
1st Battalion The King's (Liverpool Regiment), formerly 39498 the Yorkshire Regiment. Killed 29 September 1918. Born Law Laith (Yorks), Enlisted Harrogate (Yorks), Resided Harrogate. |
Flesquieres Hill British Cemetery (2)
Photo : Chris Weekes (<weebex12@hotmail.com>)
Flesquieres Hill British Cemetery (3)
Photo : Chris Weekes (<weebex12@hotmail.com>)