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Yorkshire
Regiment War Graves, - Perth Cemetery (China Wall) ( Ieper, West-Vlaanderen) |
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Perth Cemetery (China Wall) - 1
Photo : Richard Roberts. (<richard.nsw@googlemail.com>)
The cemetery was begun by French troops in November 1914 (the French graves were removed after the Armistice) and adopted by the 2nd Scottish Rifles in June 1917. It was called Perth (as the predecessors of the 2nd Scottish Rifles were raised in Perth), China Wall (from the communication trench known as the Great Wall of China), or Halfway House Cemetery. The cemetery was used for front line burials until October 1917 when it occupied about half of the present Plot I and contained 130 graves. It was not used again until after the Armistice, when graves were brought in from the battlefields around Ypres and from smaller cemeteries.
There are now 2,791 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 1,369 of the burials are unidentified and special memorials are erected to 27 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials bear the names of 104 casualties buried in the cemeteries concentrated here, whose graves could not be found. 1 Yorkshire Regiment soldier is amongst this latter group.
16 soldiers who served with the Yorkshire Regiment are buried in this cemetery.
We are extremely grateful to Richard Roberts (<richard.nsw@googlemail.com>) who has generously provided the photographs of the cemetery and of the headstones on this page.
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 Leslie Atthill. 10161.
2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Killed 30 October 1914. Aged 19. Born Old Ford (London), Enlisted Stratford (London). |
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Private Dennison Ward Barker,
34561. 9th Battalion York and Lancater Regiment, formerly 10267 Yorkshire Regiment. Killed 9 June 1917. Born Whitby (Yorks), Enlisted Middlesbrough. Photo by Gary Nelson and added by G.Photographer to the Find a Grave website. |
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Corporal Henry George Bishop.
9671. 2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Killed 25 October 1914. Born Battersea, Enlisted London, Resided Battersea. (Incorrectly shown in CWGC Register as G H Bishop) |
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Private Richard Blunden. 8386.
2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Son of Mrs. Francis Clarke, of 1, Hamilton Terrace, Elm Grove, Liverpool. Killed 30 October 1914. Aged 27. Born Liverpool, Enlisted Richmond (Yorks), Resided Liverpool. |
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2nd Lieutenant Roland Brown.
4th Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Killed 13 July 1918. The following notes were provided by Richard Roberts (<richard.nsw@googlemail.com>) regarding Lieutenant Brown;- " 2nd Lieut. Roland Brown - He enlisted as Pte. 4378 in the West Yorkshires and entered France 6/1/1917. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieut. with the Yorkshires 29/1/1918 and was posted missing on 13/7/1918. He was born in Castleford in 1897 the son of Joseph Hill & Mary Brown. In 1911 he was residing in Pocklington." |
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Private Robinson Collin. 42007. 9th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment. Son of Joseph and Frances Collin. Killed 2 June 1917. Aged 41. Born Gateshead, Enlisted Gateshead. The 1881 Census confirms that Robinson Collin was the son of Joseph and Frances Collin, living in Gateshead and born in Gateshead. He was born in 1876. In the 1891 Census he is shown as Robinson Collins (sic), a Blacksmith's Apprentice, living in Gateshead. Born 1876. The wife of Joseph Collin is now shown as Margaret Collin, though. His name appears on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial as "Robinson, C" but this is in error. The CWGC will be informed. |
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Private John Robert Dixon. 10177.
2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Killed 30 October 1914. Born Islington, Enlisted Stratford, Resided Tottenham Rd (London). |
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Private Tom Elwick. 10093. 2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Killed 30 October 1914. Born Ripon, Enlisted Whitby, Resided Littlebeck. |
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Private James White Forrest.
1939. 5th Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Killed 15 February 1916. Born Scarborough, Enlisted Scarborough, Resided Kirriemuir (Forfarshire). Private Forrest's headstone is one of those where the soldier's body was originally buried in another cemetery (in German hands) but where the grave was subsequently destroyed. See photos below of the Special Memorial. |
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Private William Atkinson Jenkins.
245291.
10th Battalion Durham Light Infantry, formerly 204327 the Yorkshire Regiment. Son of Alice Smith (formerly Jenkins), of 29, Bestwood Park, Clay Cross, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, and the late John Jenkins. Born at Newcastle-on-Tyne. Killed 22 August 1917. Aged 23. Born Newcastle, Enlisted Newcastle, Resided Elswick. "DEEPLY MOURNED
BY HIS SORROWING MOTHER THY WILL BE DONE" |
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Lance Corporal Theodore Kilcran.
10061. 2nd Battalion Yorkshire Regiment. Died 30 October 1914. Born Middlesbrough, Enlisted Middlesbrough. |
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Private William Marable. 10143.
2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Killed 30 October 1914. Born Stepney (London), Enlisted Stratford, Resided Stepney. (Incorrectly shown in CWGC register as "1st Battalion") |
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Private James Joseph O'Donnell.
8609.
2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Son of James J. and Mary O'Donnell, of 25, Great Prescott St., Tower Hill, London. Killed 30 October 1914. Aged 28. Born Middlesbrough, Enlisted Stratford, Resided London. "HE LEFT ALL AT DUTY'S CALL
IF IT IS GOD'S WILL I AM TO GO LIKE THIS I AM READY" |
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Lance Corporal Charlton Robinson.
260107. 2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment, formerly 2194 Durham L I. Son of John Thomas and Hannah Robinson, of 40, Fourth St., South Moor, Stanley, Co. Durham. Killed 13 June 1917. Aged 21. Born Brandon (Durham), Enlisted Sleetburn, Resided New Brancepeth. |
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Private William Mars Stanger.
245305. 10th Battalion Durham Light Infantry, formerly 204340 the Yorkshire Regiment. Killed 22 August 1917. Born Byker (Northumberland), Enlisted Newcastle-on-Tyne. |
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Private John Henry Worton. 241260. 2nd Battalion Yorkshire Regiment. Son of John and Christiana Worton, of 5, Stephenson St. North, Ormesby, Middlesbrough. Died 29 April 1918. Enlisted Middlesbrough. "HIS LIFE WAS FOR
PEACE PERFECT PEACE" |
Perth Cemetery (China Wall) - 2
Photo : Richard Roberts. (<richard.nsw@googlemail.com>)
The
Special Memorial in Perth Cemetery (China Wall), with Private Forrest's headstone
on the right.
Photo : Richard Roberts. (<richard.nsw@googlemail.com>)
The
plot in which there are special memorials that bear the names of casualties
buried in the cemeteries concentrated in the Perth Cemetery, but whose graves
could not be found.
Photo : Commonwealth
War Graves Commission.