Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension, Nord

Cemetery Details

Location Rue Bellekindt, Bailleul, Nord - Hauts-de-France, France
Co‑ordinates N50.73854, E2.74352
Description

Location Information
Bailleul is a large town in France, near the Belgian border, 14.5 Kms south-west of Ieper and on the main road from St. Omer to Lille. From the Grand Place, take the Ieper road and 400 metres along this road is a sign indicating the direction of the cemetery. Turn right into a small road and follow for approximately 400 metres. The cemetery is on the right and the Communal Cemetery Extension is at the bottom end.

History Information
Bailleul was occupied on 14 October 1914 by the 19th Brigade and the 4th Division. It became an important railhead, air depot and hospital centre, with the 2nd, 3rd, 8th, 11th, 53rd, 1st Canadian and 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Stations quartered in it for considerable periods. It was a Corps headquarters until July 1917, when it was severely bombed and shelled, and after the Battle of Bailleul (13-15 April 1918), it fell into German hands and was not retaken until 30 August 1918. The earliest Commonwealth burials at Bailleul were made at the east end of the communal cemetery and in April 1915, when the space available had been filled, the extension was opened on the east side of the cemetery. The extension was used until April 1918, and again in September, and after the Armistice graves were brought in from the neighbouring battlefields and the following burial grounds:-

  • PONT-DE-NIEPPE GERMAN CEMETERY, on the South side of the hamlet of Pont-de-Nieppe, made in the summer of 1918. It contained German graves (now removed) and those of a soldier and an airman from the United Kingdom.
  • RENINGHELST CHINESE CEMETERY, in a field a little South of the Poperinghe-Brandhoek road, where 30 men of the Chinese Labour Corps were buried in November 1917-March 1918

BAILLEUL COMMUNAL CEMETERY contains 610 Commonwealth burials of the First World War; 17 of the graves were destroyed by shell fire and are represented by special memorials.BAILLEUL COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION contains 4,403 Commonwealth burials of the First World War; 11 of the graves made in April 1918 were destroyed by shell fire and are represented by special memorials. There are also 17 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War and 154 German burials from both wars. Both the Commonwealth plot in the communal cemetery and the extension were designed by Sir Herbert Baker. In the centre of the town is a stone obelisk erected by the 25th Division as their Memorial on the Western front, recalling particularly the beginning of their war service at Bailleul and their part in the Battle of Messines. The town War Memorial, a copy of the ruined tower and belfry of the Church of St. Vaast, was unveiled in 1925 by the Lord Mayor of Bradford, the City which had "adopted" Bailleul.

Read more...

Names

Showing 8 people of interest from cemetery

DARK, Douglas Wade

Service number 1917
Private
5th Machine Gun Company
AIF WW1
Born 26 Jan 1893

WHARMBY, Arthur

Service number 1203
Private
26th Infantry Battalion
AIF WW1
Born 1896

FOLEY, James Michael

Service number 1819
Private
44th Infantry Battalion
AIF WW1
Born 1889

STEVENS, William Parr

Service number 3490
Private
4th Pioneer Battalion
AIF WW1
Born 10 Feb 1883

SMITH, John Henry Adams

Service number 2679
Private
60th Infantry Battalion
AIF WW1
Born 1876

GEACH, Charles john

Service number 353
Sergeant
41st Infantry Battalion
AIF WW1
Born 1895

ROWNTREE, Alfred Irving

Service number 3119
Private
43rd Infantry Battalion
AIF WW1
Born 31 Jul 1888

MCPHERSON, Thomas

Service number 1062
Private
20th Infantry Battalion
AIF WW1
Born 1893

Showing 4 of 6 images.
Click images to start slideshow.