Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Died of Wounds, Passchendaele, 11-12 October 1917
Originally listed as ‘No known grave” and listed on the panels of the Menin Gate. .

Francis Coade is buried in the Bedford House Cemetery a short distance from the Belgian town of Ypres. He died on the night of 11/12 October 1917 of wounds received earlier in the day. Coade was a signaler in the 43rd Infantry Battalion. On the day of his death, the battalion was not involved in an attack, with a major attack in the vicinity of what is now the Tyne Cot Cemetery having taken place the day before. On the 11 October the 43rd Battalion was involved in carrying stores to the frontline, so it’s possible that Coade was killed by enemy artillery while doing this work. His story gets confusing as his identity was lost and he was originally remembered on the panels of the Menin Gate as having no known grave. A court of inquiry was held to establish his fate and while most witnesses gave evidence that he had died of his wounds at the Casualty Clearing Station or in the Field Hospital, one witness claimed that he had been taken prisoner by the Germans. Naturally, this piece of evidence gave his family some hope, but it turned out to be false hope and the Court declared that he had died of his wounds. His parents wrote a number of letters to the military authorities looking for explanations of why they had not received their son’s personal effects.
Then in February 1919, his body was discovered near Zonnebeke, not far from where he was wounded and identified by his identity disc. By this time both his parents had died, but his brothers and sisters received some consolation with the news. He was reburied in the Bedford House Cemetery where he remains today.