Vis-en-Artois British Cemetery

VIS-EN-ARTOIS BRITISH CEMETERY

and the

VIS-EN-ARTOIS MEMORIAL

Haucourt

Pas de Calais

France

General Directions: Vis-en-Artois and Haucourt are villages on the straight main road from Arras to Cambrai about 10 kilometres south-east of Arras. The Memorial is the back drop to the Vis-en-Artois British Cemetery, which is west of Haucourt on the north side of the main road.

Panel Information: The Panel Numbers quoted at the end of each entry relate to the panels dedicated to the Regiment served with. In some instances where a casualty is recorded as attached to another Regiment, his name may alternatively appear within their Regimental Panels. Please refer to the on-site Memorial Register Introduction to determine the alternative panel numbers if you do not find the name within the quoted Panels.

Vis-En-Artois and Haucourt were taken by the Canadian Corps on 27 August 1918. The cemetery was begun immediately afterwards and was used by fighting units and field ambulances until the middle of October. It consisted originally of 430 graves (in Plots I and II) of which 297 were Canadian and 55 belonged to the 2nd Duke of Wellington's Regiment. It was increased after the Armistice by the concentration of graves from the battlefields of April-June 1917, August and September 1918, and from the smaller cemeteries in the neighbourhood, including:- BOIS-DU-SART BRITISH CEMETERY, PELVES, at the North-Western angle of the Bois-du-Sart, which contained the graves of ten soldiers and airmen from the United Kingdom and nine soldiers from Canada who fell in August and September 1918. DURY GERMAN CEMETERY was on the South-East side of Dury village, a little South of the road to Saudemont. It contained the graves of four British and 49 German soldiers. ECOURT-ST. QUENTIN GERMAN CEMETERY on the East side of the road to Lecluse. It contained the graves of 16 soldiers from the United Kingdom. ETAING COMMUNAL CEMETERY GERMAN EXTENSION, which contained the graves of six soldiers and airmen from the United Kingdom, who fell in 1917 and 1918, 331 German soldiers (including some who fell in August 1914), and two Russian prisoners. LECLUSE GERMAN CEMETERY, on the West side of the village, contained the graves of 476 German soldiers, eleven soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in 1917, and one Russian prisoner. MONCHY QUARRY CEMETERY was in a quarry 800 metres South-East of Monchy-le-Preux. It contained the graves of 22 soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in July 1917. PELVES CANADIAN CEMETERY, nearly 1.6 kilometes due South of the village, contained the graves of 39 soldiers from Canada who fell in August and September 1918. PELVES COMMUNAL CEMETERY GERMAN EXTENSION, which contained the graves of two soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in 1917. RUMAUCOURT GERMAN CEMETERY, on the Southern edge of the village, which contained the graves of 21 soldiers from the United Kingdom and six from Australia. SAILLY-EN-OSTREVENT COMMUNAL CEMETERY, which was destroyed by shell-fire, contained the graves of three soldiers from the United Kingdom (two of which were recovered). VIS-EN-ARTOIS COMMUNAL CEMETERY GERMAN EXTENSION, which was very badly shelled, contained the graves of 621 German soldiers, 14 from the United Kingdom, eight French and five Russian. The cemetery now contains 2,369 burials and commemorations of the First World War. 1,458 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to eight casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials commemorate four soldiers buried in other cemeteries whose graves could not be found on concentration. The cemetery was designed by J R Truelove.

Casualty Details: UK 1748, Canada 582, Australia 6, South Africa 2, Unidentified 4, Total Burials: 2342

Memorial

This Memorial bears the names of over 9,000 men who fell in the period from 8 August 1918 to the date of the Armistice in the Advance to Victory in Picardy and Artois, between the Somme and Loos, and who have no known grave. They belonged to the forces of Great Britain and Ireland and South Africa; the Canadian, Australian and New Zealand forces being commemorated on other memorials to the missing. The Memorial consists of a screen wall in three parts. The middle part of the screen wall is concave and carries stone panels on which names are carved. It is 26 feet high flanked by pylons 70 feet high. The Stone of Remembrance stands exactly between the pylons and behind it, in the middle of the screen, is a group in relief representing St George and the Dragon. The flanking parts of the screen wall are also curved and carry stone panels carved with names. Each of them forms the back of a roofed colonnade; and at the far end of each is a small building. The memorial was designed by J. R. Truelove, with sculpture by Ernest Gillick. It was unveiled by the Rt. Hon. Thomas Shaw on 4 August 1930.

Number of Identified Casualties: 9822

Shot at Dawn: G/18469 Private F. C. Butcher, 7th Bn. The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), executed for desertion 27/08/1918.

Cemetery Memorial Used with permission www.cwgc.org

Captain

George Leonard Parker

2nd Bn. Essex Regiment

01/09/1918, aged 23

Plot II. C. 1.

Son of Thomas and Mary Parker, of 105, Wellington Rd., Ashton, Preston.

Picture Courtesy of John Garlington

R/1778 Able Seaman

Maurice Joseph Bede Scarborough

Anson Bn. Royal Naval Division, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.

21/08/1918

Panels 1 and 2, Vis-en-Artois Memorial

Picture Courtesy of John Garlington

23494 Serjeant

Spencer Charles Bracey

83rd Squadron, Royal Air Force

16/06/1918.

Plot XI. F. 1A

Pictures courtesy of Kathy Bracy

18872 Corporal

John Curtis

1st Bn. Leicestershire Regiment

18/09/1918, aged 38.

Husband of Rachel Bradford (formerly Curtis), of Albert Villas, Ravenstone, Leicester.

Panel 5.

Picture courtesy of Christine Denton (nee Curtis) Granddaughter of this soldier

G/20823 Private

Henry George Rueben Hart

Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)

Attd. 1st/20th Bn. London Regiment

01/09/1918, aged 19.

Son of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Hart, of 41, Baventry St., Lisson Grove, Marylebone, London.

Panel 7.

Picture courtesy of Ray Hart

G/62927 Private

Lawrence Plant

Middlesex Regiment, posted to 7th Bn. London Regiment,

formerly 48657 South Staffordshire Regiment

28/08/1918, aged 22.

Son of Mr. and Mrs. Plant, of 68, Furnace Rd., Normacott, Longton, Staffs.

Panel 8-9

Picture courtesy of Dave Shaw

255861 Private

William Frank Netzel

3rd Bn. Canadian Machine Gun Corps.

16/09/1918, aged 31.

Plot I. D. 37.

Picture courtesy of his granddaughter Margaret Elliott (nee Netzel)

55933 Private

Robert Thomas Whitaker

1st/7th Bn. Manchester Regiment.

27/09/1918, aged 19.

Son of Mr. and Mrs. R. W. Whitaker, of "Brookfield," 114, Wigan Rd., Ashton-in-Makerfield, Wigan.

Panel 9.

Picture courtesy of Chris Radford, great nephew of this soldier

G/38685 Private

George Wilkin

1st Bn. Queen's Own

(Royal West Kent Regiment)

27/09/1918

Son of George and Rhoda Wilkin of 7, Dordans Road, Leagrave, Luton. Beds.

Panel 7.

Picture courtesy of George Wilkin, nephew of this soldier

Second Lieutenant

Harry Eyre

2nd Bn. Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment)

17/09/1918

Panel 7.

Harry was a miner from Sheffield prior to enlisting with the East Yorkshire Regiment. He was then sent back to England for officer training, before being commissioned with the 2nd Battalion Sherwood Foresters as a 2nd Lieutenant.

He was killed on the 17th September 1918 at or near Monchy Lagache and his name appears on panel 7 on the Vis en Artois Memorial in France. His body was never found. He was the son of Sarah Anne and Samuel.

Picture courtesy of Great nephews, Gary and David Eyre

34951 Private

Sydney Spencer Morris

14th Bn. Royal Warwickshire Regiment

27/09/1918

Panel 3.

Son of Mark and Annie Morris (nee Cowley)
Brother of Herbert, Percival, Hilda, Harold, Frank, Alfred and Clarice.
Grandson of George and Antonia Morris and Martin and Esther Cowley.

Born at Wolverton, England, 1898.

48639 Private

Edward McLaughlin

2nd Bn. Royal Scots.

23/08/1918, aged 20.

Panel 3. Vis-en-Artois Memorial

Eldest son of James and Mary McLaughlin of Co-operative Buildings, Fauldhouse, West Lothian.

Killed in action near the village of Gomiecourt, Pas de Calais on the 23rd August 1918, but never forgotten by generations of his family".

Picture courtesy of William McLaughlin, nephew of this soldier

24256 Corporal

John Edwin Green

2nd Bn. Sherwood Foresters

(Notts & Derby Regiment)

19/09/1918, aged 22.

Son of Abraham Green, of 22, Liversage Cottages, Liversage St., Derby.

Panel 7. Vis-en-Artois Memorial

Picture courtesy of John Harris, great nephew of this soldier

11546 Private

Henry Johnson

1st Bn. Leicestershire Regiment

19/09/1918, aged 27.

Panel 5. Vis-en-Artois Memorial

Picture and cuttings courtesy of Ray Woodhouse, great grandson of this soldier

41288 Rifleman

William Mathew Kinsela

Rifle Brigade - posted to London Regiment (Artists' Rifles)

26/08/1918, aged 20.

Son of Walter and Catherine Jane Kinsela, of 10, Morton Mews, Earls Court Gardens, Kensington, London.

Panel 10 Vis-en-Artois Memorial

Picture courtesy of great nieces Pat, Jean and Doreen (nee Kinsela)

65377 Private

William Martin

62nd Bn. Machine Gun Corps. (Inf.)

12/09/1918, aged 32.

Son of the late Thomas Martin; husband of Gertrude Fanny Martin, of 17, Crabtree Rd., Hockley, Birmingham. Leaving behind his wife and a 3 year old son also named William.

Panel 10, Vis-en-Artois Memorial

Picture courtesy of Lauren Dutton