GRUISSAN COMMUNAL CEMETERY
Aude
France
GPS Coordinates: Latitude: 43.10619, Longitude: 3.08832
Visiting Information
Gruissan is a large town in the Aude region of France. The Communal Cemetery is located on the Rue de Pech. The Commonwealth war grave is towards the rear of Cimetière No.2.
Burial Details
Captain Eric Cograve Simpson, M. C. General List attached to R. T. O., M. F. O. department, died 4th May 1917, aged 29. Son of John James and Emily Simpson. His headstone bears the inscription "In Honoured And Grateful Memory"
Born in Didsbury in 1889, Eric was the eldest son of John James Simpson and Emily Simpson (née
Singleton) later of Sholebroke-Mount, Leeds. They had married on the 17th May 1886 at Chorlton- upon- Medlock, Lancashire. Eric had an older sister Doris and five younger siblings, Barry, John, Barbara, Philip and Nancy. In 1901 the family lived at 3, St Mary's Road, Potter Newton, Leeds, along with their three servants. Their father was the Director of a Company that manufactured prams. Their mother Emily died in 1912.
However, by 1911 Eric had left home and was boarding at 63 Esmond Road, Cheetham Hill Manchester, the home of widow Mrs Emma Wright. Eric was working for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway.
In WW1, Eric was appointed to Commands and Staff on the 16th September 1914 with the temporary rank of Lieutenant and went to France on the 21st September. Awarded the Military Cross, this was announced in the London Gazette on the 18th February 1915. He was later promoted to Captain.
Eric was killed on the 4th May 1917 when he was aboard the steamship S.S. Transylvania. She was being used as a troopship and was en-route from Marseilles to Alexandria in Egypt with an escort of two Japanese destroyers, when she was hit by a torpedo some two and half miles south of Cape Vado, Gulf of Genoa. She made for the shore whilst one destroyer attempted to take off troops and the other circled the ship to ward off the German submarine. Despite this, another torpedo was fired and hit the troopship which quickly went down. 12 crew and 402 military passengers were drowned. Eric was one of those casualties. His body was later washed ashore and he was buried in Gruissan Communal Cemetery.
Eric is commemorated on the WW1 Memorial at Victoria Railway Station in Manchester.
Eric's Military Cross, 1914 Star and British War & Victory medals were sold at auction in London in May 2016. The hammer price was £900.
(Sources: CWGC, Find My Past, Ancestry, Newspaper Archives, Noonans, Great War Forum)
(Bio: Woose)
Gruissan is a large town in the Aude region of France. The Communal Cemetery is located on the Rue de Pech. The Commonwealth war grave is towards the rear of Cimetière No.2.
Burial Details
Captain Eric Cograve Simpson, M. C. General List attached to R. T. O., M. F. O. department, died 4th May 1917, aged 29. Son of John James and Emily Simpson. His headstone bears the inscription "In Honoured And Grateful Memory"
Born in Didsbury in 1889, Eric was the eldest son of John James Simpson and Emily Simpson (née
Singleton) later of Sholebroke-Mount, Leeds. They had married on the 17th May 1886 at Chorlton- upon- Medlock, Lancashire. Eric had an older sister Doris and five younger siblings, Barry, John, Barbara, Philip and Nancy. In 1901 the family lived at 3, St Mary's Road, Potter Newton, Leeds, along with their three servants. Their father was the Director of a Company that manufactured prams. Their mother Emily died in 1912.
However, by 1911 Eric had left home and was boarding at 63 Esmond Road, Cheetham Hill Manchester, the home of widow Mrs Emma Wright. Eric was working for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway.
In WW1, Eric was appointed to Commands and Staff on the 16th September 1914 with the temporary rank of Lieutenant and went to France on the 21st September. Awarded the Military Cross, this was announced in the London Gazette on the 18th February 1915. He was later promoted to Captain.
Eric was killed on the 4th May 1917 when he was aboard the steamship S.S. Transylvania. She was being used as a troopship and was en-route from Marseilles to Alexandria in Egypt with an escort of two Japanese destroyers, when she was hit by a torpedo some two and half miles south of Cape Vado, Gulf of Genoa. She made for the shore whilst one destroyer attempted to take off troops and the other circled the ship to ward off the German submarine. Despite this, another torpedo was fired and hit the troopship which quickly went down. 12 crew and 402 military passengers were drowned. Eric was one of those casualties. His body was later washed ashore and he was buried in Gruissan Communal Cemetery.
Eric is commemorated on the WW1 Memorial at Victoria Railway Station in Manchester.
Eric's Military Cross, 1914 Star and British War & Victory medals were sold at auction in London in May 2016. The hammer price was £900.
(Sources: CWGC, Find My Past, Ancestry, Newspaper Archives, Noonans, Great War Forum)
(Bio: Woose)
