Gwalia Cemetery, Belgium (CWGC)

GWALIA CEMETERY

West-Vlaanderen

Belgium

GPS Coordinates Latitude: 50.8764 Longitude: 2.76469

Location Information

Gwalia Cemetery is located 8.5 kilometres west of Ieper town centre on the Elverdingseweg (N333), a road leading from the Veurnseweg (N8) connecting Ieper to Elverdinge and on to Veurne. From Ieper town centre the Veurnseweg (N8) is reached via Elverdingsestraat, then turning right onto Haiglaan. Veurnseweg is a continuation of Haiglaan. 4 kilometres along the Veurnseweg (N8) in the village of Elverdinge, lies the left hand turning onto the N333 Steentjesmolenstraat. 4.5 kilometres along this road the cemetery will be located on the right hand side of the road.

Visiting Information

Visitors to this site should note a 400 metre grassed access path which is unsuitable for vehicles and that prior to reaching the cemetery the road name changes to Elverdingseweg.

Please note that this cemetery is accessed via very long grass access paths and these will prove problematic for wheelchair users at certain times of year.

Wheelchair access with some difficulty.

Historical Information

The cemetery was opened at the beginning of July 1917, in the period between the Battle of Messines and the Third Battle of Ypres. It lay among the camps in flat, wet country and was used by infantry units, artillery and field ambulances until September, 1918. In Plot I, Row H, are buried 14 men of the 9th Lancashire Fusiliers who were killed in the early morning of 4 September 1917, in a German air raid over "Dirty Bucket Camp."

The cemetery contains 467 Commonwealth burials of the First World War.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield and Noel Ackroyd Rew

Total Burials: 470.

Identified Casualties: United Kingdom 452, Canada 5, New Zealand 5, Germany 3, Australia 2, South Africa 1. Total 468.

Pictures in this gallery © Werner Van Caneghem

102079 Gunner
Thomas Hardman
"A" Bty. 256th Bde. Royal Field Artillery
15th August 1917, aged 40.
Plot I. F. 19.

Son of Henry and Sarah Ann Hardman, of 199, Windleshaw Rd., St. Helens.

33643 Private
William Alexander Kennedy
11th Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery
29th September 1917, aged 39.
Plot II. D. 5.

Son of William and Isabella Kennedy; husband of Louisa Kennedy, of 33, Belmore Rd., Randwick, Sydney, New South Wales. Native of Glasgow, Scotland.

A coachpainter of Kensington, NSW, was killed in action at Poperinghe, Belgium, on 29 September 1917. Originally from Glasgow, Scotland, he was a veteran of the Boer War, serving with the Tullibardine Scottish Horse.

76508 Gunner
Frederick Charles Lees
112th Battery, 24th Bde. Royal Field Artillery
27th May 1918, aged 19.
Plot II. C. 32.

Son of Thomas George Lees and Alice Edith Lees of Small Heath, Birmingham.

Always Remembered by Great Nephew Michael John (Fred) Lees and family.

88584 Private
William Wellings Locke
133rd Field Amb. Royal Army Medical Corps
25th July 1917, aged 23.
Plot I. E. 8.

Son of William Locke, O.B.E., I.S.O. (H.M. Office of Works), and Emily May Locke (nee Eastlake), of 23, Culverden Rd., Balham, London. Member of Architectural Association, London. Enlisted 2nd Feb.1915.

Second Lieutenant
Roper Henry Whitrod
4th Bn. The King's (Liverpool Regiment)
28th May 1918, aged 28.
Plot I. H. 30.

Husband of Minnie C. Whitrod, of 102, Addison Rd., Upper Caterham, Surrey.

His headstone bears the inscription "Better To Die In The Flower Of Youth Than Live At Ease Like The Sheep"

Images and additional text courtesy of Eugenie Whitrod-Brooks (Great Niece)

Click on images below for Roper's Biography

Battle of Pilckem Ridge 31 July - 2 August: The first wounded to come in lying on the ground at a farm at Elverdinghe. An observation balloon is rising in the background. © IWM (Q 2632)