LUKE COPSE BRITISH CEMETERY
Puisieux
Pas De Calais
France
GPS Coordinates: Latitude: 50.10774, Longitude: 2.6592
Image above © Carl Liversage @carl_liversage
Location Information
Using the D919 from Arras to Amiens you will drive through the villages of Bucquoy and Puisieux and then Serre-les-Puisieux (approximately 20 kilometres south of Arras).
On leaving Serre-les-Puisieux, 600 metres further along the D919 there is a right hand turn onto a small lane which will take you directly to Luke Copse Cemetery. It must, however, be emphasised that this lane is not suitable for cars and buses.
The register is available in the Mairie on Tuesday ; Thursday and Friday from 14.00 to 16.00 and Saturday from 10.00 to 12.00.
Visiting Information
Vehicles should be parked a further 100 metres along on the right hand side of the D919 in front of Serre Road Cemetery No.1, and visitors should then walk up the lane to Luke Copse British Cemetery. Parking is also available outside of Serre Road No.3 cemetery at the top of this lane.
The location or design of this site make wheelchair access impossible.
Historical Information
The village of Puisieux was taken by Commonwealth forces on the 28 February 1917, lost on the 26 March 1918 and recovered on the following 21 August.
In the spring of 1917, the battlefields of the Somme and Ancre were cleared by V Corps and a number of new cemeteries were made. Luke Copse British Cemetery (originally known as V Corps Cemetery No. 19) is on the old front line of July 1916. It is named from one of four small plantations that were on or close behind that line, between Serre and Hebuterne. The graves are of casualties of the 31st and 3rd Divisions, who died in attacks on 1 July and 13 November 1916.
There are now 72 First World War burials in the cemetery, 28 of them unidentified.
Total Burials: 72.
Identified Casualties: United Kingdom 44.
Unidentified Casualties: Total 28.
The cemetery was designed by Noel Ackroyd Rew
Images in this gallery © Geerhard Joos
Lieutenant
Bertrand Ward Devas
2nd Bn. Suffolk Regiment
13th November 1916, aged 34.
Grave 7.
Son of Charles Stanton Devas; husband of Elizabeth Helen Devas, of Hayes Grove Cottage, Hayes Common, Kent. Barrister-at-Law (Inner Temple).
His headstone bears the inscription; "R. I. P."
Bertrand Ward Devas
2nd Bn. Suffolk Regiment
13th November 1916, aged 34.
Grave 7.
Son of Charles Stanton Devas; husband of Elizabeth Helen Devas, of Hayes Grove Cottage, Hayes Common, Kent. Barrister-at-Law (Inner Temple).
His headstone bears the inscription; "R. I. P."
6032 Private
George Lee
2nd Bn. Suffolk Regiment
13th November 1916.
Grave 5.
George Lee
2nd Bn. Suffolk Regiment
13th November 1916.
Grave 5.
43362 Private
Frederick Walter Sheldrick
2nd Bn. Suffolk Regiment
13th November 1916, aged 26.
Grave 9.
Son of Walter Lionel Sheldrick, of 45, Victoria St., Ipswich. Born at Norwich.
Frederick Walter Sheldrick
2nd Bn. Suffolk Regiment
13th November 1916, aged 26.
Grave 9.
Son of Walter Lionel Sheldrick, of 45, Victoria St., Ipswich. Born at Norwich.
Images in this gallery © Werner Van Caneghem
British troops in a captured German trench ('Old Hun Line') at Serre, March 1917. Serre was occupied by men of the 7th, 9th and 62nd Divisions on 25 February 1917 during operations on the Ancre, the preliminary stages of the German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line. © IWM (Q 1788)
Group of British soldiers in the ruins of Serre, abandoned just before the German retreat, March 1917. © IWM (Q 5804)
Image above © Carl Liversage @carl_liversage
The cemeteries in the distance are Queens Cemetery and Serre Road Cemetery, No. 3.
The cemeteries in the distance are Queens Cemetery and Serre Road Cemetery, No. 3.
A working party of 2nd Battalion, the Manchester Regiment, part of 32nd Division, moving up to the trenches near Serre, January 1917. © IWM (Q 1789)
A panoramic view of ruins of the Sugar Refinery, near Serre, March 1917, following operations on the Ancre. © IWM (Q 1815)
