Merville Communal Cemetery Extension

MERVILLE COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION

Nord

France

GPS Coordinates: Latitude: 50.64553, Longitude: 2.63971

Location Information

Merville is a town 15 kilometres north of Bethune and 20 kilometres south-east of Armentieres.

The Communal Cemetery is on the north-east side of the town to the north side of the road to Neuf-Berquin. The Extension is now surrounded by the Communal Cemetery.

Visiting Information

OPENING TIMES:
April to October: 08.00 - 20.00
November to March: 08.00 - 17.30

It is possible for a disabled person to have access to the cemetery extension, even with a wheelchair. Access should be by the large door of the Communal Cemetery as the service entrance of the Cemetery Extension is too small and there are steps.

OPENING TIMES OF COMMUNAL CEMETERY:
April to October: 08.00 - 20.00
November to March: 08.00 - 17.30

Historical Information

Merville was the scene of fighting between the Germans and French and British cavalry early in October 1914 but from the 9th of that month to 11 April 1918, it remained in Allied hands. In October 1914, and in the autumn of 1915, the town was the headquarters of the Indian Corps. It was a railhead until May 1915, and a billeting and hospital centre from 1915-1918. The 6th and Lahore Casualty Clearing Stations were there from the autumn of 1914 to the autumn of 1915; the 7th from December 1914, to April 1917; the 54th (1st/2nd London) from August 1915 to March 1918, and the 51st (Highland) from May 1917 to April 1918.

On the evening of 11 April 1918, in the Battles of the Lys, the Germans forced their way into Merville and the town was not retaken until 19 August. The cemeteries were not used again until the concentration of battlefield burials into the Extension began, after the Armistice.

During the Second World War the river Lys was the southern end of a deep but narrow area held by British forces at the end of May 1940. Merville is on the territory over which were fought desperate rearguard actions during the withdrawal of the British Expeditionary Force to the coast, for evacuation from Dunkirk.

MERVILLE COMMUNAL CEMETERY was used by French troops (chiefly cavalry) in October 1914, and for Commonwealth burials from that date until August 1916 (in the case of officers, to March 1918). It now contains 1,268 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, and 12 French war graves. There is also 1 non war burial.

Total Burials: 1,290.

World War One Identified Commonwealth Burials: United Kingdom 1,133, India 97, Australia 21, Canada 11. Total 1,262.

World War One Other Nationalities: France 12, Germany 8. Total 20.

Non War Burial: 1.

MERVILLE COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION was opened in August 1916, and used by Commonwealth and Portuguese hospitals until April 1918. It was enlarged after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the battlefields immediately north and east of Merville and from the following cemetery:-

CAUDESCURE HALTE CEMETERY, MORBECQUE, which was close to the road and the light railway from Merville to Hazebrouck, and just within the Bois-Moyen. It was made by fighting units, and it contained the graves of 38 soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in the period April-August, 1918.

The Extension now contains 920 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, 345 of them unidentified. The 92 Second World War burials (18 of them unidentified) occurred mostly during the fighting in May 1940 and are interspersed among the First World War graves. The Extension also contains 19 war graves of other nationalities.

Total Burials: 1,032.

World War One Identified Commonwealth Burials: United Kingdom 569, Canada 3, South Africa 2, Australia 1. Total 575.

World War One Unidentified Burials Commonwealth Burials: 345.

World War One Other Nationalities: 19.

World War Two Identified Burials: United Kingdom 72, Canada 2, Germany 1, Poland 1. Total 75.

World War Two Unidentified Burials: 18.

The Extension was designed by Sir Herbert Baker and Noel Ackroyd Rew

10881 Private
William Allen
2nd Bn. Royal Fusiliers
13th April 1918, aged 37.
Plot I. E. 37.

Husband of Harriet Allen, of 33, Clay Hill, Bushey, Herts, father of James, Helen, Anne, Emma and Albert.

His headstone bears the inscription; "In God's Keeping. From Dear Wife."

Picture courtesy of granddaughter Patricia Richards

243961 Sapper
William Arthur Ayres, M. M.
Royal Engineers. Inland Water Transport
22nd July 1917, aged 19.
Plot I. B. 43.

Son of William Reynolds Ayres and Minnie Ayres, of 9, St. Edward's Rd., Reading. Formerly served in the 8th Bn. Royal Berkshire Regt.

His headstone bears the inscription; "To Live In The Hearts Of Those We Love Is Not To Die "How He Loved"

Picture courtesy of Bryan Colyer, nephew of William Ayres.

238036 Corporal
James William Biggins D. C. M.
1st/4th Bn. York and Lancaster Regiment
3rd May 1917, aged 33.
Plot III. A. 15.

Husband of Edna May Biggins and father of Lewis Biggins (age 6yrs) of 59 St Stephen's Road, Sheffield.

His headstone bears the inscription; "He Gave His Life For His Country."

Picture courtesy of Wendy Wood (nee Biggins) very proud granddaughter of a grandad I never knew

492060 Private
Arthur Cobb
(5048) 1st/13th Kensington Bn. London Regiment
18th February 1917, aged 26.
Plot I. B. 13.

Son of Louisa Cobb of Steeple End, Halesworth, Suffolk and the late George Robert Cobb; husband of Gertie Flossie Cobb of 89 Brightfield Road, Lee, S.E. London.

Picture courtesy of Matthew Abel

796414 Gunner
Harry Haworth
49th Trench Mortar Bty. Royal Field Artillery
19th May 1917, aged 25.
Plot III. A. 21.

Son of Peter R. and Sarah J. Haworth, of 18, Herbert St., Burnley.

His headstone bears the inscription; "At Rest."

Wounded on 19th May 1917, he died later the same day at No.51 Casualty Clearing Station. prior to enlisting he was an assistant at the Stomike Coffee Works in Burnley.

3416 Lance Corporal
J. W. Lee
1st/8th Bn. Middlesex Regiment
29th October 1916
Plot I. A. 36.

696033 Driver
William Smallshaw
57th Ammunition Column. Royal Field Artillery
8th July 1917, aged 30.
Plot I. B. 37.

Father of William, Nora and Alice.

Picture courtesy of Lance Smallshaw

37357 Lance Corporal
George Wilkinson Teasdale
20th (Tyneside Scottish) Bn. Northumberland Fusiliers
27th April 1917, aged 23.
Plot I. E. 8.

Son of Mrs. I. M. Teasdale, of 1, Brick Row, Catterall, Preston. Native of Gatebeck, Westmorland.

4732 Private
Henry James Weaver
2nd/1st Bucks Bn. Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry
8th September 1916, aged 33.
Plot I. A. 10.

Son of William Henry and Jane Weaver, of Curry Rivel, Taunton; husband of Florence Weaver, of 22, Ford St., Tavistock.

His headstone bears the inscription "In Loving Memory Of My Dear Husband From His Sorrowing Wife And Child"