PARGNY BRITISH CEMETERY
Somme
France
GPS Coordinates: Latitude: 49.80327, Longitude: 2.94444
Image above © Johan Pauwels
Location Information
Pargny is a village about 15 kilometres south of Péronne and the British Cemetery is a further one kilometre south of the village, on the east side of the road the Nesle.
Visiting Information
Wheelchair access to this cemetery is possible with some difficulty.
Historical Information
Pargny British Cemetery was made after the Armistice, by concentrations from the surrounding battlefields and the following cemetery:-
PARGNY GERMAN CEMETERY, which was a little way North-East of Pargny Church, contained the graves of 32 soldiers from the United Kingdom.
The majority of the burials in this cemetery are those of officers and men of the 61st (South Midland) and 8th Divisions, whose resistance at the Somme crossings on the 24th March 1918, materially helped to delay the German advance.
There are 637, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, more than three-quarters are unidentified and special memorials are erected to 16 soldiers from the United Kingdom, known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of two officers of the Royal Air Force, buried in Pertain Military Cemetery, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire. Certain graves in Plot III, Row E, identified as a group but not individually, are marked with headstones inscribed: "Buried near this spot".
The cemetery covers an area of 2,509 square metres.
Total Burials: 637.
World War One Identified Casualties: United Kingdom 145, Canada 4. Total 149.
World War One Unidentified Casualties: United Kingdom 486, Canada 2. Total 488.
The cemetery was designed by Charles Henry Holden & William Harrison Cowlishaw
Images in gallery below © Johan Pauwels
174221 Private
Osmond John Culbert Begin
1st Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade
25th March 1918, aged 27.
Plot IV. C. 1.
Son of Charles T. and Elizabeth Begin, of 24, Kensington Avenue North, Hamilton, Ontario
His headstone bears the inscription; "Our Love And His Memory Never Shall Part. Mother & Father."
Osmond John Culbert Begin
1st Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade
25th March 1918, aged 27.
Plot IV. C. 1.
Son of Charles T. and Elizabeth Begin, of 24, Kensington Avenue North, Hamilton, Ontario
His headstone bears the inscription; "Our Love And His Memory Never Shall Part. Mother & Father."
43023 Private
George Chapman
22nd Bn. Durham Light Infantry
26th March 1918, aged 40.
Plot IV. D. 1.
Son of Nahor and Alice Chapman, of Crewton, Derby; husband of Florence May Ryan (formerly Chapman), of Old Hill, Ashbourne, Derbyshire.
His headstone bears the inscription "He Died For His Country And Those He Loved"
Image courtesy of Andy Chapman (Great Grandson)
George Chapman
22nd Bn. Durham Light Infantry
26th March 1918, aged 40.
Plot IV. D. 1.
Son of Nahor and Alice Chapman, of Crewton, Derby; husband of Florence May Ryan (formerly Chapman), of Old Hill, Ashbourne, Derbyshire.
His headstone bears the inscription "He Died For His Country And Those He Loved"
Image courtesy of Andy Chapman (Great Grandson)
200519 Rifleman
Arthur Robert Cracknell
11th Bn. Rifle Brigade
1st April 1918.
Plot I. A. 13.
Arthur Robert Cracknell
11th Bn. Rifle Brigade
1st April 1918.
Plot I. A. 13.
Captain
William George Gabain, M. C.
Rifle Brigade
24th March 1918.
Plot I. B. 11.
Son of Charles Edward and Elizabeth Hutton Gabain, of "Sunnyfields," Mill Hill, London.
William George Gabain, M. C.
Rifle Brigade
24th March 1918.
Plot I. B. 11.
Son of Charles Edward and Elizabeth Hutton Gabain, of "Sunnyfields," Mill Hill, London.
200475 Corporal
George William Goddard
2nd Bn. Royal Berkshire Regiment
22nd March 1918, aged 25.
Plot II. E. 13.
Son of George and Emma Arm Goddard, of 32, Coventry Rd., Reading.
His headstone bears the inscription; "Death Divides But Memory Ever Clings."
George William Goddard
2nd Bn. Royal Berkshire Regiment
22nd March 1918, aged 25.
Plot II. E. 13.
Son of George and Emma Arm Goddard, of 32, Coventry Rd., Reading.
His headstone bears the inscription; "Death Divides But Memory Ever Clings."
G/68550 Private
Harry Charles Hudson
7th Bn. The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment)
26th April 1918, aged 18.
Plot III. C. 35.
Son of George and Alice Hudson, of 2, Beaconsfield Rd., Buckland, Dover.
His headstone bears the inscription; "He Rests With England's Heroes In The Watchful Care Of God."
Harry Charles Hudson
7th Bn. The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment)
26th April 1918, aged 18.
Plot III. C. 35.
Son of George and Alice Hudson, of 2, Beaconsfield Rd., Buckland, Dover.
His headstone bears the inscription; "He Rests With England's Heroes In The Watchful Care Of God."
Second Lieutenant
Edward Francis Courtney Moore, M. C.
5th Bn. attached to 2nd Bn. Rifle Brigade
24th March 1918.
Plot II. C. 10.
He was the son of Courtney Edward Moore(1870-1951) and Janie King Askins(1872-1951). He was a roommate of the famous author, C.S. Lewis, at Keble College, Oxford, where they were in cadet training for World War 1. He was the brother of Maureen Daisy Helen Moore Blake, Lady Dunbar of Hempriggs( 1906-1997). Paddy was killed in action March 24, 1918. He was awarded the Military Cross posthumously for conspicuous gallantry and initiative.
Edward Francis Courtney Moore, M. C.
5th Bn. attached to 2nd Bn. Rifle Brigade
24th March 1918.
Plot II. C. 10.
He was the son of Courtney Edward Moore(1870-1951) and Janie King Askins(1872-1951). He was a roommate of the famous author, C.S. Lewis, at Keble College, Oxford, where they were in cadet training for World War 1. He was the brother of Maureen Daisy Helen Moore Blake, Lady Dunbar of Hempriggs( 1906-1997). Paddy was killed in action March 24, 1918. He was awarded the Military Cross posthumously for conspicuous gallantry and initiative.
7941 Sergeant
Joseph Palmer Pitman, M. M.
1st Bn. Somerset Light Infantry
1st July 1916.
Plot III. C. 1.
Joseph Palmer Pitman, M. M.
1st Bn. Somerset Light Infantry
1st July 1916.
Plot III. C. 1.
British soldiers and French refugee children by a field kitchen on a street in Nesle, 22 March 1917. The town was reached in Allied advance of March 1917. © IWM (Q 5806)
Actions of the Somme Crossings. Gordon Highlanders in support watching the fighting. They are halted in the open lining a low ridge, Nesle, 24th March 1918 (Stragglers on 20th Division Front). One soldier is watching from a tree. © IWM (Q 10785)
German troops examining a captured French flat trajectory long-range gun with which Laon was daily bombarded (with heavy casualties to the population). It was captured at Pargny where the Germans crossed the Somme on 24th March 1918. © IWM (Q 29977)
Image above © Johan Pauwels
