Point-du-Jour Military Cemetery, Athies

POINT-DU-JOUR MILITARY CEMETERY

Athies

Pas De Calais

France

GPS Coordinates: Latitude: 50.31329, Longitude: 2.83541

Location Information

Leave St-Laurent Blagny on the D42 (Athies to Biache St Vaast) and drive into the village of Athies-les-Arras. After 500 metres take a left turn onto the Rue du Chauffour. Continue for 1.2 kilometres down a small track and Point-du-Jour Military Cemetery will be seen on the right.

Visiting Information

Wheelchair access to this cemetery is possible, but may be by alternative entrance.

Historical Information

Athies was captured by the 9th (Scottish) Division, which included the South African Brigade, on 9 April 1917. It remained in Allied hands until the end of the war.

Point-Du-Jour was a house on the road from St. Laurent-Blangy to Gavrelle and by 1917 it had become a German redoubt, captured by the 34th Division on 9 April.

Two cemeteries were made on the right of the road from St. Laurent-Blangy to Point-du-Jour, No.1 Cemetery becoming the present Point-Du-Jour Military Cemetery. It was used from April to November 1917, and again in May 1918, and contained at the Armistice 82 graves (now part of Plot I). It was then enlarged when over 650 graves were brought in from the battlefields and small cemeteries north, east and south of Arras, including:-

BROWN LINE CEMETERY, ST. LAURENT-BLANGY, about 800 metres North of that village, was named from one of the objectives on the 9th April 1917. It contained the graves of 32 soldiers from South Africa and one from the United Kingdom, who fell on that day.

EFFIE TRENCH CEMETERY, ATHIES, was 500 metres South of the Point-du-Jour. It contained the graves of 22 soldiers of the 1st East Lancs and the Royal Field Artillery, who fell in April and May 1917.

EVIN-MALMAISON COMMUNAL CEMETERY contained the graves of six soldiers from the United Kingdom and one from Canada, buried by the enemy in 1917; one of these graves was not removed.

HENIN-LIETARD COMMUNAL CEMETERY contained the graves of 13 soldiers of the 12th (Eastern) Division, which occupied Henin-Lietard on the 12th October 1918.

LONELY HOUSE CEMETERY, GAVRELLE, between the Point-du-Jour and Gavrelle, contained the graves of 25 sailors, soldiers and Marines from the United Kingdom, who fell in April-July 1917.

POINT-DU-JOUR MILITARY CEMETERY No.2, which was very close to the present cemetery, contained the graves of 15 soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in April-June 1917.

QUARRY CEMETERY, FAMPOUX, at the West end of Fampoux village, contained the graves of 25 soldiers from the United Kingdom and eight from South Africa, who fell on the 11th and 12th April 1917.

There are now 794 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 401 of the burials are unidentified but special memorials commemorate 22 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of six casualties buried in other cemeteries, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire. There are also three Second World War burials and six French war graves.

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

There are two memorials in the vicinity, one of which commemorates the 9th Division, whilst the other commemorates the service of seven Battalions of the Seaforth Highlanders in the neighbourhood.

Total Burials: 800.

World War One Commonwealth Identified Casualties: United Kingdom 300, South Africa 66, Canada 5, New Zealand 2. Total 393.

World War One Commonwealth Unidentified Casualties: 401.

World War Two Commonwealth Identified Casualties: United Kingdom 3.

Other Nationalities: France 3.

Images in this gallery © Werner Van Caneghem

445527 Private
William Alexander Bain
21st Bn. Canadian Infantry
8th May 1917, aged 19.
Plot IV. F. 21.

Son of John and Isabella Bain, of Flat Lands. New Brunswick, Canada.

29522 Private
Edward Boyle
52nd Coy. Machine Gun Corps (Infantry)
5th May 1917, aged 20.
Plot I. B. 4.

Son of Michael and Mary Jane Boyle, of 15, Williams Terrace, Rochdale. Native of Blackburn.

His headstone bears the inscription; "God Takes The Loved Ones From Our Home But Never From Our Hearts."

Second Lieutenant
Hubert John Dickinson
2nd Bn. Lincolnshire Regiment
20th September 1916, aged 25.
Plot II. E. 1.

Son of John Edward Dickinson (Capt. R.A.M.C., T.) and Edith Mary Dickinson, of 107, West Parade, Lincoln.

His headstone bears the inscription; "His Memory Is Ever Fragrant. We Thank God For A Beautiful Hope."

23279 Private
Jack Gadsby
1st Bn. Royal Warwickshire Regiment
11th April 1917.
Sp. Mem. B. 5.

His headstone bears the inscription; "Their Glory Shall Not Be Blotted Out."

746 Lance Corporal
Theodore Charles Hook M. M.
2nd Regiment, South African Infantry
9th April 1917, aged 28.
Plot III. H. 17.

Son of Charles William Frederick Hook, late of Wells, Norfolk, England.

His headstone bears the inscription; "We Shall Meet Beyond The River."

He was a Lewis Gunner in 'A' company. Wounded in Action 1916 Egypt. MM awarded for actions at Butte De Warlencourt, 12th October 1916.

Photo from Killie Campbell Africana Library, provided by Bernard Harris

Major
Charles Alan Smith Morris
3rd Bn. attd. 1st Bn. Bedfordshire Regiment
7th May 1917, aged 21.
Plot IV. D. 16.

Only son of Charles Smith Morris and Maud Marv Morris, of Llandaff House, Llandaff, Cardiff.

His headstone bears the inscription; "In Loving Memory. Eternal Rest Grant Unto Him O Lord."

334749 Gunner
Fred Nuttall
226th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery
5th July 1917, aged 23.
Plot I. B. 12.

Husband of Elizabeth Alice Nuttall, of 47, Moore St., Cheapside, Burnley.

His headstone bears the inscription; "Until The Day Break."

Lieutenant Colonel
Francis Savage Nesbitt Savage-Armstrong DSO, Twice Mentioned in Despatches
1st Bn. South Staffordshire Regiment, Cdg. 11th Bn. Royal Warwickshire Regiment
23rd April 1917, aged 36.
Plot II. E. 12.

Son of Marie E. Savage-Armstrong, of Strangford House, Strangford, Co. Down, and the late G. F. Savage Armstrong. Fought at Ypres (1914), Neuve-Chapelle, Fromelles and Festubert (1915) and Arras (1917). Wounded at Festubert. Served in the South African Campaign.

His headstone bears the inscription; "Fortis Atque Fidelis." (Latin - Strong and faithful)