RONSSOY COMMUNAL CEMETERY
Somme
France
GPS Coordinates - Latitude: 49.98318, Longitude: 3.16176
Location Information
Ronssoy is a village situated in the far north-eastern corner of the Department of the Somme, 20 kilometres north-north-west of St Quentin.
The Communal Cemetery is not visible from the road but will be found just opposite the village Marie, behind a row of buildings. The Commonwealth War Graves plot is located at the lower left hand corner of the civil cemetery and is surrounded by beech hedging.
Historical Information
Ronssoy was captured by the 7th Royal West Kent on the 18th September, 1918. The Communal Cemetery had been used by German troops, and eight United Kingdom soldiers were buried by them. The rest were buried by British troops in September and October, 1918.
There are 46, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, 7 are unidentified.
The larger British plot, covers an area of 174 square metres.
The Commonwealth Plot was designed by Arthur James Scott Hutton
Total Burials: 46.
Identified Casualties: United Kingdom 31, Australia 7, Germany 1. Total 39.
Unidentified Casualties: United Kingdom 7.
Images in gallery below © Johan Pauwels
Second Lieutenant
Ernest Bristow Farrar
3rd Bn. attached to 16th (Royal 1st Devon and R.North Devon Yeomanry) Bn. Devonshire Regiment
18th September 1918, aged 33.
Row B. 27.
Son of the Rev. and Mrs. C. D. Farrar, of Micklefield Vicarage, Leeds; husband of Olive Wilhelmina Farrar, of 15, Hollins Rd., Harrogate. Scholar of the Royal College of Music. Composer and Organist.
His headstone bears the inscription "Lord All Pitying Jesu Blest Grant Him Thine Eternal Rest"
Like many British musicians of his generation he drew inspiration from folk sources, though in form and color his music has a closer affinity with the French school. His best works include "Vagabond Songs" (1910), the tone poem "The Forsaken Merman" (1914), and the lovely symphonic suite "English Pastoral Impressions" (1915). In 1915 Farrar was called up for World War I military service and spent three years as an officer on the Western Front. He was granted leave in the Summer of 1918 and conducted the premiere of his final opus, the "Heroic Elegy", dedicated to his fallen comrades. Farrar returned to duty in September and within days was killed in the Battle of Epehy. Today he is probably best remembered as the teacher of composer Gerald Finzi, who was so stunned by Farrar's death that he became a lifelong pacifist.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards (Find a Grave)
Ernest Bristow Farrar
3rd Bn. attached to 16th (Royal 1st Devon and R.North Devon Yeomanry) Bn. Devonshire Regiment
18th September 1918, aged 33.
Row B. 27.
Son of the Rev. and Mrs. C. D. Farrar, of Micklefield Vicarage, Leeds; husband of Olive Wilhelmina Farrar, of 15, Hollins Rd., Harrogate. Scholar of the Royal College of Music. Composer and Organist.
His headstone bears the inscription "Lord All Pitying Jesu Blest Grant Him Thine Eternal Rest"
Like many British musicians of his generation he drew inspiration from folk sources, though in form and color his music has a closer affinity with the French school. His best works include "Vagabond Songs" (1910), the tone poem "The Forsaken Merman" (1914), and the lovely symphonic suite "English Pastoral Impressions" (1915). In 1915 Farrar was called up for World War I military service and spent three years as an officer on the Western Front. He was granted leave in the Summer of 1918 and conducted the premiere of his final opus, the "Heroic Elegy", dedicated to his fallen comrades. Farrar returned to duty in September and within days was killed in the Battle of Epehy. Today he is probably best remembered as the teacher of composer Gerald Finzi, who was so stunned by Farrar's death that he became a lifelong pacifist.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards (Find a Grave)
19180 Sergeant
Fred George Hall, M. M.
"B" Company, 2nd Bn. Bedfordshire Regiment
18th September 1918, aged 35.
Row B. 23.
Son of William and Mary Hall, of Colney Heath, St. Alban; husband of Kate Hall, of 14, Shenley Rd., Boreham Wood, Herts.
His headstone bears the inscription "Always In Our Thoughts"
Fred George Hall, M. M.
"B" Company, 2nd Bn. Bedfordshire Regiment
18th September 1918, aged 35.
Row B. 23.
Son of William and Mary Hall, of Colney Heath, St. Alban; husband of Kate Hall, of 14, Shenley Rd., Boreham Wood, Herts.
His headstone bears the inscription "Always In Our Thoughts"
1339 Sergeant
Everitt Graham Summons
3rd A. F. A. Brigade, Australian Field Artillery
30th September 1918, aged 27.
Row A. 7.
Son of Richard Charles and Margaret Summons, of Church St., Parramatta, New South Wales.
His headstone bears the inscription "He Died That We Might Live"
Studio portrait of 1339 Private (later Sergeant) Everett Graham Summons, 6th Light Horse Regiment (later 3rd Australian Field Artillery Brigade) of Parramatta, NSW. A stockman prior to enlisting, he embarked from Sydney aboard the HMAT Pera (A4) on 12 October 1915. He was wounded in action on 30 September 1917 near Ronssoy, France and died later that day at the Casualty Clearing Station, aged 27.
Everitt Graham Summons
3rd A. F. A. Brigade, Australian Field Artillery
30th September 1918, aged 27.
Row A. 7.
Son of Richard Charles and Margaret Summons, of Church St., Parramatta, New South Wales.
His headstone bears the inscription "He Died That We Might Live"
Studio portrait of 1339 Private (later Sergeant) Everett Graham Summons, 6th Light Horse Regiment (later 3rd Australian Field Artillery Brigade) of Parramatta, NSW. A stockman prior to enlisting, he embarked from Sydney aboard the HMAT Pera (A4) on 12 October 1915. He was wounded in action on 30 September 1917 near Ronssoy, France and died later that day at the Casualty Clearing Station, aged 27.
G/17475 Private
F. D. Taylor
7th Bn. The Buffs (East Kent Regiment)
18th September 1918.
Row B. 2.
F. D. Taylor
7th Bn. The Buffs (East Kent Regiment)
18th September 1918.
Row B. 2.
An Australian official photographer, believed to be Capt G H Wilkins (later Sir Hubert Wilkins, the polar explorer) and his assistant sets up his camera and tripod on a tank near Ronssoy on the Western Front. ©IWM E(AUS) 3915
5th October 1918 - A scene in the Hindenburg Outpost Line on the Knoll, near Ronssoy. At this stage of the fighting most of the enemy machine gunners stayed at their posts to the last, and in many cases refused to surrender. Note the machine gun at the top of the revetment and the dead German at the bottom.
30th September 1918 - Members of the 3rd Division at the rear of a British tank to the rear of Duncans Post, near Ronssoy, watching the progress of their comrades in the attack on the Hindenburg Line. The horizontal plate behind the crouching figures is the fuel tank's armoured shield. The large square section beam hanging across the rear of the tank is the unditching beam. The slightly angled beam which ascends towards the beam is the unditching rail. The thick section chain by which the beam was secured to the tank track is seen on the right hand side. On top of the tank may be seen rolls of dannert barbed wire and pigstail barbed wire pickets. The tank identification number J4[?] may just be made out underneath the unditching beam. Identified: an American soldier (second from the left) and 3632 Lance Corporal P. M. James (seated, bottom right).
