Beaumont Hamel British Cemetery (Somme)

Details

Beaumont-Hamel is a village and commune in the Department of the Somme, immediately North of Mesnil-Martinsart and now contains a number of British Cemeteries. Beaumont-Hamel British Cemetery is about 500 yards North-West of the village, close to the road to Auchonvillers. A little West of it is the memorial of the 8th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, almost on the site of their Battalion Headquarters in the capture of Beaumont-Hamel; East, at Beaucourt is that of the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division which took part in the same vistory; and in the Newfoundland Memorial Park, West of the village, are those of the 29th Division (some of whose units reached Beaumont-Hamel in the first attack on the 1st July, 1916) and the 51st (Highland) Division (which included the 8th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and captures the village itself and "Y" Ravine in November)

Beaumont-Hamel was attacked, and reached, on the 1st July, 1916, but it could not be held. It was attacked again, and taken, on the 13th November, 1916; and the British Cemetery was made by units thaking part in that and subsequent operations until February, 1917. It was increased after the Armistice by the concentration of 31 graves from the surrounding battlefields. It now contains the graves of 111 soldiers from the United Kingdom, one from Canada, one from Newfoundland, and 63 whose unit could not be ascertained; and two German prisoners were buried in it. Eighty of the graves are unnamed; but the names of two soldiers from the United Kingdom, known to buried among them, are recorded on special headstones.

Number of burials by Unit

Lancashire Fusiliers
16
   Manchester Regiment
12
Middlesex Regiment
12
   Dorsetshire Regiment
7
Queen's - Royal West Surrey Regiment
7
   Royal Warwickshire Regiment
6
Seaforth Highlanders
5
   Royal Fusiliers - City of London Regiment
4
Honourable Artillery Company
3
   Hampshire Regiment
2
Highland Light Infantry
2
   North Staffordshire Regiment
2
South Staffordshire Regiment
2
   West Yorkshire Regiment
2
Black Watch
1
   Border Regiment
1
Canadian burial
1
   Devonshire Regiment
1
Duke of Wellington - West Riding Regiment
1
   East Lancashire Regiment
1
Gordon Highlanders
1
   King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
1
Machine Gun Corps
1
   Northumberland Fusiliers
1
Royal Dublin Fusiliers
1
   Royal Engineers
1
Royal Field Artillery
1
   Royal Irish Rifles
1
Royal Newfoundland Regiment
1
   Royal Scots
1
Identified burials
98
      
Unidentified burials
80
      
Total burials
178
      

Awards

Sgt. P. McCorkindale D.C.M., "D" Bty. 58th Brig. Royal Field Artillery. Died 2nd March 1917 B. 79.

Capt. Percy Arthur Henry Thorniley M.C., 21st Bn. Manchester Regiment. K.I.A. 11th Jan 1917 aged 20. B. 75.