Connaught Cemetery, Thiepval (Somme)

Details

Connaught Cemetery was begun during the early autumn of 1916, and at the Armistice it contained 228 graves (the whole of Plot I except 10 graves). It was then very greatly increased by the concentration of graves from the small cemeteries and battlefields immediately surrounding it, the great majority being those of officers and men who fell in the summer and autumn of 1916. It now covers an area of 4,651 square metres; and it contains the graves of 1,278 soldiers (and sailors and Marines of the Royal Naval Division) from the United Kingdom, of whom 642 are not known by name, and 425 not even by their unit.. Special memorials have been erected to two soldiers from the United Kingdom who are beleived to be buried among the unknown graves, and to five who were buried in Divion Wood Cemetery No. 2 but whose graves could not be found on concentration.

The more important cemeteries concentrated into Connaught Cemetery, Thiepval were the following :-

Thiepval Village Cemetery, on the summit of the ridge, West of the road to Grandcourt. It contained the graves of 215 British soldiers who fell in 1916 (or in a few cases 1918)

Thiepval Valley Cemetery
, on the South-East of Thiepval Wood, containing 11 British graves.

Quarry Palace Cemetery, Thiepval
, close to the river and a little North-East of the hamlet of St. Pierre-Divion, containing 23 British graves of the autumn of 1916-17.

St. Pierre-Divion Cemetery No.1, Thiepval
, a little South-East of that hamlet containing the 10 British graves of November 1916.

Divion Road Cemetery No. 2, Thiepval
, almost adjoining St. Pierre-Divion Cemetery No.1, and containing 60 British graves of July, August and September 1916.

Small Connaught Cemetery, Thiepval
, opposite Connaught Cemetery, across the road. It was made by the 11th Division in November 1916, and contained the graves of 41 British soldiers who fell for the most part on the 1st July.

Battery Valley Cemetery, Grandcourt
, half-a-mile South-West of that village, containing 56 British graves of November and December, 1916 and one of July, 1917.

Paisley Hillside Cemetery, Authuile
, on the South side of Thiepval Wood, alongside Paisley Avenue Cemetery, and named from the same trench. It contained 32 British graves of July and August 1916, mainly of the 49th (West Riding) Division.

Gordon Castle Cemetery, Authuile
, just inside the South border of Thiepval Wood. It contained 33 British graves (26 belonging to the 49th Division) of July - September, 1916 and the grave of one French soldier who fell in October, 1914.

Bluff Cemetery, Authuile
, half a mile North of Authuile village, containing 43 British graves of July and September, 1916

Number of Burials by Unit

Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
84
  Duke of Wellington (West Riding Regiment)
54
Lancashire Fusiliers
54
  Royal Irish Rifles
40
Notts. & Derbyshire Regiment
32
  West Yorkshire Regiment
28
Gloucestershire Regiment
26
  Black Watch
24
North Staffordshire Regiment
17
  Royal Navy Division - infantry
16
Royal West Kent Regiment
16
  South Lancashire Regiment
15
Queen's - Royal West Surrey Regiment
14
  Bedfordshire Regiment
12
Cambridgeshire Regiment
11
  Machine Gun Corps
11
Royal Sussex Regiment
11
  East Surrey Regiment
10
Royal Engineers
10
  Cheshire Regiment
9
Dorsetshire Regiment
9
  Northumberland Fusiliers
9
Hertfordshire Regiment
8
  Middlesex Regiment
8
Hampshire Regiment
7
  Loyal North Lancs Regiment
7
South Staffordshire Regiment
7
  East Yorkshire Regiment
6
King's Royal Rifle Corps
6
  Royal Warwickshire
6
Norfolk Regiment
5
  Rifle Brigade
5
Royal Fusiliers
5
  Buffs - East Kent Regiment
4
Leicestershire Regiment
4
  Royal Field Artillery
4
East Lancashire Regiment
3
  King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment
3
King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
3
  Worcestershire Regiment
3
York & Lancaster Regiment
3
  Royal Army Service Corps
2
Suffolk Regiment
2
  Welsh Regiment
2
Border Regiment
1
  Monmouthshire Regiment
1
Northamptonshire Regiment
1
  Royal Dragoons, attached South Lancashire Regiment
1
Wiltshire Regiment
1
     
Identified burials
620
     
Unidentified burials
642
     
Total burials
1262
     

Awards

C.S.M. G. A. Brown M.M. 1st/4th Bn. York & Lancaster Regiment, K.I.A. 8th Sept. 1916. II. J. 1

Pte. J. Davidson M.M. 2nd/5th Bn. Black Watch, K.I.A. 14th Oct. 1916. XI.D. 9

L/Cpl. J. Dennis M.M. 6th Bn. Leicestershire Regiment, died 25th Aug. 1918. IX. A. 9

C.S.M. E. E. Iredale M.M.1st/5th Bn. West Yorkshire Regiment, died 29th Aug. 1916, aged 19. II. J. 6

Sgt. H. E. Morse M.M. 8th Bn. Gloucestershire Regiment, died 18th Nov. 1916. VIII. E. 7

L/Cpl. A. E. Nelson, M.M. 14th Bn. Royal Irish Rifles. K.I.A. 1st July 1916, aged 21. III. A. 7

Sgt. G. Urquhart M.M. 1st/5th York & Lancaster Regiment, died 11th Aug. 1916 aged 24. II. J. 3

Sgt. G. Warwick M.M. 1st/7th Bn. Duke of Wellington Regiment, died 22nd July 1916. XIII. D. 5