Details

Gommecourt and Hébuterne are villages and adjacent communes in the Southern part of the Department of the Pas-de-Calais. Hébuterne village remained in British hands from March, 1915, to the Armistice, although in the summer of 1918 it was practically on the front line. Gommecourt and Gommecourt Wood were attacked by the 56th (London) and 46th (North Midland) Divisions on the 1st July, 1916, with only temporary success; but the village was occupied by the 31st and 46th Divisions on the night of the 27th-28th February, 1917, and remained in British hands to the Armistice.

Gommecourt British Cemeteries No.1, No.2, No.3, and No.4 were made in 1917, when the battlefields were cleared No.1, No.3, and No.4, were concentrated into No.2 after the Armistice, with other graves from neighbouring battlefields

Gommecourt British Cemetery No.2 is in open, cultivated country three quarters of a mile South of Gommecourt village, sixty yards North of a road running from Hébuterne to Bucquoy. It contained originally 101 graves of the 1st July, 1916, almost all of the 56th Division, which now forms Plot I; Plots II to VII contain 1,222 concentrated graves. Soldiers (and sailors and Marines of the Royal Naval Division) from the United Kingdom number 1,248; from New Zealand, 46; from Australia, 26; of unknown units, three. Two graves of American soldiers have been removed to other cemeteries, The unnamed graves are 681 in number.; and special memorials are ercted to 33 soldiers from the United Kingdom, known or beleived to be buried among them.

Details of cemeteries concentrated into Gommecourt British Cemetery No.2 :-

Gommecourt British Cemetery No.1 was 100 yards North-West of No.2. It contained the graves of 107 soldiers from the United Kingdom, mainly of the 56th Division, who fell on 1st July, 1916.

Gommecourt British Cemetery No.3 was at the South-West corner of the village. It contained the graves of 117 soldiers from the United Kingdom, mainly of the 56th Division, who fell on the 1st July, and the 12th November 1916.

Gommecourt British Cemetery No.4 was 50 yards South of No.1. It contained the graves of 70 soldiers from the United Kingdom, who fell on the 1st July and the 12th November, 1916, and at the end of February, 1917.

Number of burials by Unit

Men with awards buried in this Cemetery

Pte. J. Berry M.M. 1st/7th Bn. Lancashire Fusiliers, died 3rd April 1918. IV. J. 13

Sgt. G. Caton M.M. & Bar, 5th Bn. King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, died 27th March 1918. Special memorial, A.1

Lce. Cpl. F. Cousins M.M. 8th Bn. Somerset Light Infantry, died 25th May 1918. II. J. 9.

Pte. H. Devaney M.M. 8th Bn. King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, died 23rd August 1918, aged 21. III. D. 28.

C.S.M. J. T. Fletcher D.C.M., M.M. & Bar, 2nd/5th King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. died 2nd June 1918. IV. F. 1

C.S.M. C. Wm. Froome D.C.M. Queen's Westminster Rifles, died 1st July 1916. II. H. 27

Lt. J. A. Garvie, M.C. 2nd Bn. King's Own Scottish Borderers. Killed in action 21st August 1918, aged 22. II. H. 16

Lce. Sgt. H. Goodbrand M.M. 22nd Bn. Manchester Regiment. Died 14th March 1917. V. J. 13

R.S.M. W. J. Harper D.C.M. 13th Bn. Australian Infantry, killed in action 27th March 1918, aged 32. II. L. 9

Lce. Cpl. W. H. Harvey M.M. 1st Bn. Norfolk Regiment, killed in action 21st August 1918, aged 26, V. K. 26

Sgt. F. H. C. Hickman M.M. Queen's Victoria's Rifles. Died 1st July 1916, aged 28. III. H. 9

Capt. E. Murgatroyd D.C.M. 16th Bn. West Yorkshire Regiment. Died 26th March 1918. IV. G. 25

Lce. Cpl. R. Poskett M.M. 9th Bn. Durham Light Infantry. Died 26th March 1918. V. F. 20

Sgt. W. E. Quirk M.M. 2nd/5th King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. Died 28th March 1918. IV. F. 8

Sgt. G. Radford D.C.M. 8th Bn. Somerset Light Infantry. Died 21st August 1918. IV. J. 27

Sgt. A. Smith D.C.M. 2nd/7th Bn. West Yorkshire Regiment. Died 28th March 1918 aged 24. IV. J. 16

Lce. Cpl. E. Wolstencroft M.M. 22nd Bn. Manchester Regiment. Died 14th March 1917. V. J. 11

Those buried in this Cemetery

Two brothers are buried next to each other :-
Rfn Henry Edward Bassett, 391189, Queen Victoria's Rifles, died 1st July 1916, aged 25. III. B. 13

Rfn Philip James Bassett, 391822, Queen Victoria's Rifles, died 1st July 1916, aged 20. III. B. 12.

Captain Richard Lennard Hoare. 12th Btn London Regt. (The Rangers). Killed in action 1st July, 1916. Age 33. Son of Laura Hoare, of Summerhill, Benenden, Cranbrook, Kent, and William Hoare. Born at Staplehurst, Kent. I. C. 1.