AVELUY and Authuile are villages and adjacent communes in the Department of the Somme, on the river Ancre, to the North of Albert. Half-way between the villages, the river valley is joined by another valley corning from the North-East, called by the Army Nab Valley, the sides of which are covered in its lower course by the trees of Authuile Wood; and above the North side of the Nab Valley, just outside Authuile Wood, is Lonsdale Cemetery. It is mainly in the Commune of Aveluy, but partly also in Authuile; and it is 910 metres East of Authuile village.

On the 1st July, 1916, the 32nd Division, which included the 1st Dorsets and the 11th (Lonsdale) Battalion of the Border Regt., attacked the German line at this point and stormed the Leipzig Salient, but were compelled to retire later in the day. In the spring of 1917 the V Corps cleared these battlefields, and made, among others, the cemeteries then known as Lonsdale No. 1 and No. 2.

Lonsdale Cemetery No. 1 (the present Lonsdale Cemetery) contained originally 96 graves (now in Plot I), the great majority of which were those of officers and men of the 1st Dorsets and the 11 th Borders. It was enlarged after the Armistice by the concentration of 1,425 graves (almost all of 1916) from the surrounding battlefields. It now contains the graves of 1,515 soldiers (or sailors or Marines of the Royal Naval Division) from the United Kingdom, and four Australian soldiers and one French. The unnamed graves number 815, or more than half the total; and special memorials are erected to 22 soldiers from the United Kingdom, known or believed to be buried among them.

The cemetery covers an area of 4,627 square metres. It is enclosed by a low red brick wall.

Of the smaller burial grounds now represented in this cemetery

LONSDALE CEMETERY NO. 2, AUTHUILLE, was about 455 metres further East. It contained the graves of 38 soldiers from the United Kingdom (31 of whom belonged to the 11 th Borders) and two German soldiers.

NAB ROAD CEMETERY, OVILLERS-LA-BOISSELLE, was on the road running up Nab Valley, about 1,000 yards East of Lonsdale Cemetery. It contained the graves of 27 soldiers from the United Kingdom, who fell in July, September and October, 1916.

PAISLEY AVENUE and PAISLEY HILLSIDE CEMETERIES, AUTHUILLE, were on the South side of Thiepval Wood. They contained the graves of 284 soldiers and Marines from the United Kingdom (mainly of the 49th (West Riding) Division), who fell in July, 1916-February, 1917, and two German soldiers.

Number of burials by Unit

Plan of this cemetery

Those having awards in this cemetery

Sgt. M. G. Armstrong M.M., 16th Bn. Highland Light Infantry. Died 1st July 1916, aged 30. 6.O.2

L/Cpl. C. J. Clarke D.C.M., M.M., 1st Bn. Dorsetshire Regt. Died 1st July 1916. 1.B.18

Sgt. R. D. Dinning M.M., 16th Bn. Highland Light Infantry. Died 1st July 1916, aged 27. 3.C.9

Pte. George Finch M.M., 12th Bn. Middlesex Regt. Killed in action 26th Sept. 1916, aged 19. 5.V.1

Pte. W. Gray D.C.M., 1st Bn. Dorsetshire Regt. Died 1st July 1916, aged 25. 1.A.23

Lt. Vernon Rains Holmes M.C., 6th Bn. Cheshire Regt. Died 14th Oct. 1916, aged 24. Special Memorial No. A.10

Sgt. W. S. Hunter M.M., 11th Bn. Border Regt. Died 1st July 1916, aged 36. 4.X.3

2nd Lt. Frederick Arthur Innes M.C., 4th Bn. Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regt.) Died 3rd Sept. 1916, aged 30. 8.E.10

Capt. R. Kirk M.C., 6th Bn. Cheshire Regt. Died 13th Nov. 1916. 10.B.4

Sgt. F. Oliver M.M., 8th Bn. York & Lancaster Regt. Died 1st July 1916. 2.B.10

Cpl. W. J. Pelan D.C.M., "X" 49th Trench Mortar Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery. Died 29th Sept. 1916. 9.B.1

L/Cpl. G. Spirling M.M., 1st Bn. Dorsetshire Regt. Died 1st July 1916. 1.A.12

Sgt. James Yuill Turnbull V.C., 17th Bn. Highland Light Infantry, (Glasgow Commercials) Died 1st July 1916, aged 32. Son of James and Elizabeth Turnbull of Glasgow. An extract from The London Gazette, No. 29836, dated 24th Nov. 1916, records the following:- "For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty, when, having with his party captured a post apparently of great importance to the enemy, he was subjected to severe counter-attacks, which were continuous throughout the whole day. Although his party was wiped out and replaced several times during the day, Serjeant Turnbull never wavered in his determination to hold the post, the loss of which would have been very serious. Almost, single-handed, he maintained his position, and displayed the highest degree of valour and skill in the performance of his duties. Later in the day, this very gallant soldier ws killed whilst bombing a counter-attack from the parados of our trench" Grave 4.G.9 On the 80th anniversary of the opening day of the Battle of the Somme, a memorial was erected in the village of Authuille to honour the memory of the 15th, 16th and 17th Battalions of the Highland Light Infantry. It is in the form of a plaque and attached at the side of the entrance to Authuille Church, it reads:- From a hundred lonely graves in that foreign land - from the spots where they fell and which now are sacred spots for us - our dead are asking us when we mean to erect that monument. From trench and shell hole where death found then, their voices call - young, musical voices, the voices of boys still in their teens, the voices of martyrs on life's threshold. Scarce a wind can blow that will not waft to you these voices. And they ask a better Britain as their monument. They ask it of you and me. Shall we not go from this place resolved to build it?

Sgt.William Waddington M.M., 11th Bn.Border Regt. Died 1st July 1916, aged 25. 1.E.24

Pte. J. White M.M., 1/5th Bn. King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. Killed in action 28th Aug. 1916, aged 32. 7.C.8

Sgt. H. Wilkes M.M., 3rd Bn. Worcestershire Regt. Died 3rd Sept. 1916. 4.O.4

Others buried in this cemetery

2nd Lt. R. E. Batson, 10th Bn. Lancashire Fusiliers, attd. 7th Brig. Trench Mortar Bty. Died 11th Oct. 1916., Son of parents living in St. Michael, Barbados, British West Indies. 4.Y.5

2nd Lt. P. S. Chattaway, 6th Bn. Cheshire Regt. Killed in action at Thiepval Hill, 14th Oct. 1916, aged 20. Scholar of Eton and Christ Church. 8.A.7

2nd Lt. James Ekin, 8th Bn. York & Lancaster Regt. Killed in action 1st July 1916, aged 19. Native of Sydney, Australia. 6.O.1

Pte. Clifford Hankey (served as Kettle). 11th Bn. Cheshire Regt. Died 3rd July 1916, aged 26. 6.C.1

Pte. T. McHugh (served as Stone). 6th Bn. Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regt.) Died 17th Sept. 1916. 6.W.6

Pte. Walter Murphy (served as Scott). 16th Bn. Highland Light Infantry. Died 1st July 1916, aged 23. 5.F.5

L/Cpl. William Musson, 16th Bn. Sherwood Foresters (Notts. & Derbys. Regt.). Died 17th Oct. 1916. Som of Walter and Sarah Musson of 14, Watkinson St., Heanor, Derbyshire. 10.D.1.
His brother Herbert also died on service:-
Pte Herbert Musson 61002, 2nd Bn., Sherwood Foresters, died 16th Apr 1917, aged 26. Buried at Vermelles British Cemetery., Pas-de-Calais, France.

Lt. Ernest Emanuel Polack, 4th Bn. Gloucestershire Regt. Killed in action at Ovillers, 17th July 1916, aged 23. Scholar of St. John's College, Cambridge. 10.G.9

Pte. Adam Scott, 16th Bn. Highland Light Infantry. Died 1st July 1916, aged 28. From Paisley. School teacher, M.A. (Glasgow University). 3.D.4

2nd Lt. Walter Halton Thomson, 3rd Bn. Highland Light Infantry. Killed in action 3rd July 1916, aged 29. Left his farm in South Ontario, Canada in 1914. Joined O.,T.C. Jan. 1915. 4.E.4

2nd Lt. Aubrey Cecil White, 8th Bn. York & Lancaster Regt. Killed in action at the Battle of the Somme, 1st July 1916, aged 20. From Gowran, Co. Kilkenny. Educated Castle Park, Dalkey, Co. Dublin, and Trent College, Derbyshire. 2.B.10