Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing

Ypres (Ieper) West-Vlaanderen

Ypres (now Ieper) is a town in the Province of West Flanders. The Memorial is situated at the eastern side of the town on the road to Menin (Menen) and Courtrai (Kortrijk). Each night at 8 pm the traffic is stopped at the Menin Gate while members of the local Fire Brigade sound the Last Post in the roadway under the Memorial's arches.

The Menin Gate is one of four memorials to the missing in Belgian Flanders which cover the area known as the Ypres Salient. Broadly speaking, the Salient stretched from Langemarck in the north to the northern edge in Ploegsteert Wood in the south, but it varied in area and shape throughout the war. The Salient was formed during the First Battle of Ypres in October and November 1914, when a small British Expeditionary Force succeeded in securing the town before the onset of winter, pushing the German forces back to the Passchendaele Ridge. The Second Battle of Ypres began in April 1915 when the Germans released poison gas into the Allied lines north of Ypres. This was the first time gas had been used by either side and the violence of the attack forced an Allied withdrawal and a shortening of the line of defence. There was little more significant activity on this front until 1917, when in the Third Battle of Ypres an offensive was mounted by Commonwealth forces to divert German attention from a weakened French front further south. The initial attempt in June to dislodge the Germans from the Messines Ridge was a complete success, but the main assault north-eastward, which began at the end of July, quickly became a dogged struggle against determined opposition and the rapidly deteriorating weather. The campaign finally came to a close in November with the capture of Passchendaele.

The German offensive of March 1918 met with some initial success, but was eventually checked and repulsed in a combined effort by the Allies in September. The battles of the Ypres Salient claimed many lives on both sides and it quickly became clear that the commemoration of members of the Commonwealth forces with no known grave would have to be divided between several different sites. The site of the Menin Gate was chosen because of the hundreds of thousands of men who passed through it on their way to the battlefields. It commemorates those of all Commonwealth nations (except New Zealand) who died in the Salient, in the case of United Kingdom casualties before 16 August 1917. Those United Kingdom and New Zealand servicemen who died after that date are named on the memorial at Tyne Cot, a site which marks the furthest point reached by Commonwealth forces in Belgium until nearly the end of the war. Other New Zealand casualties are commemorated on memorials at Buttes New British Cemetery and Messines Ridge British Cemetery. The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial now bears the names of more than 54,000 officers and men whose graves are not known. The memorial, designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield with sculpture by Sir William Reid-Dick, was unveiled by Lord Plumer in July 1927.

Number of Identified Casualties: 54338

Picture Courtesy of Ralph Davidson of Milnrow, Rochdale

Rifleman John MARRIOTT

12th Bn. Rifle Brigade

Age: 23

Date of Death: 06/06/1916

Service No: S/6205

Additional information: Son of J. W. and Naomi Marriott, of 13, Belfield Lane, Firgrove, Rochdale.

Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 46 - 48 and 50.

Commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ieper.

First son of John William and Naomi Marriott, 13 Belfield Lane Firgrove, Milnrow, Rochdale killed in action 6th June 1916, he was buried by a German mine his pals dug for two days but were unable to find him.

He worked as a weft carrier at Lowfield Spinning Co. John enlisted in Rochdale on 18th November 1914 aged 23. He is commemorated at St. Ann's Church Belfield, Milnrow and on the Menin Gate. Two of his brothers were also killed during the war.

Harry Marriott

William Barnes Marriott


Private 8098 Samuel Henderson Stallard 2nd Bn. Cameron Highlanders Died of exposure 11/01/1915 Panel 38 and 40 Picture Courtesy of Joe O'Raw and William Kilgour	Private 2962 Daniel Hunter 1st Bn. Royal Scots Died of wounds 17/04/1915 Panel 11 Picture Courtesy of Joe O'Raw and William Kilgour	305704 Serjeant Charles Naylor 1st/8th Bn. The King's (Liverpool) Regiment. Killed in action 31/07/1917. Aged 24. Son of James Louis and Sarah Agnes Naylor, of 221, Station Rd., Bamber Bridge, Preston. Panels 4 and 6 Picture courtesy of John Garlington	L/10105 Private Basil Thomas Treffry 1st Bn. The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment). 31/10/1914, aged 21. Son of Thomas Alfred and Helen Treffry, of 16, Bensham Manor Rd., Thornton Heath, Surrey. Panel 11-13 and 14 Brother of Richard H. Treffry (next picture)

553186 Rifleman Richard H. Treffry 1st/16th Bn. London Regiment (Queen's Westminster Rifles) killed in action at Langemarck, 16/08/1917, aged 19. Son of Thomas Alfred and Helen Treffry, of 16, Bensham Manor Rd., Thornton Heath, Surrey. Panel 11-13 and 14 *Brother of Basil Thomas Treffry, (previous picture)*	323297 Rifleman William T. Doddrell 1st/6th Bn. London Regiment (City of London Rifles). 23/07/1917, aged 20. Son of William Charles and Alice Maud Doddrell, of 6, Mead Place, West Croydon. Panel 54	5775 Lance Corporal Frank Arthur Wortley 15th Bn. Australian Infantry, AIF. Killed in action on the Menin Road, 27/09/1917, aged 36. Son of George and Amelia Wortley; husband of May Gertrude Wortley (nee Norris), of Bourbomgo St., Bundaberg, Queensland. Native of Norbury, London, England. Panel 7 - 17 - 23 - 25 - 27 - 29 - 31.	G/40078 Trooper Albert Joseph Wheatland 11th Bn. Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment and Surrey Yeomanry. 07/06/1917. Aged 24 Son of the late Mary Ann Wheatland, of 11, Rolleston Rd., South Croydon. Panel 11 - 13 and 14.

13239 Private Hamilton Shirley Vincent 2nd Regt. (Inf.) South African Infantry. 14/10/1917, aged 18. Only son of Capt. J. H. Vincent (R.E.) and A. Beatrice Vincent, of 13, Leigham Terrace, The Hoe, Plymouth, England. Panel 15, 16 and 16A Picture courtesy of David Paton, nephew of this soldier	253239 Private Ernest Achille Boudrie 1st/3rd Bn. London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers) 16/08/1917, aged 19. He was born 6 Oct 1897 in Dartford, Kent, England and died 16 August 1917 at Ypres. He enlisted at Dartford and was a Private in the 3rd Bn. London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers) Panel 52 Picture courtesy of Wendy Marshall of Queensland, Australia, great-niece of this soldier.	20824 Private John Taylor 10th Bn. Canadian Infantry (Alberta Regiment) 03/05/1915, aged 30. Son of Charles and Elizabeth Taylor, of Woodbine Cottage, Finstown, Orkney, Scotland. Article on the this soldier and the action in which he was killed Picture courtesy of Brian Budge	6759 Private James Bertram Jones 29th Bn. Australian Infantry, A. I. F. Between 26/09/1917 and 27/09/1917 Killed in action at Polygon Wood, his brother Walter Sydney Jones named his only child, a son, after James. Picture courtesy of Peter Jones

8673 Private Lewis Pelgrena Mazzei 1st Bn. South Wales Borderers 21/10/1914, aged 30. Born Cardiff, Wales. His brother, Alfred Michael Mazzei was also killed in the 1914-18 war. Image courtesy of Darin Mazzei, great, great nephew.	7346 Private William Perkins 2nd Bn. Royal Scots Fusiliers 31/10/1914, aged 29. Panel 19 and 33 Image courtesy of Patricia Bell, great niece of this soldier.