EPEHY WOOD FARM CEMETERY
Epehy
Somme
France
General Directions: Epehy is a village between Cambrai and Peronne about 18 kilometres north-east of Peronne. Epehy Wood Farm Cemetery is a little west of the village and on the north side of the road to Saulcourt.
The village of Epehy was captured at the beginning of April 1917. It was lost on 22 March 1918 after a spirited defence by the Leicester Brigade of the 21st Division and the 2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers. It was retaken (in the Battle of Epehy) on 18 September 1918, by the 7th Norfolks, 9th Essex and 1st/1st Cambridgeshires of the 12th (Eastern) Division. The cemetery takes its name from the Ferme du Bois, a little to the east. Plots I and II were made by the 12th Division after the capture of the village, and contain the graves of officers and men who died in September 1918 (or, in a few instances, in April 1917 and March 1918). Plots III-VI were made after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the battlefields surrounding Epehy and the following smaller cemeteries:- DEELISH VALLEY CEMETERY, EPEHY, in the valley running from South-West to North-East a mile East of Epehy village. It contained the graves of 158 soldiers from the United Kingdom (almost all of the 12th Division) who fell in September, 1918. EPEHY NEW BRITISH CEMETERY, on the South side of the village, contained the graves of 100 soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in August, 1917-March, 1918 and in September, 1918. EPEHY R.E. CEMETERY, 150 yards North of the New British Cemetery. It contained the graves of 31 soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in April-December, 1917, and of whom 11 belonged to the 429th Field Company, Royal Engineers. The cemetery now contains 997 burials and commemorations of the First World War. 235 of the burials are unidentified but there are additional special memorials to 29 casualties known or believed to be buried among them, and to two casualties buried in Epehy New British Cemetery, whose graves could not be found when that cemetery was concentrated.
The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker
Casualty Details: UK 997, Total Burials: 997
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Private 29633 Francis Barnes 1st Bn. East Yorkshire Regiment, 22/03/1918, aged 23. Plot III. K. 2. Son of John & Minnie Barnes of Swinton, East Yorkshire enlisted into the Wagoner's Reserves shortly after war broke out in 1914 and later transferred to the East Yorkshire Regiment. He was killed in the battle for the village of Epehy.
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241602 Private James Holbrook 1st/6th Bn. Lancashire Fusiliers Killed in action at Malassise Farm, Epehy, France 13/04/1917, aged 36. Plot III. L. 11. son of John William and Mary Ann Holbrook of Rochdale. He left his widow Florence, and his three children Clifford, Frank and Ivy.
Picture courtesy of James Holbrook's Great Granddaughter, Gail Campbell of Rochdale, Lancashire |
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16007 Lance Corporal William James Meekins 1st/1st Bn. Cambridgeshire Regiment. 23/09/1918, aged 23. Son of William James Meekins, of 22, Fletcher Rd., Acton Green, London. Born at Bury St. Edmund's. Plot I. J. 8.
Picture courtesy of Jacqui Meekins, Great niece of this soldier
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36348 Private Alfred Wood 7th Bn. Leicestershire Regiment 13/03/1918 Special Memorial 1.
His grave could not be found when the cemetery was concentrated and his grave lies somewhere in the distance beyond his memorial Remembered with pride and honour by great niece Jeanette Essex
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82769 Corporal John Horace Murray 2nd/2nd Bn. London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers) 18/09/1918 Plot I. F. 8.
Picture courtesy of great nephew Andrew Hawkins
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Lieutenant Leslie Gilbert Ring 3rd Bn. London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers) 18/09/1918, aged 30. Plot I. G. 15. Son of James Claude Ring formerly of Camberwell & Kate Maria Ring (Vinsen) formerly of Cambridge. Brother of Gus & Claude. All lived in New Zealand.
Picture courtesy of Tony Ring Anyone with any information on how this officer was killed, please contact us and we will pass the information on.
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11748 Private William Green, MM 9th Bn. Royal Fusiliers 21/09/1918, aged 33. Born in
Brentford son of John & Ellen Green, husband of Eliza, home in The
Avenue, West Ealing, London. Plot VI. G. 11.
MM,
awarded 'for his gallant conduct as stretcher bearer throughout the
recent operations'.
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325089 Corporal William Jennings, MM 1st/1st Bn. Cambridgeshire Regiment 23/09/1918 Son of James and Caroline Jennings of Church Street, Stapleford, Cambridgeshire. He was awarded the Military Medal for bravery on 11th October 1916. His date of death is incorrectly recorded as 23/09/16 on his headstone and by the CWGC on their Debt of Honour Register. Plot I. A. 14.
Picture courtesy of great nephew, Mark Ward
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G/92942 Private Frederick Roberts Mannering 2nd/4th Bn. London Regiment, (Royal Fusiliers) 10/09/1918, aged 18. Son of Richard Henry and Jane Mannering, of Juniper Cottage, Hardley, Hythe, Southampton Plot II. A. 6.
Picture courtesy of great nephew, Paul Menniss
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Second Lieutenant Stanley Martin, MM 2nd Bn. London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers) 18/09/1918, aged 21. Son of Charles Alfred and Maria Martin, of 22, Hatherley Rd., Reading. Plot I. E. 6. Stanley Martin enlisted in 1914 at the age of 17. He served with great distinction first in the Berkshire Regiment being sent to France on the 30th March 1915, and later, after being commissioned, in the London Regiment. He was awarded the Military Medal for bravery in 1917 and was killed at the Battle of Epehy on September 18th 1918 just weeks before the Armistice. Here is a citation on his military career from the Reading Remembrance Trust : The Reading Chronicle, 4 October 1918, published Stanley's obituary, and details of the action were reproduced. Stanley’s commanding office wrote to his parents Charles and Maria: ‘Your son was killed leading his platoon against a German post in the village; they were fired on by a machine gun and your son at once charged it gallantly with a few men. He fell killed instantaneously. Your son can ill be spared, either as a soldier or a friend. It may be some satisfaction to you to know that the attack was entirely successful. We captured the village and drove the Germans away two miles the other side. The village was held by crack German troops, the Alpine Corps Jaegers (riflemen), who fought very bravely, holding on in the village until the evening.’ Pictures courtesy of Donald and Martin Stubbs; great nephews of Stanley Martin
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This picture courtesy of Gail Campbell of Rochdale.
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