POZIERES BRITISH CEMETERY

and the

POZIERES MEMORIAL

Ovillers-la-Boisselle

Somme

France

 

General Directions: Pozieres is a village some 6 kilometres north-east of Albert, and the Cemetery, which is enclosed by the Pozieres Memorial, is a little south-west of the village on the north side of the main road, D929, from Albert to Pozieres.

The village of Pozieres was attacked on 23 July 1916 by the 1st Australian and 48th (South Midland) Divisions, and was taken on the following day. It was lost on 24-25 March 1918, during the great German advance, and recaptured by the 17th Division on the following 24 August. Plot II of Pozieres British Cemetery contains the original burials of 1916, 1917 and 1918, carried out by fighting units and field ambulances. The remaining plots were made after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the battlefields immediately surrounding the cemetery, the majority of them of soldiers who died in the Autumn of 1916, but a few represent the fighting in August 1918. The cemetery is enclosed by the Pozieres Memorial, which relates to the period of crisis in March and April 1918 when the Allied Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields, and the months that followed before the Advance to Victory, which began on 8 August 1918.

The Memorial commemorates over 14,000 casualties of the United Kingdom and 300 of the South African Forces who have no known grave and who died in France during the Fifth Army area retreat on the Somme from 21 March to 7 August 1918. The Corps and Regiments most largely represented are The Rifle Brigade with over 600 names, The Durham Light Infantry with approximately 600 names, the Machine Gun Corps with over 500, The Manchester Regiment with approximately 500 and The Royal Horse and Royal Field Artillery with over 400 names.

Victoria Cross: Sergeant Claude Charles Castleton, VC, 5th Coy. Australian Machine Gun Corps. Killed in action 29/07/1916, plot IV. L. 43.

More views of this cemetery

Casualty Details: UK 1829, Canada 219, Australia 708, Germany 1, Total Burials: 2756

 

43101 Private

Lawrence Bunting

16th Bn. Manchester Regiment

21/03/1918, aged 28.

Son of Mrs. Ann Eliza Bunting, of 10, East View, Carcroft, Doncaster.

Panel 64 to 67, Pozieres Memorial

 

Picture courtesy of Julie Hawksworth

 

 

202543 Private

Frederick Robinson

2nd/4th Bn. Royal Berkshire Regiment

21/03/1918, aged 21.

Panel 56 and 57 Pozieres Memorial

Army Form B 104-82A records that he was missing from the 21st March to the 3rd April 1918 and that his death took place between those dates. His friend reported to the family that he had been wounded and had been taken to a field hospital. Shortly thereafter the hospital received a direct hit and there was no record or knowledge of his whereabouts after that time.

 Picture courtesy of Christopher Hutchinson, great nephew of this soldier

28476 Private

Henry Herniman Phillpotts

2nd Bn. Devonshire Regiment

26/03/1918, aged 20.

Son of James and Annie Phillpotts, of 5, New Walk, Totnes, Devon.

Panel 24 & 25 Pozieres Memorial

 

Picture courtesy of niece, Diana Hill

 

Second Lieutenant

Richard Gardiner Brewster

7th (South Irish Horse) Bn.

Royal Irish Regiment

21/03/1918, aged 25.

Panel 6, Pozieres Memorial

Son of Susan M. Brewster, of "Audenville," Iona Rd., Glasnevin, Dublin, and the late William Theodore Brewster.

 

Picture courtesy of Patrick Brewster

 

242279 Private

Samuel Shufflebottom

2nd/5th Bn. East Lancashire Regiment

21/03/1918, aged 18.

Son of the late John and Ellen Shufflebottom.

Panels 42 and 43 Pozieres Memorial

 

In Memory of my great Uncle Samuel who, like so many others (some only children), never had the chance to live the life that he deserved.

Samuel was the young brother of my paternal grandmother who had already lost her husband when HMT Royal Edward was torpedoed August 1915.

Picture courtesy of great niece, Susan Riley

 

Lieutenant

Paul Douglas Farmer

1st Regt. South African Infantry

24/03/1918, aged 30.

Son of the Rev. Canon E. Farmer and Mrs. Farmer, of The Vicarage, Stanford-in-the-Vale, Faringdon, Berks; husband of M. J. Farmer, of The Rectory, Chagford, Devon.

Panels 95-98 Pozieres Memorial

Killed in action during the battle at Marrieres Wood

 

Picture courtesy of Bernard Harris

 

 

Number of burials by Unit - Pozieres British Cemetery

Australian
460
  Canadian
151
Royal Warwickshire Regt
61
  Ox and Bucks Light Inf
60
Royal Field Artillery
53
  Royal Fusiliers - City of London Regt
52
Gloucestershire Regt
47
  Worcestershire Regt
33
Bedfordshire Regt
28
  Loyal North Lancs Regt
27
Royal Garrison Artillery
26
  Royal Berkshire Regt
24
Cheshire Regt
19
  Royal Irish Rifles
19
East Lancashire Regt
18
  West Yorkshire Regt
18
East Surrey Regt
15
  East Yorkshire Regt
14
Lancashire Fusiliers
12
  Rifle Brigade
12
Dorsetshire Regt
10
  Manchester Regt
10
Duke of Wellington's - West Riding Regt
9
  Gordon Highlanders
9
King's Royal Rifle Corps
9
  Sherwood Foresters - Notts & Derby Regt
9
Border Regt
8
  Cameron Highlanders
8
Machine Gun Corps (Inf)
8
  Welsh Regt
8
Durham Light Inf
7
  Essex Regt
7
Northumberland Fusiliers
7
  Royal Engineers
7
South Staffordshire Regt
7
  King's Liverpool Regt
6
Middlesex Regt
6
  Northamptonshire Regt
6
South Lancashire Regt
6
  Army Service Corps
5
Highland Light Inf
5
  Royal Army Medical Corps
5
Royal West Kent Regt - Queens Own
5
  South Wales Borderers
5
Norfolk Regt
4
  Seaforth Highlanders
4
Buffs - East Kent Regt
4
  Yorkshire Regt - Green Howards
4
Army Cyclist Corps
3
  King's Own Yorkshire Light Inf
3
Lincolnshire Regt
3
  North Staffordshire Regt
3
Royal Scots Fusiliers
3
  5th Bn London Regt - London Rifle Brigade
2
Black Watch - Royal Highlanders
2
  Duke of Cornwall's Light Inf
2
King's Own Scottish Borderers
2
  Leicestershire Regt
2
Royal Flying Corps
2
  Royal Scots - Lothian Regt
2
Royal Welsh Fusiliers
2
  Suffolk Regt
2
Wiltshire Regt
2
  York and Lancaster Regt
2
10th Hussars
1
  Cambridgeshire Regt
1
Devonshire Regt
1
  Dragoon Guards
1
Hampshire Regt
1
  Inniskilling Dragoons
1
Kings Royal Rifle Corps
1
  Prince Albert's Own Hussars
1
Identified burials
1,382
   
 
Unidentified UK burials:
1,023
   
 
Unidentified Australian burials:
259
   
 
Unidentified Canadian burials:
64
   
 
Wholly unidentified
7
   
 
Total Unidentified burials
1,353
   
 
Total burials
2,735
   Breakdown courtesy of Barry Cuttell

 

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