TROIS ARBRES CEMETERY

Steenwerck

Nord

France

General Directions: Steenwerck is a village on the D77 about 6 kilometres south-east of Bailleul, and to the east of the road from Bailleul to Estaires. The Cemetery is situated to the north-east midway between the village and the main road from Bailleul to Armentieres and north of the recently built motorway.

Steenwerck village remained untouched for much of the First World War, but on 10 April 1918 it was captured by the Germans and remained in their possession until the beginning of October. Trois Arbres passed into German hands a day later than Steenwerck, after a rearguard defence by the 34th Division. The site for Trois Arbres Cemetery was chosen for the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station in July 1916, and Plot 1 and the earlier rows of Plot II, were made and used by that hospital until April 1918. A few further burials were made in the cemetery after the German withdrawal at the end of 1918 and after the Armistice, graves were brought into it from the battlefields of Steenwerck, Nieppe, Bailleul and Neuve-Eglise.

Shot at Dawn: Corporal G. W. Latham, 2nd Bn. Lancashire Fusiliers, executed for desertion 22/01/1915, plot 2. F. 17.

Private F. Auger, 14th Bn. Canadian Expeditionary Force, executed for desertion 26/03/1916, plot 3. H. 5.   

Private P. Black, 1/4th Bn. The Black Watch, executed for desertion 18/09/1916, plot 1. B. 1. 

Private J. King, 1st Bn. Canterbury Regiment (New Zealand), executed for desertion 19/08/1917, plot 1. Z. 23.

Casualty Details: UK 997, Canada 22, Australia 470, New Zealand 213, South Africa 1, India 1, Total Burials: 1704

5006 Private

Charles Henry John Diews

36th Bn. Australian Infantry

A. I. F.

08/06/1917, aged 27.

Son of Charles Henry John and Sarah Diews, of 62, Darghan St.,

Glebe, New South Wales. Native of Katoomba.

Plot I. Q. 22.

Picture courtesy of Gillian Lewis, great niece of this soldier

1934 Private

Lewis Henry Clifford Williams

39th Bn. Australian Infantry,

A. I. F.

04/08/1917, aged 39.

Son of Henry Lewis Williams and Bessie Williams; husband of A. Williams, of Netherby, Victoria, Australia. Native of Broomfield, Victoria.

Plot I. X. 40.

My grandfather, Lewis Williams' date of death is given officially, 4^th August 1917, although the letter my grandmother received, I still have the original, from the chaplain at the casualty clearing station, indicated that he was “brought in on the 4^th and died the next day”.

My grandfather had three sons, of which, my father, the youngest was born in 1915. As a man in his late 30’s, with family responsibilities, the family story is that he was reluctant to join up, particularly while my grandmother was pregnant, but eventually did so in April 1916, when my father was nearly a year old. He left for England, with the 2nd replacements for the 39th Battalion in August 1916, went into France in May 1917, and died from wounds received, I believe, during the Messines campaign in August 1917.

Photo and text courtesy of his grandson Peter Williams of Tasmania, Australia

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