Becourt Military
Location
Becourt is 2 kilometres on the east side of Albert. The Military Cemetery is on the south side of the road from Becourt to Albert.
Historical Information
The Military Cemetery was begun in August 1915, by the 51st (Highland) Division, and carried on by the 18th and other Divisions in the line until the Battles of the Somme, 1916. It continued in use, chiefly by Field Ambulances, until April 1917; and Plot II was made by the 18th Division at the end of August 1918.
There are now over 700, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, a small number are unidentified and a special memorial is erected to a soldier from the United Kingdom buried among them. Three German graves have been removed
The cemetery covers an area of 4 327 square metres and is enclosed by a rubble wall.
Lieutenant Robert Gilson
11th Bn Suffolk Regiment
Died on 1st July 1916 aged 22
Son of Robert Gilson and Emily Gilson, of Canterbury House, Marston Green, near Birmingham
Born at Harrow-on-the-Hill
Classical Exhibitioner of Trinity College, Cambridge
A close friend and fellow writer of the author JRR Tolkien.
Grave: I R 28
JRR Tolkien
Lt Colonel Arthur Addison
9th Bn York and Lancaster Regiment
Died on 1st July 1916 aged 49
Son of Gen Thomas Addison CB and Ellen Gillespie, his wife
Husband of Mildred Addison of 18 Hans Rd, Chelsea, London
Grave: I W 23
Lieutenant Clarence Lyon Hall MC
5th Bn South Wales Borderers
Died on 7th July 1916 aged 20
Son of Clarence and Noemi Lyon Hall, of Spring Garden, Buff Bay, Jamaica
Grave: I R 15
Lt Colonel John Hawksley DSO
Royal Field Artillery
Died on 8th August 1916 aged 38
Order of the Osmanieh (4th Class)
Son of James and Emily Hawksley, of Caldy Island, Pembrokeshire
Served in the South African and Sudan Campaigns (South Kordofan, 1910)
Grave: I V 28
Lt Colonel Jasper Radcliffe DSO
Devonshire Regiment
Died on 31st January 1916 aged 48
Son of the late Walter Radcliffe, of Warleigh, Devon
Husband of Emily Radcliffe, of 69 Park Mansions, Knightsbridge, London
Served in the South African Campaign (twice Mentioned in Despatches).
Grave: I H 1
There are two other cemeteries within the immediate area of Becordel Becourt.
Norfolk Cemetery
Dartmoor Cemetery
In the former there is a holder of the Victoria Cross, Major Loudoun-Shand of the Yorkshire Regiment.
In the latter there are the graves of a father and son, another Victoria Cross holder and the soldier believed to be the eldest to have died.