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LocationMametz is a village in the Department of the Somme, 6.5 kilometres east of Albert. Devonshire Cemetery is 800 metres south of Mametz and is situated on high ground some 450 metres west of the road from Albert to Peronne (D938), 6.5 kilometres from Albert. Historical InformationMametz was within the German lines until the 1st July 1916, when it was captured by the 7th Division; and Mametz Wood, North-East of the village was taken on the 7th July and the following days. The 7th Division erected a memorial in the village, and the 14th and 16th Royal Welch Fusiliers erected memorials in the wood, to commemorate these engagments. (The 38th (Welsh) Division captured the wood again in August 1918). The 8th and 9th Battalions of the Devonshire Regiments, forming parts of the 7th Division, attacked on the 1st July 1916 from a point on the South-West side of Albert-Maricourt road, due South of Memetz village, by plantation called Mansel Copse; and there, on the 4th July, they buried their dead in a portion of their old front line. This place, subsequently became called Devonshire Cemetery. There are now 163 Commonwealth burials of the 1914-18 war commemorated in this site. Of these, 10 are unidentified, they are known to be men of the 9th Bn. Devonshire Regiment . The cemetery covers an area of 555 square metres and is enclosed by a brick wall. Mansell CopseThe Devonshire CemeteryThis is an easily missed cemetery lying as it does up within Mansell Copse from where the Battalion made its ill fated attack. It lies on your right on the main D 938 as you travel towards Carnoy. The cemetery is located at the Allied front line and you can easily see Mametz Village and the cemetery five hundred metres away. At the entrance to the Cemetery is a plaque on the left.
"The Devonshires held this trench. |
It should be remembered that the battalion was not attacking the village but more along the road to your left towards Fricourt.
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Rather unusually those killed were buried in the trench in a service held on 4 July after Mametz had been taken. 6 officers and 116 soldiers from 9th Devons are amongst the neat rows, their headstones reminding you of men lined up on a parade ground.
Captain Duncan MartinCaptain Duncan Martin was 30 years old when he led his men into battle that morning. Commanding A Coy 9 Devons he had predicted that the machine gun would cause serious problems to the attack if it wasn't dealt with by the early morning bombardment. He had even made up a plasticine model of the area and shown it to his superiors. As it was he was one of those killed by the gun.
Lieutenant William Noel HodgsonBuried near Duncan Martin is Lieutenant William Hodgson MC, who was 23 years old and one of the war poets. He had written Verse and Prose in Peace and War. 
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