Bailleul Communal Cemetery
Location
Bailleul is a large town in France, near the Belgian border, 14.5 kilometres south-west of Ieper and on the main road from St Omer to Lille. From the Grand Place, take the Ieper road and 400 metres along this road is a sign indicating the direction of the cemetery. Turn right into a small road and follow for approximately 400 metres.
The cemetery is on the right and the Communal Cemetery Extension is at the bottom end.
On leaving you have to follow the one-way system. Coming out onto the main road turning right will bring you back up into Bailleul’s main square.
Note the X road sign as you emerge back into the street: this is a priority from the right junction — traffic on the main road coming from your left should give way.
| GPS | N | E | OSM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decimal | 50.738567 | 2.743138 | Map |
Historical Information
Bailleul was occupied on 14th October 1914 by the 19th Brigade and the 4th Division. It became an important railhead, air depot and hospital centre, with the 2nd, 3rd, 8th, 11th, 53rd, 1st Canadian and 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Stations quartered in it for considerable periods. It was a Corps headquarters until July 1917, when it was severely bombed and shelled, and after the Battle of Bailleul (13th-15th April 1918), it fell into German hands and was not retaken until 30th August 1918.
The earliest Commonwealth burials at Bailleul were made at the east end of the communal cemetery and in April 1915, when the space available had been filled, the extension was opened on the east side of the cemetery.
Bailleul Communal Cemetery contains 610 Commonwealth burials of the First World War; seventeen of the graves were destroyed by shell fire and are represented by special memorials.
Both the Commonwealth plot in the communal cemetery and the extension were designed by Sir Herbert Baker.
Along the hedgerow the plots are multiple burials
Captain Paget O’Brien Butler
Royal Army Medical Corps
Attached to the 5th (Royal Irish) Lancers
Died on 31st October 1914 aged 33
Son of the late Major Pierce O’Brien-Butler
(60th Rifles)
Husband of Winifred O’Brien-Butler.
Former horse racing jockey.
Grave: B 17
Private Frederick Ashford 7058
1st Bn Somerset Light Infantry
Died on 20th December 1914 aged 30
Son of Frederick and Elizabeth Ashford
of Purse Caundle, Sherborne, Dorset;
Husband of Gaina Fowler
of 110 Junction Rd, Andover, Hants.
Railway employee (Porter and Railway guard)
Rifleman Frederick Merrick 5/9976
1st Bn Rifle Brigade
Died on 21st December 1914 aged 22
Son of Charles and Clara Merrick
of Marylebone, Middlesex
Grave: E 10
An unusual and personalised headstone
Lieutenant John Rose
2nd Bn Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
Died on 9th November 1914 aged 23
Son of Mrs Emily MacDonald
of 14, Bina Gardens, South Kensington, London
Grave: D 24
Major Aeneas Perkins
40th Pathans
Died on 28th April 1915 aged 43
Son of Lady Perkins and the late
General Sir Aeneas Perkins, KCB, RE
Husband of Mary Perkins,
of 6, Glendowe Place, South Kensington, London
Grave: I 17
Lieutenant Colonel Reginald Alexander
3rd Bn Rifle Brigade
Died on 29th December 1914 aged 48
Son of Caledon Alexander
Served in the South African Campaign
Grave: F 3
Lieutenant Colonel George Forbes
Royal Irish Regiment
Died on 17th March 1915 aged 48
Son of Colonel the Hon. W F Forbes, DL
Husband of Agnes Forbes
of Fyfield Manor, Abingdon, Berks
Grave: F 12
Lieutenant Colonel George Egerton
19th (Queen Alexandra’s Own Royal) Hussars
Died on 13th May 1915 aged 44
Son of the Hon. Algernon Egerton
of Worsley, Manchester
Served in the South African Campaign
Grave: I 6
Private Harry Adkinson 486
7th Bn Cheshire Regiment
Died on 19th March 1915
Private Horace Weeks 11842
1st Bn Devonshire Regiment
Died on 19th March 1915 aged 17
Son of Mr. and Mrs. Weeks
of 41, Uphill Drove Rd., Weston-super-Mare
Also in memory of 33837 Private Herbert Weeks 8th Bn Devonshire Regiment, killed 17th October 1917. (Commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial)
Rifleman George Boston 8511
4th Bn King’s Royal Rifle Corps
Died on 19th March 1915
Grave: J 38