White House Cemetery
Location
The Cemetery is located north-east of Ieper on the Brugseweg (N313) in the direction of Roeselare/Brugge. From the Grote Markt in Ieper take the road called Korte Torhoutstraat and at the end turn left into Lange Torhoutstraat, follow this road over the roundabout into Kalfvart and continue to the traffic lights. At the traffic lights turn right into Brugseweg and the cemetery is along here on the left before the village of St Jan.
| GPS | N | E | OSM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decimal | 50.861749 | 2.899210 | Map |
Historical Information
White House Cemetery was begun in March 1915 and used until April 1918 by units holding this part of the line.
It was enlarged after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the battlefields around Ypres (now Ieper) and from a number of small burial grounds in the area including the following :
- Basseville Farm German Cemetery, Zantvoorde, on the Zantvoorde-Zillebeke road, where five soldiers from the United Kingdom were buried in November 1914.
- Bavaria House Cemetery, Ypres, at an Advanced Dressing Station near Verlorenhoek and close to the Potijze-Zonnebeke road. Here were buried, in September-November 1917, 17 soldiers from the United Kingdom, four from Canada, four from Australia, three from New Zealand and one from the West Indies.
- Bedford House Cemetery, Enclosure No.1, Zillebeke, on the East side of the Ypres-St. Eloi road. In this, the oldest of the five Bedford House Enclosures, ten French soldiers were buried in 1914 and 1915, and 14 soldiers from the United Kingdom in 1915 and 1917.
- Cottage Garden Cemetery, St. Jean, close to the main street of the village. Here were buried, in 1914-1915, 44 soldiers from the United Kingdom and one from Canada.
- Green Hunter Cemetery, Vlamertinghe, close to the cabaret In den Groenen Jager, a little West of the Vlamertinghe-Voormezeele road. Twenty soldiers from the United Kingdom were buried here in 1915 and 1918.
- Hengebaert Farm Cemetery, Dickebusch, 600 metres North of Dickebusch village, where 16 soldiers from Australia and ten (all R.F.A.) from the United Kingdom were buried in 1915-1917.
- North Bank Cemetery, Voormezeele, (also called Lankhof Cemetery), between Lankhof Farm and the canal. In this cemetery, which was completely destroyed, eleven Canadian soldiers were buried in April and May 1916.
- Wilde Wood Cemetery, Zonnebeke, a little North of the Ypres-Roulers railway line, where 17 soldiers from the United Kingdom were buried in July-September 1917.
There are now 1,163 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 323 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 16 casualties known or believed to be buried among them.
Other special memorials record the names of 28 casualties who were buried in other cemeteries but whose graves could not be found on concentration.
The cemetery also contains eight Second World War burials, all dating from May 1940.
The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.
Anniversary Visit 2005
On 24 April 2005 whilst commemorating the 90th anniversary of the first gas attacks the Royal Irish Fusiliers Museum from Armagh organised a tour of the battlefields in connection with their 1st Battalion.
The scene of Robert Morrow VC’s deed, near Hill 63, was visited as well as his grave at White House Cemetery.
A Memorial Frame was later presented to the St Juliaan School.
10531 Private Robert Morrow VC
1st Bn Royal Irish Fusiliers
Died on 26th April 1915 aged 24
Son of Hugh and Margaret Morrow
of Sessia, Newmills, Dungannon, Co. Tyrone.
Grave: IV A 44
The London Gazette 29170
22nd May 1915
For most conspicuous bravery near Messines on 12th April 1915, when he rescued and carried successively to places of comparative safety, several men who had been buried in the debris of trenches wrecked by shell fire.
Private Morrow carried out this gallant work on his own initiative and under very heavy fire from the enemy.