Guillemont Road Cemetery
Location
Guillemont is a village 12 kilometres east of Albert. From the D929 direction Bapaume-Albert take the 2nd turning for Martinpuich, continuing along the D6 for 5 kilometres until the crossroads in the village of Longueval. Follow route D20 direction Guillemont until you leave Guillemont on the D64 direction Montauban. The Cemetery is 500 metres on the right as you leave Guillemont.
| GPS | N | E | OSM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decimal | 50.010435 | 2.815847 | Map |
Historical Information
Guillemont was an important point in the German defences at the beginning of the Battle of the Somme in July 1916. It was taken by the 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers on 30th July but the battalion was obliged to fall back, and it was again entered for a short time by the 55th (West Lancashire) Division on 8th August.
On 18th August, the village was reached by the 2nd Division, and on 3rd September (in the Battle of Guillemont) it was captured and cleared by the 20th (Light) and part of the 16th (Irish) Divisions. It was lost in March 1918 during the German advance, but retaken on 29th August by the 18th and 38th (Welsh) Divisions.
Delville Wood in the distance
The cemetery was begun by fighting units (mainly of the Guards Division) and field ambulances after the Battle of Guillemont, and was closed in March 1917, which it contained 121 burials.
It was greatly increased after the Armistice when graves (almost all of July-September 1916) were brought in from the battlefields immediately surrounding the village and certain smaller cemeteries, including :
- Hardecourt French Military Cemetery. The village of Hardecourt-au-Bois was captured by French troops on the 8th July 1916, and again by the 58th (London) and 12th (Eastern) Divisions on 28 August 1918. Five British Artillerymen were buried by their unit in the French Military Cemetery, in the middle of the village, in September 1916. In 1918 the 12th Division buried in the same cemetery 14 men of the 9th Royal Fusiliers and two of the 7th Royal Sussex.
Guillemont Road Cemetery now contains 2,263 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 1,523 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to eight casualties known or believed to be buried among them.
The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.
Lieutenant Raymond Asquith
3rd Bn Grenadier Guards
Died on 15th September 1916 aged 37
Son of the Rt Hon (and former MP) Herbert Asquith, PC,
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1908-1916
(now 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, KG)
and Helen his wife
Husband of Katharine Asquith
of 17 Oxford Square, London, W2
Grave: I B 3
Small time, but in that small
Most greatly lived
This star of England
An associate of Rupert Brooke, he was a barrister and scholar of high intellect and had been President of the Union at Oxford, won the Craven, Derby and Ireland Scholarships, a First in Greats and a Fellowship at All Souls.
Captain David Henderson the son of the Arthur Henderson, leader of the Labour Party (in opposition) is buried not far away in the London Cemetery at High Wood.
Major Gerald Stacey DSO
2nd Bn London Regiment
Royal Fusiliers
Died on 9th October 1916
Grave: I D 1
Lt Colonel John Stormonth-Darling DSO
1st Bn Cameronians
Scottish Rifles
attached 9th (Glasgow Highlanders) Bn HLI
Died on 1st November 1916 aged 38
Son of Katherine and the late
Patrick Stormonth-Darling
Native of Kelso, Roxburghshire.
Grave: I C 1