Mory Abbey Military Cemetery
Location
Mory is a village between Arras and Bapaume, and about 2 kilometres east of the village of Ervillers. Mory-Abbey Military Cemetery is 450 metres north of the village on the north side of the road to Ecoust-St. Mein opposite a large farm called L’Abbaye.
| GPS | N | E | OSM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decimal | 50.159084 | 2.859581 | Map |
Historical Information
Mory village was occupied by Commonwealth troops in the middle of March 1917. It was lost after obstinate defence by the 40th and 34th Division a year later and recaptured towards the end of the following August, after severe fighting, by the 62nd (West Riding) and Guard Divisions.
The German burials in a plot on the west side of the cemetery were made by German troops in March-August 1918, or by Commonwealth troops in September 1918. The Commonwealth plots were begun at the end of March 1917 and carried on by fighting units until March 1918, and again in August and September 1918, as far as and including Plot III.
The graves in Plots IV and V — including many of the Guards Division, and chiefly of 1918 — were added after the Armistice from the battlefields between St. Leger and Bapaume. They also included concentrations from the following smaller cemeteries :
- Grenadier Guards Cemetery, St. Leger, on the road to Vraucourt, which contained the graves of 24 men of the 2nd Grenadier Guards and two other soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell on the 27th August 1918.
- Hally Copse East Cemetery, St. Leger, between Hally Copse and the road to Vraucourt, which contained the graves of 49 soldiers from the United Kingdom (all from the Guards Division except one) who fell in August 1918.
- Mory French Cemetery, nearly a kilometre South-West of the village, in which three soldiers from the United Kingdom were buried in February and March 1917.
Mory Abbey Military Cemetery contains 619 Commonwealth burials of the First World War. 101 of the burials are unidentified, but there is a special memorial to one casualty known to be buried among them. The cemetery also contains 230 German burials.
The tanks that were used at the Battle of Bullecourt in April 1917 started from the village and were held up by a snow blizzard.
Lt Colonel Richard West VC DSO & Bar MC
North Irish Horse
Attached 6th Bn Tank Corps
Died on 2nd September 1918 aged 40
Served in the South African War
Son of Augustus and Sarah West
of Whitepark, Co. Fermanagh
Husband of Maude West
of 14, Trafalgar Square, Chelsea, London.
Grave: III G 4
The London Gazette 30982
29th October 1918
For most conspicuous bravery, leadership and self-sacrifice. During an attack, the infantry having lost their bearings in the dense fog, this officer at once collected and re-organised any men he could find and led them to their objective in face of heavy machine-gun fire. Throughout the whole action he displayed the most utter disregard of danger, and the capture of the objective was in a great part due to his initiative and gallantry.
L/Corporal William Bean 21458
1st Bn Northumberland Fusiliers
Died on 12th December 1917 aged 21
Son of C. and Sarah Bean
of 3, Long Greece Steps, Scarborough
Grave: II F 15
Also in memory of
Private E.W. Bean
Killed in action 14th July 1916
Serjeant I Houghton 14807
24th Bn Manchester Regiment
Died on 25th June 1917
Grave: I I 7