Rue-du-Bacquerot No 1 Military Cemetery
Location
Laventie is a village in the Department of the Pas-de-Calais, 6 kilometres south-west of Armentières and 11 kilometres north of La Bassée. Rue-du-Bacquerot No 1 Military Cemetery is 3 kilometres south of Laventie on the north side of the road to La Couture. Leave Laventie on the D174. At the junction with the D169, which is 2 kilometres from the church, turn right, cross the D173 and continue straight on for another 1.5 kilometres, then turn right into the farmyard. The cemetery is straight in front of you.
You may find the farm gate closed — but it is possible to walk around it.
| GPS | N | E | OSM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decimal | 50.604377 | 2.768244 | Map |
The cemetery within the farm complex
Historical Information
The Rue-du-Bacquerot runs south-east of the village, from the Estaires-La Bassée road towards Fleurbaix, and the position of this road close behind the Allied front trenches during the greater part of the First World War made it the natural line of a number of small Commonwealth cemeteries.
The Indian Plot on the left
One of these, begun by the Indian Corps in November 1914, was the nearest to the Estaires-La Bassee road and became known as Rue-du-Bacquerot No. 1. The cemetery was used until May 1917, and for short periods in 1918, by the units holding the line.
Looking across towards the main British Army plot.
After the Armistice the small Indian plots were enlarged when graves were brought in from the battlefields and from smaller burials grounds.
The Indian Plot
The cemetery contains 637 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 61 of the burials are unidentified and special memorials commemorate 12 casualties. The cemetery also contains seven German graves. The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.
These soldiers of the Indian Army fell near this spot
There are British Army casualties buried on the other side of this panel – which explains the second Cross of Sacrifice — the other is in the other section of the cemetery: see the photo above.
Indian Army headstones
In general each soldier is buried under his own gravestone, however there are notable exceptions to this rule — faiths which practice cremation. During this epoch Christian cremations were rare and all such soldiers were buried.
Reading the headstones of soldiers from the Indian Army you will remark that those soldiers of the Hindu and Sikh faiths are marked as being commemorated, there being no burial.
Rifleman Kishar Dhojrai 497
2nd Bn 10th Ghurkha Rifles
Died on 25th September 1915
Son of Pungdim Raini, of Tamarphok, Dhankuta, Nepal
Hindu soldier – commemorated
Hindu plot: E 6
Sepoy Karam Dad 2211
33rd Punjabis
Died on 25th September 1915
Son of Ghulam Muhammad, of Garai, Chakdara, Malakand, N.W.F.
Muslim soldier – buried
Hindu plot: E 5
Havildar Nurang Singh 3209
(Havildar = Sergeant)
54th Sikhs
(Frontier Force)
Died on 15th September 1915
Son of Khemi, of Pandori Waraich, Amritsar, Punjab
Sikh Soldier – commemorated
Sikhs plot: C 8