Orchard Dump
Webmatters : Woburn Abbey Cemetery, Cuinchy
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Woburn Abbey Cemetery

Location

Cuinchy is a village midway between Béthune and La Bassée. Woburn Abbey Cemetery lies to the south-west of the village towards the village of Cambrin. From the church in Cuinchy head south on the D166, after 300 metres turn left. The cemetery is a further 200 metres from the junction on the left hand side.

GPSNEOSM
Decimal50.516852.75065 Map
Woburn Abbey Cemetery

Historical Information

Cuinchy remained during almost the whole of the war within range of German guns, and the cemeteries in the commune were made, so far as British troops are concerned, by fighting units and Field Ambulances.

Woburn Abbey Cemetery was named from a house on the East side of it used as Battalion Headquarters and as a Dressing Station. It was begun by the Royal Berkshire Regiment in June 1915 and closed in January 1916 on account of its exposed situation, but a few further burials were made as late as April 1918.

Woburn Abbey Cemetery

Plots II to V were added after the Armistice by the concentration of graves from the battlefields East of Béthune and from certain smaller cemeteries.

There are now over 550, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, nearly half are unidentified and special memorials are erected to three soldiers from the United Kingdom known or believed to be buried among them.

The cemetery covers an area of 2,659 square metres and is enclosed by a low rubble wall.

Woburn Abbey Cemetery

The following were among the burial grounds from which British graves were removed to Woburn Abbey Cemetery:

The Cheriots, Rue-du-Bois, Richebourg-l’Avoué, in an orchard on the North side of the Rue-du-Bois West of Richebourg-L’Avoué, where 16 soldiers from the United Kingdom and one from India were buried in the summer of 1915.

King’s Claire, Cuinchy, on the road to Givenchy, where 17 soldiers from the United Kingdom were buried in 1915.

No 1, Harley Street, Cuinchy, on the road running South from Cuinchy station, which contained the graves of 29 soldiers from the United Kingdom and two trench soldiers, and was used from November 1914 to December 1915.

Pont-Fixe Post Office Cemetery, Cuinchy, used at intervals from January 1915 to April 1918, and containing the graves of 35 soldiers from the United Kingdom and one from Canada.

Vauxhall Bridge Road Cemetery, Cuinchy, where 24 soldiers from the United Kingdom and ten from Canada were buried in 1914, 1915 and 1918. The name Vauxhall Bridge was given to the bridge over the canal near Cuinchy station.


Rifleman Abraham Strauss

Rifleman Abraham Strauss 2860
17th Bn London Regiment
Died on 24th May 1915 aged 23
Son of Mr and Mrs Davis Strauss,
of 9A, Little Alle St, Aldgate, London

Grave: II D 5

Guardsman Alfred Slight

Guardsman Alfred Slight 12053
1st Bn Coldstream Guards
Died on 25th January 1915 aged 23

Grave: II C 15

Lieutenant J McCarthy

Lieutenant J McCarthy
3rd Bn Connaught Rangers
Attached Trench Mortar Battery
Died on 2nd January 1915 aged 21
Son of Mr G and Mrs K McCarthy
of 6, Tal Bag Rd, Bangalore, India

Grave: I H 9


Other cemeteries in the area