Le Touret Memorial
Location
Le Touret Memorial is located at the east end of Le Touret Military Cemetery, on the south side of the Béthune-Armentières main road.
From Béthune follow the signs for Armentières until you are on the D171. Continue on this road through Essars and Le Touret village.
Approximately 1 kilometre after Le Touret village and about 5 kilometres before you reach the intersection with the D947, Estaires to La Bassée road, the Cemetery lies on the right hand side of the road.
From the Indian Memorial at Neuve Chapelle the Cemetery and Memorial are well signposted.
| GPS | N | E | OSM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decimal | 50.56043 | 2.72269 | Map |
Historical Information
The Memorial in Le Touret Military Cemetery, Richebourg-l’Avoué, is one of those erected by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to record the names of the officers and men who fell in the Great War and whose graves are not known.
It serves the area enclosed on the North by the river Lys and a line drawn from Estaires to Fournes, and on the South by the old Southern boundary of the First Army about Grenay; and it covers the period from the arrival of the II Corps in Flanders in 1914 to the eve of the Battle of Loos.
The Memorial takes the form of a loggia surrounding an open rectangular court. The court is enclosed by three solid walls and on the eastern side by a colonnade. East of the colonnade is a wall and the colonnade and wall are prolonged northwards (to the road) and southwards, forming a long gallery.
Small pavilions mark the ends of the gallery and the western corners of the court.
The names of those commemorated are listed on panels set into the walls of the court and the gallery, arranged by Regiment, Rank and alphabetically by surname within the rank.
Over 13 000 names are listed on the memorial of men who fell in this area before 25 September 1915 and who have no known grave.
It does not include the names of officers and men of Canadian or Indian regiments; they are found on the Memorials at Vimy and Neuve-Chapelle.
15518 Private Edward Barber VC
1st Bn Grenadier Guards
Died on 12th March 1915 aged 22
Son of William and Sarah Barber
of Miswell Lane, Tring, Herts
Panel: 2
The London Gazette
19th April 1915
For most conspicuous bravery on 12th March 1915, at Neuve Chapelle. He ran speedily in front of the grenade company to which he belonged, and threw bombs on the enemy with such effect that a very great number of them at once surrendered.
When the grenade party reached Private Barber they found him quite alone and unsupported, with the enemy surrendering all about him.
There are three other recipients of the VC commemorated on the memorial:
- Private Abraham Acton VC,
Border Regiment: Panel 19 - Corporal William Anderson VC,
Yorkshire Regiment: Panel 12 - Private Jacob Rivers VC,
Notts and Derby Regiment: Panel 26
Captain Hugh O’Brien
2nd Bn Royal Munster Fusiliers
Died on 22nd December 1914 aged 34
Son of the late Lt Col H O’Brien, RAMC, and Ethel O’Brien
of Whitepoint House, Queenstown.
Served in the South African Campaign,
and with the Mohmand Field Force
Panel: 43
Captain Hugh O’Brien was the brother in law of two of the famous O’Brien Butler brothers killed during this war and another who died during the Boer War.
Driver John Bell 70304
Royal Field Artillery
Died on 25 April 1915
Son of John Bell, of Finglas, Co. Dublin
Panel: 1
Shot at Dawn for Desertion
There are seven other soldiers Shot at Dawn commemorated on the memorial:
- Private J Ball,
Middlesex Regiment: Panel 31 - Private James Briggs
Border Regiment: Panel 19 - Private T Cummings
Irish Guards: Panel 4 - Private J Duncan
Cameron Highlanders: Panel 41 - Private F Sheffield
Middlesex Regiment: Panel 31 - Private A Smythe
Irish Guards: Panel 4 - Private E Tanner
Wiltshire Regiment: Panel 33