Klein Vierstraat British Cemetery

Authors image

The village of Kemmel and the adjoining hill, Mont Kemmel, were the scene of fierce fighting in the latter half of April 1918, in which both Commonwealth and French forces were engaged. The cemetery was begun in January 1917 and Plots I to III were made by field ambulances and fighting units before the middle of January 1918. Plot IV was begun in April 1918.

Boy Soldiers

In the Ypres Salient, we are drawn to the graves of 6322 Private John Condon, 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment, killed in action in May 1915, age 14 and the youngest known battle casualty of the war, although this is now questioned, and the grave of 5750 Valentine Strudwick, 8th Rifle Brigade, killed in action in January 1916, age 15. Strudwicks grave attracts a great deal of attention because of its location at Essex Farm and that locations association with Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae and the poem ‘In Flanders Fields.’ There are many more ‘Boy Soldiers’ buried across the Salient and who are not remembered and these include three from Falkirk District Private William Jamieson, age 17, Private James Duchart, age 16, and Private Herbert Richmond, age 17. There were many reasons why underage boys enlisted in 1914 and 1915 boredom with their jobs, looking for adventure, and escaping family pressures. The checks on age and qualification to enlist were more relaxed than later in the war. The army preferred younger recruits, there was a history of boy soldiers in the army going back over one hundred years. At Waterloo the army had a number of boy soldiers in their ranks. The army preferred younger recruits as they would follow orders and accept discipline more readily than older men. The boys had a belief in their own indestructibility and were prepared to take more risks. We tend to also forget the number of boys who served in the Royal Navy and we do not seem to have the same passionate response to their service as we do those who fought on the Western Front. With regards to the army, the difference was the sheer number who served on the Western Front and there were more boy soldiers in 1915 than served in Wellington’s army at Waterloo. For further reading on this subject I recommend Richard Van Emden’s excellent book Boy Soldiers of the Great War.

There are two Boy Soldiers buried here

23762 Private Henry Charles Champion, 6th Battalion Duke of Edinburgh's (Wiltshire) Regiment, 58th Infantry Brigade, 19th Division. Killed in action 7 June 1917, age 17. Grave II.B.14. His mother Mary is listed as his next of kin on his pension record. They lived at 19 Newton, Trowbridge. The Battalion took part in the attack on the Messines Ridge on 7 June 1917 with the Battalion the right front Battalion in front of Hollandscheschuur Farm Redoubt at Wytschaete. Here, the British blew three mines beneath the farm redoubt, three of nineteen mines blown on Messines Ridge known as cratering the ridge The objectives of the Battalion were to capture the redoubt, the south east portion of Grand Bois Wood and to consolidate on the gains. This was successfully carried out with the Battalion killing 50 Germans, capturing 179 prisoners, 3 trench mortars and 5 machine guns. The War Diary records the Battalion casualties as one officer killed, two wounded, 8 Other Ranks killed, and 92 wounded. 4538 Private Samuel Philip McNeil, 10th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Brigade, Australian Infantry. Killed in action 8 September 1916, age 17. Grave V.A.11. Son of Samuel Phillip McNeil and Maria McNeil, of Peel Street, Alberton, South Australia. The 10th Battalion, along with the 9th, 11th, and 12th Battalions that made up the Australian 3rd Brigade, were under going training at the training schools and camps around Busseboom. On the 7 June the bombers and Lewis gun teams of 10th Battalion were sent to the bomb training school. On 11 June there was a Bomb Sports competition with the Brigade War Diary recording that there was no entry from 10th Battalion due to a 'bomb accident' earlier in the week. Samuel's body, was exhumed and brought to this cemetery after the Armistice.

FALKIRK AND DISTRICT MEN BURIED HERE

Polmont

26475 Gunner Thomas Wilson

47th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery

Age 34

29.10.17

III.G.5

Husband of Agnes Wilson, Avonbridge. Son of James & Elizabeth Wilson

The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

Cemetery Location

Klein-Vierstraat British Cemetery is located 6 Kms south-west of Ieper town centre, on the Molenstraat, a road branching from the Kemmelseweg (joining Ieper to Kemmel N331). From Ieper town centre the Kemmelseweg is reached via the Rijselsestraat, through the Lille Gate (Rijselpoort), and straight on towards Armentieres (N365). 900 metres after the crossroads is the right hand turning onto the Kemmelseweg (made prominent by a railway level crossing). 5 Kms along the Kemmelseweg lies the right hand turning onto Vierstraat. 1km along the Vierstraat lies Kemmel No.1 French Cemetery. 100 metres past this cemetery is a road on the left called Molenstraat. Klein-Vierstraat British Cemetery is located 30 metres along the Molenstraat on the right-hand side of the road.

Cemeteries concentrated here

After the Armistice, graves were brought into Plot I, Row H, and Plots IV to VII, from two smaller cemeteries (FERME HENRI PATTYN-VANLAERES, Poperinghe and MONT-VIDAIGNE MILITARY CEMETERY, Westoutre) and from the battlefields of Dikkebus, Loker and Kemmel.

Burials

Klein-Vierstraat British Cemetery now contains 805 First World War burials, 109 of them unidentified.

UK- 777

Australian – 8

New Zealand – 7

Canadian – 8

South African – 1

British West Indies – 1

Chinese Labour Corps - 1