Ferme Olivier Cemetery
Updated: 8 hours ago
Ferme Olivier Cemetery was used from 9 June 1915 to 5 August 1917 for burials from the nearby Dressing Stations located at Elverdinghe (now Elverdinge) Chateau. The 62nd, 16th, 9th, 11th, 129th and 130th Field Ambulances had dressing stations close by. Throughout this period, the village, not the cemetery at Ferme Olivier, was just within range of the German artillery.
Two collective graves in Plot 2, Row E, contain the remains of 41 men of the 3rd Battalion Monmouthshire Regiment, 49th West Riding Division Pioneers, killed on parade on 29 December 1915 by a single shell fired from a naval gun in Houthulst Forest. The graves in Plot 3 run in order of date of death and show the successive occupations of Elverdinghe Chateau by the 38th (Welsh) Division, the Guards Division, and by units of the Royal Artillery.
Direct hit on their dugout
While eating breakfast with 2nd Lieutenant David Alexander Carnegie, they were both killed instantaneously when a shell landed on the dugout.
Welsh Rugby International - Major Brinley Richard Lewis, Commanding Officer, ‘B’ Battery, 122nd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. Killed 2 April 1917, age 26. Grave III.C.1. Son of David and Margaret Lewis, Tanyrallt, Pontardawe, South Wales. His parents owned the Glantawe iron works in Pontardawe. Known as ‘Bryn’ he was educated at Swansea Grammar School and captained the school team and represented the Wales Schoolboy team. He played for the Swansea XV when age seventeen and regularly played for them during his vacations. While studying at Trinity College, Cambridge he gained three 'Blues' when he was selected for three consecutive Varsity games from 1909 to 1911. At various times he also played for the London Welsh and the Barbarians. Lewis gained his first cap for Wales against Ireland as part of the 1912 Five Nations Championship. The Welsh team was inexperienced and lost the game 12–5, not helped when Lewis's teammate Tom Williams broke his arm and continued playing in the second half of the game. Lewis was back the next year in the 1913 Championship, for his second and last cap, again against Ireland. Lewis scored two tries in the game which saw Wales win narrowly. He was working as an article clerk in Swansea in 1914 when he joined the Glamorgan Yeomanry in October 1914. He then joined the 38th Welsh Division and went with the division to France on Christmas Day 1915. He fought on the Somme and at Ypres. He was appointed Commanding Officer of ‘B’ Battery. 2nd Lieutenant David Alexander Carnegie, ‘B’ Battery, 122nd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. Killed 2 April 1917, age 20. Grave III.C.II. He was the son of MP Colonel the Hon. Douglas Carnegie.
Shot at Dawn
There are two men buried here
8139 Private George Watkins, Plot 3, Row C, Grave 12. 13th (2nd Rhondda Pals) Welsh Regiment, 114th Brigade, 38th Welsh Division. He was a reservist, originally enlisted in 1904, who was recalled to the colours at the outbreak of war. He was twice wounded in 1915. He deserted in the Salient in December 1916 and was caught in March 1917. At his court martial he pleaded family troubles had caused him to absent himself. Despite his length of service and unblemished record he was executed in May 1917.
23726 Private Robert Hope, Age 23, Plot 3, Row G, Grave 12. Husband of Mrs. Hope, of 9 Moehans Row, Waterside, Londonderry. He enlisted as Hepple, which is the name on his headstone, ‘D’ Company, 1st Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 87th Brigade, 29th Division. He had seen service at Gallipoli only a few weeks before the battalion was evacuated in December 1915 during the Allied withdrawal. He deserted near Arras in 1917 and was court martialled when his battalion moved to the Salient. He was executed on 5 July 1917.
Epitaph - OF WATERSIDE, DERRY
The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.
Cemetery Location
Ferme-Olivier Cemetery is located 7 kilometres northwest of Ieper town centre on the Steentjesmolenstraat, N333, a road leading from the N8 Veurnseweg connecting Ieper to Elverdinge and on to Veurne. From Ieper town centre the Veurnseweg (N8) is reached via Elverdingsestraat, then turning right onto Haiglaan. Veurnseweg is a continuation of Haiglaan. On reaching the village of Elverdinge the Steentjesmolenstraat, N333, is the second left hand turning. The cemetery lies 1.3 kilometres along the Steentjesmolenstraat on the left-hand side of the road.
Burials
The cemetery contains
UK – 408
German – 3
Comments