Hagle Dump Cemetery
- Admin
- Mar 25, 2021
- 14 min read
Updated: May 28
This cemetery was begun on 27 April 1918. It was located next to a camp that was named Hagle Farm Camp. Plot I, Row C and D contain the graves of twenty-three men killed when an ammunition dump exploded on 27 April 1918 and they are the reason Hagle Dump Cemetery exists. The other burials in Plot I, except for Row AA, are from 8 to 13 August. The graves in Plot II are from the fighting that took place between July to September 1918. Plot III is made up entirely of men brought here after the war from battlefield graves, along with twenty men (including four Canadians), who were killed between April 1915 & September 1917 and originally buried in Brielen Military Cemetery, which was on the outskirts Brielen village, three miles to the east of Hagle Dump Cemetery. The five rows in Plot IV contains seventy graves, all post-war reburials. Plot V has a single headstone of a German burial who died on 28 September 1918. Plot VI contains forty three graves all the burials here are from late September 1918.
Ammunition Dump Explosion on 27 April 1918
Located in the area were numerous Field Ambulances, camps, dumps for ammunition and stores, artillery gun sites, railheads, and light railways for moving supplies and men. On 27 April 1918 at 12.30pm a German shell struck an ammunition dump located near what was named on the trench maps as Q Camp. Leading off the Poperinghe to Vlamertinghe Road is a road, known as York Cross on the British maps, that leads to today’s Hagle Dump Cemetery and further on to the site of what was Dirty Bucket Camp. Also located on this side road was a row of houses occupied by Belgian civilians and close by to Q Camp was a wooden shack were two Belgian women sold egg and chips. On 27 April, the camps, Field Ambulances, and Belgian civilian properties felt the full force of the shock from the blast resulting in numerous casualties, estimates put the dead at sixty plus. At Hagle Dump Cemetery in Plot I, Row C there are eight burials of men killed on 27th April and these are the first burials in the cemetery as well as those in Row D behind. The majority of those in Row D are from the 10th Battalion, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment). It was this Battalion, with twenty men killed on 27 April, who suffered the most casualties and there are sixteen of them buried here. The War Diary entry for 27 April of the 10th Battalion Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) records the aftermath of the shell hitting the ammunition dump: ‘A serious explosion occurred behind the Detail Camp at G6 a.2.3 Sheet 28 N.W. Belgium about 12.30 pm caused by a H.V. enemy shell striking an Ammunition and Guncotton Dump. The camp was wrecked and numerous huts set on fire by the explosion. Rescue parties at once set to work to assist in recovering the numerous casualties from the debris, and extinguish the fires, in face of great danger from recurring explosions from the dump. Casualties suffered by this Battalion totalled:- Killed – Lieut D. F. Anderson. Other Ranks 17, Wounded – Other Ranks 28. Missing – Other Ranks 1.’ The Belgian houses were demolished in the explosion and the shack blown to match wood and Red Farm ADS, located some 500 yards from the explosion, was also blown away by the explosion and those men, already wounded and awaiting evacuation, and who were killed in the explosion are buried in Red Farm Cemetery. The War Diary of 140th Field Ambulance which was at Proven records on the 27 April: ‘…Hear that Red Farm (138F.A.) was blown down and many injured. Owing to explosion of ammunition dump.’
The War Diary of 138th Field Ambulance, 41st Division recorded:
Fred Dixon served with the 10th Battalion of the Queen’s Royal (West Surrey) Regiment, he survived the war and wrote an article for the Western Front Association publication ‘Stand To’ which appeared in the December 1982 Edition. In it he described the view when standing on the main Ypres – Poperinghe road when facing east towards Ypres: ‘There was the road on the left leading to Dirty Bucket Camp. On the corners of this side road was a solid farm house and a Casualty Clearing Station with behind the CCS an ammunition dump. Further along the Dirty Bucket Camp road on the right-hand side was a line of houses occupied by civilians whilst on the left and beyond the farm house a wooden shack from which two Belgian girls dispensed fried eggs and chips.’ Fred Dixon and his colleagues occupied a Nissen hut behind the farm house the roof of which was protected by a double row of sandbags with a three foot bank of earth round the outside. ‘One day as we were sitting on our respective kits, eating our stew from our mess tins, the top of the Nissen hut including the sandbags collapsed on the top of us. The entrance was blocked so we scrambled out over the top only to find the air filled with exploding .303 ammunition. It was obvious that the dump had gone up. Later in the day we were able to visit the ruined hut to salvage our equipment. We found the farm house had taken some of the shock from us and the sandbagged roof the rest. The CCS did not exist the civilian houses were shattered and a crater the side and depth of a small lake had appeared where the dump had stood. The wooden shack had disappeared along with the two girls. All the houses in the area which had not been wrecked had lost their roofs. Half-way down the far side of the crater was a baby’s pram.’ Buried in the nearby Red Farm Cemetery are the Belgian civilians killed in the explosion, two women and a child. In addition to the sixteen men of the Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) at Hagle Dump Cemetery, there are also two officers and one other rank of the Royal Garrison Artillerymen, two Royal Engineers, and two unidentified men, all of whom were killed by the explosion on 27th April 1918, twenty-three killed and who are buried in Rows C and D. It is their graves that form the beginnings of this cemetery.
Royal Engineers killed on 27 April
178375 Sapper Mercer Smeaton, 5th Army Tramway Company, Royal Engineers. Age 32. Grave I.C.6. He was married to Margaret and they lived with their three children at Greenside Place, Edinburgh. Mercer was born in Inverkeithing, Fife. He was working as a Cooper in a brewery in the Canongate of Edinburgh, now the site of the Scottish
Parliament. 459521 Corporal John Thompson, 5th Army Tramway Company, Royal Engineers. Age 35. Grave I.D.1. He was married to Agnes and they lived at 25 Burdon Street, Gateshead with their six children. John was employed as a driver when he enlisted on 22 September 1914 in the Durham Light Infantry and posted to 15th Platoon, ‘D’ Company. He was later discharged on 10 November 1914 as being medically unfit for further service with middle ear disease. At some point he was either called up or reenlisted and this time his medical condition did not prove a problem to the army.
The War Diary for the 5th Tramway Company has been lost. Tramway Companies were normally allocated at Army level and they operated and maintained the light railways in the rear areas. The light railways were responsible for bulk deliveries of stores and ammunition, their activities were restricted up to the medium artillery zone, this was due to difficulties in maintaining ballasted lines and the ten ton rolling stock in forward areas. The tramway companies, which were responsible for the onward delivery of the stores, and who constructed and operated the push lines, into battery spurs and other locations, had insufficient men and equipment to deal with the increasing amount of work needed in the forward area and the co-ordination between light railways and tramways was not very efficient. As a result of these difficulties it was decided that the light railway transport would remain responsible for delivery and distribution up to approximately 5,000 yards of the front line which was the extent of the medium artillery zone.
Royal Garrison Artillery killed on 27 April
51074 Gunner Frederick Gregson, ‘V’/VIII Corps Heavy T.M. Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery. Age 36. Grave I.D.9. He was born in Fale Riser, Philadelphia, USA in 1883 and his parents moved to England, his father was a cotton weaver. His parents Jonas and Mary lived in Rawtenstall at 20 Whittle Street and they had three daughters and three sons, Frederick was the eldest son. The 1911 Census shows that he was living as a lodger at 29 The Fold, Rawtenstall, Lancashire and was employed as a Huters Labourer and he was not married. The RGA was responsible for heavy and siege artillery. Heavy Trench Mortar Batteries were typically equipped with larger mortars like the 9.45-inch or 6-inch mortars, used for tasks like suppressing enemy machine gun posts, cutting barbed wire, or firing barrages. The Heavy Battery was designated V. VIII Corps was one of the corps of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front, and a ‘V’ VIII Corps Heavy Trench Mortar Battery would have been part of that corps artillery support. The personnel of a Heavy Trench Mortar Battery comprised a Captain, 2 Lieutenants or 2nd Lieutenants, 3 Sergeants, 1 fitter, 4 corporals, 4 Bombardiers, 47 gunners, which included 3 Telephonists, 2 Orderlies, 1 Clerk, 1 cook, and 3 Batmen.
Second Lieutenant Reginald Harcourt Proctor Maunsell, 128th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery. Age 37. Grave I.D.16. Son of the late Edward Marriott Maunsell and Ellen Margaret Maunsell. Second Lieutenant Arthur Stevenson, 152nd Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery. Age 24. Grave I.D.15. Son of James and Elsie Stevenson, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. From late 1917, the Heavy and Siege Batteries of the Royal Garrison Artillery were transferred and came under the orders of a Heavy Artillery Group and remained with this HAG. From December 1917, Heavy Artillery Groups became known as RGA Brigades however, it appears that the two terms were used interchangeably. The 128th Siege Battery was under the orders of the 9th HAG and 152nd Siege Battery under the orders of 3rd HAG. There are relatively few War Diaries in the National Archives for Siege Batteries, and in most cases those that do exist only cover a part of the battery’s history. There is no diary for 152nd Siege Battery and the diary for the 128th Siege Battery only covers the period 1 August to 30 November 1917.
Killed while on Traffic Control
Lieutenant John Illingworth M.C., 1/6th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Own), 146th Infantry Brigade, 49th Division. Died of wounds on 3 June 1918, aged 26. Grave I.B.3. Son of William and Elizabeth Illingworth. He married Muriel Hamill (she remarried following his death formerly Illingworth) in 1915, and they lived at West House Skipton with their son also named John. Their son was serving in the RAF in World War II and took part in the Battle of Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain with 235 Squadron flying Bristol Blenheim fighters. His squadron also flew air cover for the Commando raids on the German occupied Norwegian territory of Vågsøy, and Måløy. He was then posted to the Far East dying in Singapore on 21 February 1943. Muriel moved to 2 Marine Terrace, Porthcawl, Glamorgan. His brother William was also serving as a Corporal with the Canadian Expeditionary Force and was wounded in August 1915. He had emigrated to Canada in 1913. The War Diary records that John was killed by a shell while on traffic duty when attached to the Divisional Traffic Control at map location G.5.d1.2. near today’s Hagle Dump Cemetery. The local paper the Craven Herald published a letter from John’s commanding officer Captain Felix P. Smith to his widow, who wrote that: ‘Lieutenant Illingworth was killed instantaneously by the bursting of a shell on Monday June 3rd, about 2 p.m. Everybody loved your husband. He had not a single enemy, and during the eleven months he was attached to me as traffic officer, I cannot speak too highly of his work. We shall all miss him so much, as no matter how black everything looked he had always a smile and a cheery word to keep our spirits up. All my staff feel your husband’s death very much as they loved working for him. We all attended his funeral on Tuesday June 4th, the service being conducted by the senior Church of England clergyman of the Division. My traffic sergeant was killed by the same shell as your husband and they were buried side by side.’ He received his Military Cross for conspicuous bravery when under shell fire in April 1918. Buried beside John and killed by the same shell is 307879 Serjeant Ernest Dean, 1/7th Battalion Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment), 147th Infantry Brigade, 49th Division. Age 23. Grave I.B.2. Son of Mr. and Mrs. John Dean.
RAMC Killed when shell hit Dug Out
Captain Hugh Roger Partridge M.C. and Bar. 1st/1st West Riding Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, 49th Division. Killed on 24 July 1918, aged 27. Grave II.B.3. Son of Mr. J. H. and Mrs. M. Partridge, of Laurel Bank, Rawdon, Leeds. The Field Ambulance was in the area known as A.30 Central this was a map reference for the camps in the woods known as Dirty Bucket, Brakes Camp, and Q Camp and had their forward Collecting Post at Dead End, and known as Kaaie on the British maps.
The War Diary records that at 3.20am on the morning of 24 July several shells fell near Dead End with one penetrating the roof of the Dressing Station. Hugh was killed at once and two other officers and four Other Ranks were wounded in the explosion. The War Diary recording that Hugh was buried at 2.30pm on 25 June at Hagle Dump Cemetery giving the reference as G.6.a.3.7.
Canadians in Second Ypres
There are seven Canadian men who died between 27 April 1915 and 3 June 1916, all being buried at Brielen and exhumed and reburied here after the Armistice. I have selected two men, one of whom was born in Falkirk. 6832 Private Alexander Wardrope Mathieson, 1st Battalion, Canadian Infantry. Killed in action 23 April 1915, age 23. Grave III.D.7. Son of John and Margaret Mathieson, of Bracebridge, Ontario. Born at Falkirk, Scotland. His epitaph is very apt GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN. Alexander was unmarried and listed his trade as a Moulder when he enlisted on 24 September 1914 in the 23rd Regiment, Northern Pioneers and was then taken on the strength of the 1st Battalion when they sailed for England in October 1914. On 23 April the Battalion was engaged in an attack on Pilkem village (the map from the War Diary details of the area of attack). In the late afternoon of 22 April the Germans had attacked the French line at Langemarck with gas causing a gap in the line. What became known in British battle nomenclature as the Second Ypres had begun. The British and Canadian troops were pressed into action to try and close the gap and to hold the line. The Canadian casualties were heavy in counter-attacking the German line and trying to force them back.
1315 Company Serjeant Major James William Dames D.C.M., M.S.M., Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (Eastern Ontario Regiment). Killed in action 8 May 1915, age 45. Grave III.H.12. Son of John Joseph and Mary Ann Dames. He was the husband of Florence Coneybeer Dames, Alberta. He served in the Tirah Campaign, 1897-98 and with the Sherwood Foresters in the South African Campaign (invalided through wounds) Presumably he was recalled, or volunteered to return, to the colours in 1914. On the 8 May 1915, the Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry was located at Bellewaarde Lake north of the Menin Road. At 4am they came under heavy German shelling and infantry attack on their right flank. At 6am their telephone lines had been cut to both Brigade and to the trenches and all signallers, pioneers, orderlies and servants had been pushed into the line. They managed to check the German attack but had to fall back over Bellewaarde Ridge. The Germans continued their heavy artillery fire and the casualties continued to mount the British Battalions to their left and right had been forced back. The PPCLI front line was attacked again at 5.30pm and this attack was repulsed although some Germans did get into the firing line on the right however the War Diary records that none of the men in that area were alive at that point. They once again held the line and were relived at 11.30pm by the 3rd Battalion King’s Royal Rifle Corps who assisted them in burying their dead that were in the Support and Communication trenches. It was impossible to reach the fire trenches. The PPCLI casualties were 10 Officers dead, wounded or missing. Other Ranks killed 93, missing 79, and wounded 203.
Alias
4063 Private Thomas John Bentley (his real name was John Joseph Pierce), 27th Battalion, Australian Infantry, Australian Imperial Force. Killed in action 20 September 1917, age 36 Grave IV.D.11. He was reburied here after the Armistice. He enlisted on 15 December 1915 and gave his age as 34 and that he was employed as a Miner and giving his next of kin as his cousin Mrs Thomas Adam Sedan Pierce. More on this below. On his Attestation Form he stated that he had been rejected for military service previously due to bad teeth. When he was in the base camp in Egypt he was admitted to the 2nd AG Hospital with tonsilitis on 24 April 1916. He arrived at Etaples via Alexandria and then Marseilles on 5 June 1916 and joined the 27th Battalion on 8 July 1916. He was absent without leave for one day from 2 to 3 August 1916 and was awarded as punishment Field Punishment No.2. and forfeited eight days pay. This was where a soldier was shackled (irons) but not attached to a fixed object. The punishment often involved marching with the unit, carrying arms, and performing normal duties, as well as extra fatigue duties. Thomas was killed during the attack by the Australians towards Zonnebeke. The Battalion War Diary recording their passage through Chateau Wood to their jumping off positions on the western slopes of the Westhoek Ridge and the attack on 20 September known in the Battle Nomenclature as Battle of the Menin Road 20 to 25 September 1917. His records indicate that he was ‘Buried south of the plank road leading to Westhoek Ridge from Bellewaarde Ridge 3 miles East of Ypres.’
Thomas Bentley real name John Pierce was married with two children. He had joined the army to escape his responsibilities, not an uncommon occurrence. In his records are letters relating to his real name and his marriage. A letter from his wife Sarah of 4 December 1916 seeking his whereabouts and a reply dated 12 December 1916 requesting more information from her and proof of their marriage.
A further letter of 21 December that refers to the ‘attached marriage lines’ and that an investigation is to be carried out by the Intelligence Branch to ascertain that she is his legal next of kin. There is a letter to his wife on 14 January 1917 that tentatively confirms that he is her husband. In another letter dated 14 January the army begin their investigation and this goes on right up until his death in action in September 1917.
In his will he leaves his estate to his Cousin Thomas Seddon Pierce. On the 29 April 1925 Sarah received a letter from the Army advising her of the location of her husband’s grave now at Hagle Dump Cemetery. A further letter of 10 December 1925 confirmed the exhumation and reburial and enclosed his disc which they felt Sarah would value as a memento and ‘intimate association with the late soldier.’ She was advised in a letter dated 23 April 1926 that his Plot had been amended from Plot 7, Row M, Grave 11 to to Plot 4, Row D, Grave 11. His resting place today.
Shot at Dawn
There are two men buried here who were Shot at Dawn 45980 Private Walter Dossett and Private George Ainsley
FALKIRK AND DISTRICT MEN BURIED HERE
Longcroft
2nd Battalion, King’s Own Scottish Borders
18.4.15
IV.E.7
The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.
Cemetery Location
Hagle Dump Cemetery is 7.5
west of Ieper town centre on the Sint Pietersstraat, a road leading from the N308 Poperingseweg, connecting Ieper to Poperinge. From Ieper town centre the Poperingseweg (N308) is reached via Elverdingsestraat then directly over two small roundabouts in the J. Capronstraat. The Poperingseweg is a continuation of the J. Capronstraat and begins after a prominent railway level crossing. 6 Kms along the Poperingseweg, after passing through the villages of Vlamertinge and Brandhoek, lies the right hand turning onto Galgestraat. 1 Km along the Galgestraat lies a staggered crossroads. The cemetery lies 300 metres after this crossroads on Sint Pietersstraat.
Cemeteries concentrated here
BRIELEN MILITARY CEMETERY, which was close to the South side of Brielen village, contained the graves of 31 French soldiers, 16 from the United Kingdom and four Canadian, and was used from April 1915 to September 1917.
Burials
Hagle Dump Cemetery contains 437 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, 139 of which are unidentified.
UK – 397
Australian – 26
Canadian – 14
German – 2
Unnamed - 139
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