Hop Store Cemetery
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- 2 days ago
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The nearby village of Vlamertinghe, now Vlamertinge, was just within range of the German artillery for the greater part of the War, units of British and Commonwealth heavy artillery and field ambulances stationed their headquarters in the village. The Hop Store Cemetery, interestingly on the base of the Cross of Sacrifice the name of the cemetery is Hop Store British Cemetery, opened in May 1915, was on the safer side of the village on the Vlamertinghe to Poperinghe road, but it remained a small cemetery because of its position between a hedge and the premises of the hop store itself. The site was low and marshy, particularly at the west end, and was drained by the Royal Engineers early in 1917. The large red building is the Hop Store and was used as an Advanced Dressing Station from early 1915, the first gas cases arrived here in April 1915. After the war this cemetery was one of the first to be constructed by the then Imperial War Graves commission and you may notice that the style of the lettering on the headstones is different from that found in later cemeteries. As with other small Commonwealth War Graves Cemeteries there is no Stone of Remembrance.
Uncle of a spy
Major Harold Payne Philby D.S.O. Commanding 2nd Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment, 16th Infantry Brigade, 6th Division. Killed in action 17 May 1916, age 28. Grave I.A.16. Son of the late Mr. Howard Montague and Mrs. May Beatrice Philby, of The Crossways, Camberley, Surrey. His younger brother Denis Duncan Philby served with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers from 1910 and saw service in India and was killed in action in December 1914 while attached to the Royal Munster Fusiliers. Harold’s third brother Harry St John survived the war and had a son also named Harold ‘Kim’ Philby the spy who defected to the Soviet Union. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant on 19 September 1908 and then a Lieutenant on 1 April 1910 in the York and Lancaster Regiment and was attached to the West African Frontier Force in October 1911. He returned to England on the outbreak of war and joined the 2nd Battalion and saw action at the Battle of the Aisne, First Ypres, and won his DSO at Hooge on 9 August 1915. He was also Mentioned in Despatches on two occasions on 31 December 1915 and 13 June 1916. He was Adjutant at the end of 1915 and took over command in early 1916. On the 17 May 1916 the Battalion was in the line at Turco Farm opposite the German line at Morteldje Estimanet. The War Diary recording that ‘Major Philby DSO cmdg 2 York & Lancaster Reg killed on night 17/18 May.’ During that night the Battalion was relieving the 1st Buffs in the line. His mother ordered the inscription on his headstone ‘R.I.P.’ and the headstone is rather unusual to have ‘commanding’ also mentioned.
RAMC
44526 Lance Corporal James Ernest Hooper, 17th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, 6th Division. Killed in action 10 August 1915, age 45. Grave I.B.22. Son of Charles and Millicent Hooper, of Worcester. He lived in the U.S.A. for 20 years and returned to England to enlist on the outbreak of the war. On the 10 August the 17th Field Ambulance was located at Chateau Couthove and received a request from the 16th Field Ambulance to send all available stretcher bearers to the Asylum at Ypres. The 16th FA were dealing with the casualty evacuation from the 16th and 18th Brigade attacks at Hooge and the Crater and had stretcher bearers in the forward area evacuating the wounded. An attempt was made by the bearers to get the badly wounded cases from the front line trenches at the Crater out but due to the heavy fighting they only managed to get a few away. The War Diary of the 17th FA records that James was killed by a rifle bullet on the morning of 10 August and two others were wounded.
T4/036951 Driver Charles Spendlow, 192nd Mechanical Transport Company, Army Service Corps, attached to 69th Field Ambulance, 23rd Division. Killed in action 3 June 1917, age 21. Grave I.A.35. Son of William and Jane Spendlow, Normanton on Cliff, Grantham. Husband of Ebrie Spendlow, they were married on 18 January 1915, and father of Marjorie born on 27 May 1915. He was working as a farm labourer when he enlisted on 1 January 1915 in the Army Service Corps and was posted to the 3 Company, 23rd Divisional Train and was attached to the 69th Field Ambulance. He landed in France with his unit on 26 August 1915. Charles received ten days leave from 15 to 25 January 1917 and one assumes that he went home to visit his family. On 1 June 1917 the Field Ambulance HQ was in the Mill at Vlamertinghe, no longer exists, with forward positions at Railway Dugouts. On 3 June they had selected a ruined house at Kruisstraat for a Divisional Collecting Post and had begun work on the building of a shelter that evening. The War Diary records the death of Charles ‘T4/026951 Dr. Spendlow ASC killed.’
Captain Owen Hairsine M.C. 71st Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, 23rd Division. Killed in action 7 June 1917, age 26. Grave I.A.42. He was the youngest son of Mr H S and Harriette Hairsine, West Hampstead, London. He served in the Officer Training Corps with the rank of Staff Sergeant when studying at the University of London and when a doctor at Middlesex Hospital, on the outbreak of war, joined the RAMC and was promoted to Lieutenant in December 1914. Killed in action while working with the stretched bearers bringing in wounded to an advanced regimental aid post. The War Diary records: ‘The following of this unit have been killed today whilst working with the Bearer Division Capt. O. Hairsine MC, Sgt Pollett, Pte James + Pte Nicholls + 6 OR have been wounded.’
6th Cavalry Brigade Casualties
All three were killed at the Battle of Frezenberg Ridge on 13 May 1915.
Captain Henry McLaren Lambert, 1st (Royal) Dragoons, 6 Cavalry Brigade, 3 Cavalry Division. Killed in action 13 May 1915, age 36. Grave I.D.17. Eldest son of Edward Tiley Lambert and Janie McLaren Lambert, Telham Court, Battle, Sussex. He had two brothers Reginald and Archie. De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour records that he was gazetted as a Second Lieutenant in the 1st Dragoons on the 6th of December 1899, and was promoted to Lieutenant on the 3rd of October 1900 and Captain on the 4th of October 1907. He served in the South African War 1899-1902, seeing action in the Orange River Colony June to November 1900 and August 1901 to March 1902; the Transvaal January to August 1901 and March 31st to May 1902; The Cape Colony May 1902. Following the war, he became ADC to Lord Ampthill, the Acting Viceroy of India then Earl Curzon, the Earl of Minto and then the Commander in Chief, General Sir O’Moore Creagh. He retired in 1908 and went to British East Africa but returned immediately on the outbreak of the Great War to serve with his old regiment, going to France in October 1914. Captain William Henry Jepson St Leger Atkinson, Mentioned in Despatches. 1st (Royal) Dragoons, 6 Cavalry Brigade, 3 Cavalry Division. Killed in action 13 May 1915, age 33. Grave I.D.18. The eldest son of John Joseph and Isobella Foster Atkinson, Cosgrove Priory, Stony Stratford. He had been in the Army for 12 years, eight had been spent in India, where he was A.D.C. to the Governor of Madras. He was also A.D.C. to the General in the riots of Johannesburg. 2nd Lieutenant Charles Nicholas Foster Browne, 1st (Royal) Dragoons, 6 Cavalry Brigade, 3 Cavalry Division. Killed in action 13 May 1915, age 20. Grave I.D.15. Son of Captain C. E. and Kathleen Browne, Breamish, Clanton, Northumberland.
The Brigade was in the line north of Bellewaarde Farm and on the night of the 12/13 May were engaged in improving their trench lines. At 4am on 13 May the Germans began to heavily shell the rear area however, the fire trenches remained intact. The firing slackened off and increased again at 6am with the Brigade requesting counter fire on Dead Man’s Wood. At 7am the 3rd Dragoon Guards reported that the Germans had broken through their lines the 1st (Royal) Dragoons were ordered to form up for a counter-attack. ‘C’ Squadron on the left and ‘A’ Squadron on the right. The War Diary records that from the communication trench they had a good view of the left front and they saw fifty Germans in khaki kilts and dark packs on their backs moving across the front of the 3rd Dragoon Guards. The Regiment had now moved to the edge of Railway Wood with their left on the railway line and had found that there was no need for their help and returned to their original positions. Their causalities nonetheless had been severe with the wounded being evacuated to Witte Poort Farm and after the farm was shelled moved to dugouts near the Menin Road. Captain Henry Lambert, commanded the regimental machine-guns, was killed early in the action while looking for a position for his machine-gun on the left near the railway. Captain William Atkinson, he was the Regiments signalling officer, had been killed at 6am when he tried to get telephone communication from their trench and was struck in the back by shrapnel and died within thirty minutes. At 1.30pm the Regiment was ordered forward to support the North Somerset Yeomanry in their trench positions north of Bellewaarde Lake the NSY had no officers left and very few NCO’s and had suffered severe shelling. They were relived at midnight on 13 May by the King’s Royal Rifle Corps. Lieutenant Nicholas Browne had come up with 100 men as reinforcements on the 12 May but had been sent back to Vlamertinghe as there was nowhere in the line to put them. At some point in the 13 May he had returned to the front line and is listed in the War Diary casualty list as having died of wounds.
Royal Engineer
48215 Company Sergeant Major Ethelbert Balfour Matthews D.C.M. 101st Field Company, Royal Engineers, 23rd Division. Killed in action 11 June 1917, age 23. Grave I.B.41. Balfour was the youngest son of two sons of Joseph and Sarah Jane Matthews, Arley, near Coventry. He was married to Helen and they had no children. He was employed at a ceramic factory and was employed in the production of Black Milk Bottle Match Strikers when he enlisted. The Company was engaged in the construction of support lines from the German trench named on British maps as Image Row in Shrewsbury Forest running in a southerly direction. This was dangerous work as the men would be working in the open and subjected to counter artillery fire. Balfour is listed in the Casualty return as ‘Killed’ along with two other men.
Infantry
Lieutenant Arthur Edward Basil Dixon, ‘A’ Company, 5th Battalion The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, 16th Infantry Brigade, 6th Division. Killed in action 6 June 1915, age 25. Grave I.D.24. One of three sons, the others was Peter, was serving in India, and Frank who was rejected during training on medical grounds, of Francis Peter and Jane Dixon, Wood View, Carlisle. The Dixon family were cotton manufacturers in Carlisle and his father was Mayor of Carlisle on four occasions. Arthur had worked at the Musgrave Mills, Shorley, and also in Lille from 1912 to 1914 before he enlisted on the outbreak of war. On the 4 June the Battalion went into the line north east of St Jean. The line was subjected to shelling and sniper fire. On 6 June the War Diary records that Edward was killed by ‘G.S.W. head. Died 6pm’ and that there were also seven Other Ranks killed or wounded by shell or rifle fire.
Lieutenant Robert Townsend Vaughton Dymock, ‘D’ Company 1st Battalion Kings Shropshire Light Infantry, 16th Infantry Brigade, 6th Division. Killed in action 27 October 1915, age 20. Grave I.D.30. The only son of Rowland Griffith and Alice Maud Vaughton Dymock. He was educated at Clifton College and Oriel College, Oxford. On the outbreak of the war he was gazetted to the 3rd King's Shropshire Light Infantry, and went to the Front attached to the 1st Battalion. On the 27 October the Battalion was in the line at Hooge the War Diary recording that ‘A’ and ‘D’ Coys are both heavily shelled during the morning. At 9.45am a shell burst in D Coy Officers mess dugout, wounding Lieut Dymock badly in the head….’ Later in the same entry ‘Lt. Dymock dies of wounds at Field Ambulance during the evening.’
Royal Field Artillery Trumpeter
801577 Trumpeter Frank Monroe Robson, ‘D’ Battery, 103rd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, 23rd Division. Died of Wounds 5 June 1917, age 18. Grave I.A.43. Son of Nellie Robson, 18 Chilwell Street, Linton, Nottingham. On the 3 June the War diary records that the German artillery had been active all day. The Battery carried out a practice barrage and the Germans replied by shelling the British line from Larch Wood to Rudkin House. During the night the Battery positions were very heavily shelled with gas shells and high explosive. Some 2,000 rounds of ammunition of ‘D’ Battery blew up forming an enormous crater 20 yards across and 20 feet deep. The War Diary only records that one officer was wounded and one was gassed. The War Diary records that the Battery positions were the target of German shelling on the 4 and 5 June. Again there is no mention of Other Rank casualties.
22792 Gunner John Gallagher, ‘D’ Battery, 78th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, 17th Division. Killed in action 16 November 1915, age 22. Grave I.A.2. Son of Charles and Mary Gallagher, 284 Station Road, Dykehead, Shotts, Lanarkshire. His epitaph reads THIS LITTLE SPOT I'D LIKE TO SEE, IT WAS DEARLY BOUGHT, BY A NEAR FRIEND TO ME. The Battery was in positions around Ouderdom however, there is no entry for the 16 November. The entry for the 19 November records that: ‘…the whole of D/78 should have gone into action at the same time (as A/78) but were prevented by heavy shell fire D/78 lost 2 gunners killed.’
The Only Canadian Buried Here
40106 Corporal Leonard Alderson Lamplough, Mentioned in Despatches. 1st Battery, 1st Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery. Died of Wounds 9 May 1915, age 21. Grave I.E.20. Son of Fred Leighton and Sarah Wilkins Lamplough, 190 Waverley Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. His brother Frank, a Signaller, was killed in action on 10 July 1918 while serving with the Canadian Field Artillery. Leonard was working on the civil staff of the Department of Militia and Defence when war was declared in August 1914 and he enlisted on 22 September. He joined the 1st Battery and was promoted to Corporal. On the 9 May the Battery was in action with positions at the Canal Bank. On the 8 May the War Diary records that the 1st Battery had been heavily shelled with several casualties. The guns of 1st Battery had expended 3,500 rounds in 30 hours of action with some of the ammunition issued dated 1905. The 1st Battery had been so heavily shelled on 8 May that it became imperative, in the words of the War Diary, to ‘use the Battery only when intended fire is required.’ And added that ‘firing so heavy oil in buffers boiling. Springs broken or tired. Packing burnt out. Only 7 guns available.’ During this intense action Leonard’s senior NCO gun commander was killed and he took command of the gun until he was wounded by a shell splinter, he was shielding a comrade at the time. He was Mentioned in Despatches ‘for gallant and distinguished service in the field’ It is noted in his records that he was ‘Buried behind the Brewery on the Vlamertinghe – Poperinghe Road N.Side.’
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 in the same way 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 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 is one boy soldier buried here and he served as an alias. 5608 Private Thomas Loughlin (served as Phelan), 2nd Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 10th Infantry Brigade, 4th Division. Killed in action 13 May 1915, age 17. Grave I.E.18. Son of Matthew and Mary A. Loughlin, 21 Middleton Street, Manningham, Bradford, Yorkshire. The Battalion was in the line at Wieltje on 12 May and the War Diary records that there was intermittent shelling throughout the morning and that snipers were active in the evening. The casualty list shows three Other Ranks wounded on 12 May and one Other Rank wounded on 13 May when the Battalion was in bivouacs at Vlamertinghe Chateau.
The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.
Location
Hop Store Cemetery is located 5.5 Kms west of Ieper town centre on the Casselsestraat, 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 is the J. Capronstraat. The Poperingseweg is a continuation of the J. Capronstraat and begins after a prominent railway level crossing. 5 Kms along the Poperingseweg, immediately after the village of Vlamertinghe, lies the right hand turning on to Casselsestraat. The cemetery itself lies 100 metres after this right hand turning on the right hand side of the road. The old hop store which gives the cemetery its name is still visible on the main road.
Burials
There are now 251 First World War burials, fifty eight are from Royal Artillery units, there were a large number of gun positions in the surrounding area, and there are also a large number of RAMC men. There is also a number of men from famous cavalry regiments.
UK – 250
Canadian - 1
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