Kemmel Churchyard
- Admin
- 2 days ago
- 13 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Kemmel Churchyard was used from October 1914 to March 1915. The village of Kemmel was near the front line during the greater part of the First World War, and in German hands in the summer of 1918. The Battalions were billeted in the houses, farms, and camps around Kemmel. Camps such as School House Kemmel Camp, White Camp, Gibralta Camp, and La Polka Camp. The road opposite the church was known as Sackville Street on trench maps and led to the front line. Today, it leads you to Kemmel Chateau Military Cemetery. Many of the men who passed through or were billeted in Kemmel have left their thoughts in their diaries.
Diary Accounts of Kemmel
In his diary ‘The Burgoyne Diaries. The First Winter at Ypres with the Royal Irish Fusiliers’ Gerald Burgoyne records in his entry for 16th December 1914: ‘..Kemmel, the town
through which we marched on our way here shows, in its skeletons, shattered windows and pitted roadway, how heavily it has suffered. Just behind the town rises Mont Kemmel, a small eminence on which stands the ruins of a restaurant (the Belvedere).This is our artillery observation post.’ Writing in his diary on 16th December 1914, Billy Congreve records: ‘They are shelling Mont Kemmel very heavily today. This hill has even a more commanding view that our Scherpenberg and one can see even more of the German and our lines. We have artillery observers up there, so naturally the Germans shell it. There is a sort of watch tower on the highest part (the Belvedere) – this the Germans make a dead set on and shell it unmercifully. They have so far put only one shell through the tower, but the ground all round it is a most extraordinary sight; just as if hundreds of earthquakes and cyclones had visited it, so smashed up is it.’ On the 19th December 1914, he wrote: ‘The German gunners seem to be a good deal more active. Cornwall and I went up to the top of Mont Kemmel where one really gets a grand view. The tower is now only ‘standing on one leg’. Very little more and down it will come.’
Of the village, Burgoyne noted in his diary: ‘Took a walk around Kemmel town this morning. I don’t think that out of a town of some 4,800 inhabitants there is one house quite intact and undamaged by shrapnel, and half the place is in ruins, blown down completely…There are some dozen shops of sorts where bread, butter, candles, chocolate, and sweets can be bought, and milk and eggs can be easily obtained…The interior of the church is smothered in masonry dust. A
shell has pierced the chancel behind the High Altar and shattered it and littered the chancel with debris.. A lot of the stain glass windows are shattered with shrapnel…’ In January 1915, Burgoyne noted in his diary that two local men had been caught and shot by the Northumberland Fusiliers. They had been signalling to the Germans using the hands of the church clock. The YMCA provided the men with a place for writing letters, to socialise, read books, and play table top games. In Kemmel, this was a hut house and despite its damaged condition was in use in 1917. They also had a dugout in use on the Kemmel Hill which was used up until the German attack during the Spring Offensive in April 1918.
The Doctors House
Colonel Rowland Fielding, 6th Battalion Connaught Rangers, 47th Infantry Brigade, 16th (Irish) Division, was in the Battalion HQ in the Doctors House in Kemmel. On the 19 February 1917, he led 9 officers and 190 other ranks of the Battalion in an attack from Shamus Farm towards the German trenches at Kruisstraat. The morning was foggy and they attacked at 7.15am without any preliminary barrage, the British artillery supported this raid by putting a box barrage around the selected German trench, despite this the Battalion suffered many casualties, especially from the German retaliatory artillery fire. By 9.15am the fog had lifted and the raid was over and a quiet had descended with many of the Battalions dead and wounded lying out in No Man’s Land. The Germans offered an armistice for the purpose of collecting the dead and wounded. The Germans insisted that the stretcher parties be unarmed. Parties of British were dressing the wounded and carrying them back to the lines and a Connaught officer Second Lieutenant P L N Gordon-Ralph, who was carrying a revolver, and a German were attending to a wounded man by the German wire. When all the dead and wounded had been collected Colonel Fielding ended the truce however, the Germans had exacted a price, Second Lieutenant Gordon-Ralph who was seen near the German lines and armed had been taken prisoner. In his book The Fifth Leicestershire: A Record of the 1/5th Battalion the Leicestershire Regiment TF during the War 1914-1919, J. D. Hills recounts the death of two Lieutenant-Colonels who were killed by a shell from a long range gun on 4 June 1915 when billed in the Doctor’s House: ‘Colonel Jessop, of the 4th Lincolnshires, was talking to Colonel Jones (5th Leicesters) in the road outside the house, while an orderly held two horses close by. The first shell fell almost on the party, killing Colonel Jessop, the two orderlies and both horses. Colonel Jones was wounded in the hand, neck and thigh.’
Kemmel Hill
Kemmel Hill was landmark of the Western Front in Flanders. With a height of some 150 feet its wartime galleries commanded an extensive view of the Flanders plain and were used as an observation post by countless gunners, staff officers, and sound-rangers. On the lower slopes of Kemmel Hill you will find the French Ossuary that commemorates the mass grave of 5,294 French troops killed in this area in April 1918. Only fifty seven are identified. From here climb the cobbled road to the top of Kemmel Hill and another French memorial to the men who died in the fighting here in April 1918. Kemmel Hill was one of the key objectives of Ludendorff’s Spring offensive in 1918. The 9th (Scottish) Division held the positions here when the Germans attacked on 17 April and again on 19 April and on both occasions the attacks were beaten off. The defence of Kemmel Hill was then handed over to the French, the 9th (Scottish) Division occupying positions in front of Locre, and on 25 April to 29 April in what was named by the French the ‘Battle of the Kemmelberg’ the Germans attacked again with four divisions and the Bavarian Alpine Corps, and this time they pushed the French off the hill and out of Kemmel. The German offensive halted here and the front line was in front of Locre until September 1918 and the allied offensive that drove the Germans out of Flanders. The US 27th and 30th Divisions were in the line in this area and you will find their memorial located on the Kemmel to Vierstraat Road not far from the La Laiterie Military Cemetery.
On the 7 June 1917, the British blew nineteen mines known as ‘Cratering the Ridge’ beneath the German strong points on Messines Ridge. Specially built platforms were built on Kemmel Hill for the press and VIP’s to observe the mine explosions. It was also
from here that Lieutenant Brian Frayling, 171 Tunnelling Company observed the explosions as an official observer for the Royal Engineer tunnelling companies. He had worked on the Spanbroekmolen mine and had hoped to have had the pleasure of detonating that mine. He was also concerned that the mines would not blow as they had been ready to blow for nearly twelve months and the ammonal may have been contaminated with dampness. He wrote of the explosion at Spanbroekmolen from his vantage point: ‘It was a sheet of flame that tongued in the end. It went up as high as St Paul’s - I estimated about 800 feet. It was a white incandescent light darting high in the air. We had calculated the enemy here would go up as gas at over 3,000 degrees Centigrade.’ He visited the site of the mine afterwards and recorded: ‘It left a deep crater and the largest piece of the enemy I could locate there in daylight was a foot in a boot.’ According to Grieve and Newman in their book ‘Tunnellers’ the Ontario Farm mine resembled a seething caldron. ‘For a long time after the blow the crater resembled a seething cauldron, the semi-liquid mud bubbling like some gigantic porridge pot on the boil.’ War correspondent Philip Gibbs reported: ‘The most diabolical splendour I have ever seen. Out of the dark ridges of Messines and Wytschaete and that ill-famed Hill 60, there gushed out and up enormous volumes of scarlet flame from the exploding mines and of earth and smoke all lighted by the flame spilling over into fountains of fierce colour, so that all the countryside was illuminated by red light. Where some of us stood watching, aghast and spellbound by this burning horror, the ground trembled and surged violently to and fro. Truly the earth quaked…’
Rugby Union
There are two Rugby players of international standing buried next to each other. Both played against each other in Scotland v England matches. They were also friends with Lieutenant Ronald Poulton Palmer, another Rugby international, buried in Hyde Park (Royal Berks) Cemetery. Lieutenant Percy Dale Kendal, 10th Battalion The King’s (Liverpool Regiment), 9th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Division. Killed in action 25 January 1915, age 36. Grave Special Memorial 14. Son of Francis Henry and Margaret Eulalie Kendall, of Liverpool. He was married to Kathrine Minnie Bingham Kendall (nee Higginson) and they lived with their two children Janet and Timothy at The Glebe House, Walmer, Kent. He was born in Prescot, Lancashire. Known as ‘Toggie’, Percy was educated at Elleray, New Brighton, and then at Tonbridge School, were he followed his older brother Francis, and
then went to Trinity College, Cambridge. He then joined his father’s firm of solicitors Banks, Kendall, and Taylor in Liverpool. His Rugby career saw him play as a scrum-half and one critic described him as being ‘slow’ however, another thought he was ‘an excellent scrum-half’. He played for and captained Birkenhead Park for six seasons and was treasurer for ten years and captained his county of Cheshire against the All Blacks in 1905. He was capped three times for England in 1901/02/03, and in 1903, he was captain in a match at Richmond versus Scotland. In that year England received the Wooden Spoon having lost all three of their games. His military service began in 1900 when he joined the 8th (Volunteer) Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment (Liverpool Scottish), renumbered under the 1908 Haldane Territorial Army reforms as 10th Battalion. Percy held the rank of Colour Sergeant when he retired from the Battalion however, on the 5 August, he joined his Battalion and was gazetted as a Second Lieutenant on 14 October and went to France with them on 1 November 1914. He was killed by a ricochet bullet on 25 January 1915, in the line opposite Maedelstedt Farm. He is ‘Believed to Be’ buried in Kemmel Churchyard Cemetery.
Second Lieutenant Frederick Harding Turner, 10th Battalion The King’s (Liverpool Regiment), 9th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Division. Killed in action 10 January 1915, age 27. Grave Special Memorial 13. Son of W.N. Turner, of Mossley Hill Drive, Sefton Park, Liverpool. He was educated at Greenbank, at Sedbergh School, Yorkshire and then went to Trinity College, Oxford. He obtained his Rugby Blue in 1908. On leaving Oxford he joined his father’s firm of solicitors Turner and Dunnett. He was unmarried. He was a forward who was described as one of the most notable Rugby football players of modern times. He played for Oxford versus Cambridge in 1909,1910 and in 1911 when he captained Oxford. He was Scottish International being capped fifteen times and was captain in 1913 and played for Scotland versus England and Ireland four times, and against Wales and France three times, and against South Africa in 1913. His military career began in May 1912 when he joined the Liverpool Scottish as a Second Lieutenant. He was promoted to
Lieutenant in October 1914 and went with the 1st Battalion to France on 1 November 1914. Field Marshal Lord Roberts, who had been paying a visit to the Indian Troops at the Front, returned to Sir John French’s headquarters at St Omer suffering from a chill and died of pneumonia on 14 November. His body was taken to the Hotel de Ville for a short service and then to the railway station for transport back to England. The Liverpool Scottish lined the Place Gambetta, in which the Hotel de Ville stood, and Lieutenant Turner and twenty men were detailed to take part in the procession. He was killed by a sniper on 10 January 1915, age 26, when inspecting the wire defences in the line opposite Maedelstedt Farm. He is ‘Believed to Be’ buried in Kemmel Churchyard Cemetery. Upon hearing of his death his friend Lieutenant Ronald Poulton Palmer, himself to be killed by a sniper in May 1915 when in the line at Ploegsteert, wrote: ‘The death of F H Turner has been a sad blow to his many friends, and to one unused to writing character sketches it is indeed hard to put down on paper the effect that his cheering presence had upon those with whom he was acquainted. Thousands of those who have watched his play in ‘Varsity, club, and International matches must have realized the strength he was to his side, quite apart from his own individual efforts, which were of a very high standard….’ His brother William was also killed in the war.
The two British Battalions, 2nd Battalion Royal Scots and the 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders, became involved in one of the last actions of 1914 of any importance on the northern front. It was to be a mainly French operation with the British 3rd Division and its 8th Brigade on the French right taking part. The plan was for the attack to spread south with the ultimate aim of capturing Messines Ridge. The 8th Brigade, with 9th Brigade in support and 7th Brigade in reserve, attacked with 1st Gordons on the right attacking Maedelstede Farm and 2nd Royal Scots on their left attacking Petit Bois. 3/5667 Private Donald McLeod, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Division. Died of wounds 14 December 1914, age Grave Special Memorial 11. He was one of two sons and two daughters of Norman and Mary McLeod, Portnalong, Portree, Skye. 3/6904 Sergeant George Gordon Watt, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Division. Killed in action 14 December 1914, age 35. Grave Special Memorial 9. Son of Peter G. and Jenny Watt. He was married to Margaret Watt, 22 Kensington Gardens Square, London and later moved to Higham, Attleborough, Norfolk. He went to France on 27 November 1914.
Border Regiment
Captain Miles Radcliffe, 2nd Battalion, attached 1st Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers, 9th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Division. Killed in action 12 December 1914, age 31. Grave Special Memorial 2. Son of Henry Miles and Eva Bertha Radcliffe. He was married to Dorothy Kathleen Radcliffe and they had a son Miles Claude who was eleven months when his father was killed, of 'The Laurels' Hull Road, York. He was educated at Cheam School, then Harrow and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst gazetted as a Second Lieutenant in January 1904. He was promoted to Lieutenant in August 1906 and then to Captain in November 1914. He served for three years in South Africa, after the Boer War, with the Mounted Infantry. On 12 December 1914, he was attached to the Royal Scots Fusiliers as Machine Gun Officer, the Battalion had relieved the Honourable Artillery Company in the line at Petit Bois when he was shot by a sniper.
The World’s First Boy Scout
Second Lieutenant Musgrave Cazenove Wroughton, Mentioned in Despatches, 12th (Prince of Wales’s Royal) Lancers, 5th Cavalry Brigade, 2nd Cavalry Division. Killed in action 30 October 1914, age 23. Grave A.3. Son of William Musgrave and Edith Constance Wroughton, 77 Chester Square, London, and Creaton Lodge, Northamptonshire. His mother was the daughter of Henry Cazenove, of the banking family and at the time High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire, who lived at Lilies in Weedon. Musgrave was known to his friends and colleagues as ‘Bob’ was educated at Harrow and Christ Church College, Oxford. He widely considered to be the world’s first Boy Scout. At the age of 15, Wroughton was selected by Scouts founder Robert Baden-Powell for an experimental camp held at Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, Dorset, in August 1907. Baden-Powell immediately noticed and admired Wroughton's honour and talent for leadership, and came to view Wroughton like a son. In 1910 he was commissioned in the Northamptonshire Yeomanry, and at the age of 20, in 1912, he accompanied Baden-Powell as his ADC on a world tour in connection with the Boy Scouts’ movement. On 1 October 1913, he was given a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the 12th (Prince of Wales’s Royal) Lancers, as a Special Reserve and he went to France with them in August 1914. He was mentioned in Field Marshal Sir John French Despatch of 14 January 1915 for gallant and distinguished service in the field. On October 30th, 1914, the 12th Lancers were forced to retire from the trench lines and to fall back on a new defensive position at In de Sterkte Cabaret, this is close to Oosttaverne Wood CWGC Cemetery, and known as Kilo 7 on the trench maps, Wroughton was killed, along with another officer and eight men, during the withdrawal.
Indian Army
Major George Geoffrey Prendergast Humphreys, Mentioned in Despatches, 127th Queen Mary’s Own Baluch Light Infantry, attached 129th Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis, 7th (Ferozepore) Infantry Brigade, 3rd Indian (Lahore) Division. Killed in action 30 October 1914, age 41. Grave A.2. Son of T. W. D. Humphreys, J.P., and Isabella Humphreys, of Strabane, Co. Tyrone. He was married to Olive Muriel Humphreys, of The Wilderness, Sherborne, Dorset. They had two sons and a daughter. On the 30 October the Baluchis relieved the 4th Hussars in the front line at Hollebeke. George was in command of No.2 Company and they had relieved the outpost line. At 6am the Germans attacked and the Baluchis retreated out of Hollebeke under heavy shell fire and disappeared into the woods, all their officers having been killed or wounded. George was wounded early in the morning and subsequently died of his wounds.
Location
Kemmel Churchyard is located 8 km south west of Ieper town centre on a road leading from the Kemmelseweg (N331), connecting Ieper to Kemmel. From Ieper town centre the Kemmelseweg is reached via the Rijselsestraat, through the Lille Gate (Rijselpoort) and straight on towards Armentieres (N336). 900 metres after the crossroads is the right hand turning onto the Kemmelseweg. (Made prominent by a railway level crossing).
On reaching the village of Kemmel the first right hand turning leads onto the Reningelststraat. 600 metres along the Reningelststraat is Sint-Laurentiusplein where the church and churchyard of Kemmel are situated.
Burials
The churchyard contains 25 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. Three of the burials are unidentified and the graves of fifteen casualties destroyed by shell fire are represented by special memorials.
UK – 21
Unnamed - 3
Comments