Pack Horse Shrine Cemetery
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Pack Horse Farm Shrine Cemetery, CWGC, Wulverghem, Ypres. Packhorse Farm was the name given to a farm on the east side of the most direct road from Lindenhoek to Wulverghem, and a little south of it was a wayside shrine, later rebuilt nearer to the farm. The cemetery was one of two made by the 46th (North Midland) Division who occupied this sector in the early summer of 1915. One was at the farm and was removed to Lindenhoek Chalet Military Cemetery, and this one. Pack Horse Farm Shrine Cemetery, CWGC, was used only from April to June 1915. Fifty-six of the graves here are of men from the 46th (North Midland) Division, of which, twenty-seven are from 1st/5th Lincolns and twenty-seven are from 1st/4th Leicesters.
Wulverghem (now Wulvergem)
There was a dressing station in the estimanet on the corner of the junction of the Neuve Eglise to Lindenhoek Road, the estimanet is still there today, rebuilt on the same spot, on the corner. Captain Henry Owens, a medical officer with the 3rd Cavalry Field Ambulance, 1st Cavalry Division records in his diary for 23 October 1914: ‘Hacked over with Irwin and Ward to the dressing station at Wulverghem…. Only 5 or 6 slight cases. Slept at Wulverghem.’ He was still there on 25 October when his unit got orders to move south with the 2nd Cavalry Brigade however, he was back in Wulverghem on 31 October writing in his diary ‘..About 12 went out to the Advanced Dressing Station at Wulverghem. Sent on a good many Indian troops.’ On 1 November he was sitting with his Field Ambulance on the Wulverghem to Neuve Eglise road and noted in his diary ‘..Began shelling Wulverghem just as they were coming through (this was some of his unit that had gone up to Messines to collect some wounded) Our men holding a line about half a mile beyond Wulverghem (towards Messines).’ He was back in the area in October 1917 and recorded in his diary: ‘One day I walked down to Wulverghem with Fry, the village where we had a dressing station on 1st November 1914 in a little estimanet. The pave road was still there, more or less intact, but every trace of the village and the houses had vanished. A few little bits of the walls of the church were still there and a few tombstones. I noticed a cross put up to Captain Macarthur-Onslow (16th Lancers), killed on 5th November 1914.’ This was Captain Arthur William Macarthur-Onslow, 16th (The Queen’s Lancers), killed in action on 5 November 1914, age 37. He is buried in Wulverghem-Lindenhoek Road Military Cemetery Grave III.C.4. Wulverghem was the scene of a German gas attack on the night of 29-30 April 1916 which was repulsed by the 3rd and 24th Divisions. The village was captured by the Germans on 14 April 1918 and reoccupied by the 30th Division on the following 2 September.
1st/4th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment, 138th Infantry Brigade, 46th (North Midland) Division
Captain Henry Haylock, 1st/4th Battalion, Killed in action 11 May 1915, age 41. Grave E.12. He was the third son of John William Haylock, of Thomleigh, Regent Road, Leicester. He was married to Florence Haylock and they lived at Gaywood, Stoneygate Road, Leicester with their son and daughter. Henry was a Director of a Limited Company of Shore Factors. He served with the Leicester Yeomanry from 1898 to 1909 and then transferred to the Territorial Battalion and was promoted to Captain in May 1913. On the night of 10/11 May 1915 the Germans attacked trench E.1.L with bombs (grenades) and the Battalion commanding officer who was attending a funeral of an officer at One Tree Farm, was informed that the trench had been taken by the Germans. Captain Arthur Cooper, commanding ‘B’ Company was then ordered to make a counter attack with ‘A’ Company in reserve. On hearing that E.1.L had been retaken the Battalion CO called off the attack. What had transpired was that the Germans had thrown seven bombs, of which two exploded in the trench, and Captain Haylock ordered his men to open fire, but after the second explosion he was badly wounded. The NCO’s were killed and the men lacking leadership bolted. Three men who were carrying sandbags along the communication trench were swept back into trench E.3 by the men bolting from E.1.L. Captain Haylock was found in trench E.1.L badly wounded along with a dead German. The War Diary records that his funeral was held at One Tree Farm later on the 11 May. The War Diary of the 1/2nd North Midland Field Ambulance records the attack on the trench and that this had been exaggerated and: ‘Reports exaggerated. One trench had been grenaded, and Capt Haylock, and I Sergeant 4th Leicesters Killed.’
Captain Arthur Charles Cooper, ‘B’ Company, 1st/4th Battalion, Killed in action 16 May 1915, age 39. Grave F.4. One of two sons and two daughters of Edgar Franklin Cooper and Mary Jane Cooper, Anstey Grange, Leicester. He was unmarried, employed as a Bank Cashier, and living with his parents. He was gazetted as Captain on 25 September 1908 when the Battalion changed from the Volunteer Militia to the Territorial Army. He was the chairman of the Leicester Domestic Mission and a keen cricketer he was the former captain of the Leicester Banks Cricket Club. The Battalion was in the line at Kruisstraat and at 12.15am on 16 May, Arthur and 2nd Lieutenant R.C. Harvey were supervising a wiring party in front of trench F.2. Arthur was badly wounded, the War Diary suggesting it was a ricochet off a tree, and the bullet struck his left hand and through his left thigh ‘and up inside’. He was brought back over the parapet and taken to the Battalion Dressing Station with the War Diary describing his condition as: ‘..carefully tended, but heart weak.’ He died at 6.30am.
Second Lieutenant Frederick Maxwell Waite, 1st/4th Battalion. Died of Wounds 7 June 1915, age 20. Grave F.6. He was the younger son of Frederick Warwick Waite, of The Spinneys, Manor Road, Leicester. He was training as a Chartered Accountant with Hopps and Bankart, Leicester. He had been a member of the Officer Training Corps at his old school and on the outbreak war was gazetted as a Second Lieutenant in the Battalion and went to France in March 1915. On the evening of the 6 June he was wounded when standing at the south end of trench E.1.L. The War Diary recording: ‘thro’ head (over eye) facing NW.’ he was to die on the 7 June on the way to the Dressing Station at Lindenhoek.
1st/5th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment, 138th Infantry Brigade, 46th (North Midland) Division The 1st/5th Battalion took over trenches for the first time on 9 April 1915 when they relieved the 4th Battalion Leicesters in the line at Kruisstraat and had their Battalion HQ at One Tree Farm. They gave a description of the trenches they took over in particular trench E.1.L: ‘the worst trench of them all. Dead bodies are even half exposed in the parados.’ They spent many weeks cleaning up the trenches and getting them into the condition they wanted. On the 20 May 1915 the Germans blew a mine beneath the 1st/5th Lincolnshire trench E.1.L. the War Diary recording that: ‘E.1.L. was blown up by a mine at 3pm. Weeks of hard work wrecked in a second. Casualties among garrison & rescue party amounted to 11 K, 22 W, 4 missing (believed killed).’ Two brothers were killed Private Ernest Arthur Proctor and Private James Emerson Proctor. When cleaning up the trenches on 22 May the War Diary recorded: ‘Rebuilding parapet in E.1.L. Parts of two bodies were recovered, one being identified as belonging to Pte. Robinson.’ 3216 Private Ernest Arthur Proctor, 1st/5th Battalion, Killed in action 20 May 1915, age 22. Grave A.3. Son of John Wattam Proctor and Lillie Proctor, 96 High Street, Scunthorpe, Lincs. He was a member of the Boy Scout and was a Scoutmaster prior to enlistment. 3106 Private James Emerson Proctor, 1st/5th Battalion, Killed in action 20 May 1915, age 21. Grave C.1. Son of John Wattam Proctor and Lillie Proctor, 96 High Street, Scunthorpe, Lincs. He was employed as a Plumbers apprentice when he enlisted. Both brothers landed in France with the Battalion on 1 March 1915. 3221 Private George Robinson, 1st/5th Battalion, Killed in action 20 May 1915. Grave A.10. He went to France with the Battalion on 1 March 1915.
Royal Engineers
1759 Sapper Charles Knapper, 1st/2nd North Midland Field Company, Royal Engineers, later designated the 466th (North Midland) Field Company, 46th (North Midland) Division. Killed in action 22 May 1915. Grave A.11. He was one of three sons and a daughter of Henry and Emma Knapper, 2 Church Lane, Hanford, Stoke-On-Trent. Charles was married to Eliza and they had a daughter, Ada who was three years of age when Charles was killed. He was employed as a Bricklayer when he enlisted. On the night of 21/22 May one section was working on Switch trench and one section was supplying day and night shifts to work on Trench 15. Two sections were working on Switch trench and Hussar Lane with the War Diary recording ‘1 Sapper killed.’
RAMC
2398 Private Charles Frederick Green attached 1/2nd North Midland Field Ambulance, 46th (North Midland) Division. Killed in action 14 May 1915. Grave B.8. Son of Charles Green, 25 Loughborough Road, Leicester. The Field Company was providing medical support to the front line around Kruisstraat and had their hospital in Dranoutre. On the 14 May the War Diary records that: ‘Pte Green, ‘C’ Section, 2nd N.M.F.A. RAMC, shot in neck 7.30am and killed. Buried tonight at ONE TREE FARM.’
Durham Light Infantry
10th Durham Light Infantry, 43rd Infantry Brigade, 14th Division
The Battalion arrived in France on 24 May 1915. There are two men from this Battalion buried here. The Battalion was in the line at Kruisstraat. 19458 Private John Blenkinsopp, Killed in action 17 June 1915, age 30. Grave F.8. He was married to Ellen and they lived at 7 Trinity Place, Sunderland with their four children. He was employed as a Labourer when he enlisted on 21 August 1914. His death is not recorded in the War Diary however, his records show that he died from ‘GSW Head, France (1915)’ and was not one of the three killed on 19/20 June. He was among those who subsequently died of their wounds, there were four men listed in this category for 20 June, the three killed in action are buried at Lindenhoek Chalet Military Cemetery. 4/8712 Private George Lumsden, ‘D’ Company, Killed in action 20 June 1915, age 20. Grave E.11. Son of Thomas and Isabella Lumsden, 53 Albion Row, Byker, Newcastle-on-Tyne. His death is not recorded in the War Diary as one of the three killed on 19/20 June. He was among those who subsequently died of their wounds, there were four men listed in this category for 20 June, the three killed in action are buried at Lindenhoek Chalet Military Cemetery.
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 under age 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 see Richard Van Emden’s excellent book Boy Soldiers of the Great War. There is one Boy Soldier buried in Pack Horse Farm Shrine Cemetery, CWGC.
1692 Private A J Tayleure, ‘D’ Company, 1st/5th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment, Killed in action 20 May 1915, age 17. Grave C.3. Son of William and Emily Tayleure, 127 Mary Street, Scunthorpe, Lincs. The War Diary records on 26 May: ‘Returned to trenches at 10.30pm. fine day. Six men accidentally wounded by explosion of shell fuse in bivouacs. Body of Pte Tayleure removed from E.1.L.’ As we know the Germans blew a mine beneath E.1.L on 20 May and seems that his body was recovered and removed.
Location
Packhorse Farm Shrine Cemetery is located 9.5 Km south west of Ieper town centre, on a road leading from the Kemmelseweg N 331, which connects Ieper to Kemmel and on to Nieuwkerke. 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).2 Km after passing the village of Kemmel lies the left hand turning onto the Hooghofstraat. (Towards Wulvergem). 500 m along Hooghofstraat lies the left hand turning onto Lindestraat. The cemetery itself lies 250 m along the Lindestraat on the right hand side of the road.
The cemetery was designed by W H Cowlishaw
Burials
Packhorse Farm Shrine Cemetery contains 59 First World War burials.
UK – 59
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