Sanctuary Wood Cemetery
Updated: 4 days ago
Sanctuary Wood Cemetery. Sanctuary Wood is one of the larger woods in the commune of Zillebeke. It was named in November 1914, when it was used to screen troops behind the front line. It was the scene of fighting in September 1915 and was the centre of the Battle of Mount Sorrel (2-13 June 1916) involving the 1st and 3rd Canadian Divisions. There were three Commonwealth cemeteries at Sanctuary Wood before June 1916, all made in May-August 1915. The first two were on the western end of the wood, the third in a clearing further east. All were practically obliterated in the Battle of Mount Sorrel, but traces of the second were found and it became the nucleus of the present Sanctuary Wood Cemetery. At the Armistice, the cemetery contained 137 graves. The scattered graves between the War Stone and the Great Cross are the original burials made during the war. Those along the wall are those of soldiers who were known to be buried here, but whose graves were lost in the shelling. Some 60% of the graves are unnamed and many are identified as buried in the cemetery but location unknown. By 1915 Sanctuary Wood was part of the front line and the high ground around it from Hill 62 to Hooge and the Bellewaarde Ridge commanded the battlefield and there was a great deal of fighting for the possession and re-possession of the area. In his Battalion history, R C Featherstonhaugh, an officer of the 13th Battalion Canadian Infantry (Royal Highlanders of Canada) described the wood and the scene in 1916: ‘Sanctuary Wood was by this time a wood in name only. Such trees as stood were riven and leafless, while their fallen branches added to the maze of wire and trenches beneath. The air was heavy with the sickening odour of decay, so that the whole battered district, even by day, was a place of grisly horror and evil omen. At night weird shadows and strange sounds – the hoot of an owl, or the cough of a hidden sentry – intensified this aspect a hundred fold…. Yet more than one officer whose gallantry in action is unquestioned has admitted that when alone at night in Sanctuary Wood his heart would beat uncomfortably fast and that human companionship was more than ordinarily welcome’.
‘I have a wife in Falkirk. What would happen if I came over to you to-night’
In ‘Temporary Heroes’, a book by Richard Van Emden, written from the letters of Lieutenant Norman Cecil Down, 1/4th Gordon Highlanders. In a letter to his fiancée in September 1915, Lieutenant Downs records an incident while in the trenches at Sanctuary Wood ‘..don’t get worried over the address, as the Appendix is only the name of a trench. Into it this morning fell a round body of about the same size and shape as a bomb. We all scooted round the corner for a few seconds, and then as there was no explosion we went back. We picked it up and found inside a message. ‘Dear Jocks, I have a wife in Falkirk. What would happen if I came over to you to-night?’ There would be another widow in Falkirk was the reply.’ The trenches here had names such as ‘Lover’s Walk’, ‘Artillery Place’, ‘Warrington Avenue’, ‘Border Lane’ and ‘Gourock Road’. Major R T Rees, 8th Battalion Loyal North Lancashire Regiment described Lover’s Walk trench as a ‘filthy ditch’ At the nearby museum there is a section of preserved trenches, part of the Vince Street – Jam Row system. Sanctuary Wood was lost to the Germans during their Spring Offensive in 1918 but was retaken by the 9th (Scottish) Division on 28th September 1918.
The only German Airman Buried Here
Hauptmann Hans Roser, - Observer. Feldflieger Abteilung 3. KIA 25.7.15. He was flying in an Albatros C-type. He was a victim of Captain Lanoe Hawker of 6 Squadron RFC, who, because of his actions that day, became the first man to receive a V.C. for air combat. Read more about the action here
Canadian Memorial at Tot Top
This memorial is somewhat misleadingly entitled ‘Mont Sorrel’ and that the high spot was named on the map in 1914. It was not. Mountsorrel is a village in Leicestershire where the Commanding Officer of the 1/4th Leicestershire Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel R E Martin, had his family home. Indeed, this hill is not Mount Sorrel, that is located to the south-east, and is in fact Tor Top. The action at Hill 62 in June 1916 was known to the Canadians as the Battle of Mount Sorrel and became one of the Canadian Expeditionary Force’s battle honours.
Death of a Major-General
On the June 1916, the hill and Observatory Ridge were one of the few remaining high positions left in British hands and the Germans were determined to take it. They launched their attack at 6am on 2 June 1916 along the line running from Hooge, through Hill 62, Mount Sorrel to Observatory Ridge. Hill 62 was held by the 3rd (Canadian) Division and their positions came under intense artillery fire. On the morning of the attack Major-General Mercer and the commander of his right, 8th Brigade, Brigadier-General Williams were inspecting the line at Mount Sorrel. Except for a last minute change of plan they would also have been joined by the Corps Commander, General Byng. The 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles were in position at Mount Sorrel in front of Armagh Wood and facing the German lines at Shrewsbury Forest. The main shelter was in ‘The Tunnel’, a gallery dug-out on the reverse slope of the Mount Sorrel that included an aid post and Battalion HQ. In the attack Both Mercer and Williams ear drums were shattered by the shelling and both had taken refuge in the aid post. Mercer refused to stay there and he tried to get back to his HQ however, he was wounded again, a bullet wound that broke his leg and while he was lying in the trench he was killed by shrapnel. His body was later recovered and he is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery Williams was taken prisoner. The 4th Canadian Rifles suffered ninety per cent casualties.
Talbot House connection
Second Lieutenant Thomas Keith Hedley Rae, 8th (Service) Battalion, The Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort’s Own). Killed in Action on 30 July 1917, age 25. Menin Gate Memorial. Also a Stone cross on the grass verge outside Sanctuary Wood Cemetery. Born on 24 May 1889 in Birkenhead, Thomas Keith Hedley Rae was the youngest son of Edward Rae, a stockbroker, and his wife Margaret of Courthill, Devonshire Place, Birkenhead. He was educated privately because of ill health but went up to Balliol College, Oxford, in 1907 and took second class honours in History in 1912. Rae founded a boys' club in Oxford which continued to flourish long after his death and took great interest in the well-being of the young. After coming down he gained his teaching diploma and taught as an Assistant Master at Marlborough College until he volunteered to fight.. Together with many Balliol men he was commissioned into the 8th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade in 14th (Light) Division and went to France in May 1915. Their first major engagement was at Hooge in late July. Rae commanded a platoon in 'C' Company holding the line at Hooge Crater. Following a violent barrage early in the morning 'there was a sudden hissing sound and a bright crimson glare over the crater turned the whole scene red' wrote 2/Lt G V Carey later, 'As I looked I saw three or four distinct jets of flame - like a line of power hoses spreading fire not water - shoot across my fire trench...' This was the first use of 'liquid fire', or flame-throwers, and it wrought carnage among 'C' Company. 2nd Lt Rae was last seen burnt
and bleeding, standing on his parapet firing at the attackers. He has no known grave. After the War Rae's family came to an arrangement with Baron de Vinck, owner of the land at Hooge, and erected a Celtic Cross on the spot where he was last seen. Of Belgian blue stone it has a rectangular base in two stepped courses surmounted by a plinth block and cross, and it is, in fact, a replica of the memorial at Marlborough to the Assistant Masters who fell in the War. On the bottom of the cross is inscribed: 'BE THY FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH I WILL GIVE THEE A CROWN OF LIFE' and on the plinth TN MEMORY OF KEITH RAE 2/LT 8/RIFLE BRIGADE DEAREST LOVED YOUNGER SON OF EDWARD AND MARGARET RAE WHO DIED ON THIS SPOT 30th JULY 1915 IN HIS 25th YEAR FIGHTING IN THE GREAT WAR FOR HUMANITY'. Facing upwards on the upper base are the words: 'CHRIST'S FAITHFUL SOLDIER AND SERVANT UNTO HIS LIFE'S END' and on its front: 'IN MEMORY ALSO OF HIS BROTHER OFFICERS AND MEN WHO FELL ON THE SAME MORNING AND AFTERNOON'. it was the Rev 'Tubby' Clayton MC, who dedicated Rae's memorial on 15 May 1921. It was originally just north of the Menin Road to the right of the lane to Bellewaarde Farm and is still marked on IGN maps. Originally, there was a carefully tended garden some 16 yards long by 7 yards wide and Rae's parents visited it regularly. After the Second World War the garden fell into disrepair and by the 1960s Tubby Clayton and Baron de Vinck were concerned for the Memorials future. CWGC suggested three possible new sites. By the Menin Road, by Hooge Crater Cemetery, or by Sanctuary Wood Cemetery. Planned road widening ruled out the first two but the wide grass verge at Sanctuary Wood offered room 'for Toc H to gather for a hymn and a prayer' Family members were traced; they approved and made financial provision and the memorial passed into the care of CWGC. It was moved to its new site in June 1966.
Lieutenant Gilbert Walter Lytleton Talbot, 7th Battalion Rifle Brigade, 41st Brigade, 14th (Light) Division. Killed in action 30 July 1915, age 23. Grave I.G.1. Son of the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Winchester and the Hon. Mrs. E. S. Talbot, of Farnham Castle, Surrey. The first list of the graves in the cemetery was made by his brother the Reverend N.S. Talbot, MC, later Bishop of Pretoria. Lieutenant Gilbert Talbot, was with his platoon on the edge of Zouave Wood, there were just sixteen men unwounded available. He led them into the attack blowing his whistle and shouting ‘Come on, my lads – this is our day!’ He was killed on the wire just yards from Woodroffe, being shot through the neck. His servant, Rifleman Nash, attempted to save him but was himself wounded in the arm and a bullet pierced the third finger of his right hand, it was later amputated. Talbot’s elder brother Neville, Senior Chaplain, 6th Division, attached to 3rd Battalion Rifle Brigade, was instrumental in finding the bodies of his brother and Woodroffe. He recorded later: ‘…Anyhow the first time I tried, just about dusk, I got into No Man’s Land, first found the body of young Woodroffe VC, and then found Gilbert’s body. It was very hot weather, and of course the bodies were much affected by it. It was rather horrid. I took his cap badge, and some things out of his pocket. There was nothing more that could be done that night, so I got back into a trench.’
Rugby - Scotland International
2061 Private James Pearson, ‘B’ Company, 9th Battalion Royal Scots, 81st Infantry Brigade, 27th Division. Killed in action 22 May 1915, age 26. Grave V.E.27. His international rugby marches were against Ireland and England in 1909, France, Wales, Ireland, and England in 1910, France in 1911, France, Wales, and South Africa in 1912, Ireland and England in 1913. Read his full biography here
FALKIRK AND DISTRICT MEN BURIED HERE
Falkirk
S/5363 Corporal Alexander Hastings
10th Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders
19.12.15
II.G.35
326150 Sergeant Robert McDiarmid
70th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery
29.4.18
II. K. 6
Bonnybridge
2273 Sergeant David Hulme
10th Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders
Age 36
14.11.15
II.H.7
Husband of Lilian May Hulme, Temperance Hall. Son of Arthur & Bridget Hulme, Port Glasgow
Links to the area
436754 Private John McGunigal
‘C' Coy 49th Battalion Canadian Infantry
Age 34
1.5.16
Special Memorial
Son of James & Jane McGunigal, 28 Main Street, Bainsford
Cemeteries concentrated here
From 1927 to 1932, Plots II-V were added and the cemetery extended as far as 'Maple Avenue', when graves were brought in from the surrounding battlefields. They came mainly from the communes immediately surrounding Ypres, but a few were taken from Nieuport (on the coast) and the following smaller cemeteries:- BEYTHEM COMMUNAL CEMETERY, RUMBEKE (one United Kingdom burial of October 1918). DEERLYCK GERMAN CEMETERY (two United Kingdom burials of October 1918; two others were taken to Dadizeele New British Cemetery). DONEGAL FARM GERMAN CEMETERY, DRANOUTRE, on the more Southerly road from Dranoutre to Lindenhoek (one unidentified British officer). EISKELLAR GERMAN CEMETERY, GHELUVELT, the cemetery of the 106th Infantry Regiment, between Veldhoek and Herenthage Chateau (one unidentified; one other burial was taken to Harlebeke New British Cemetery). FLANDERS FIELD AMERICAN CEMETERY, WAEREGHEM, one of the American Military Cemeteries (one R.A.F. Officer). HOLLEBEKE CEMETERY No.60 (or THREE HOUSES GERMAN CEMETERY) (one unidentified; others were taken to Oosttaverne Wood Cemetery, Wytschaete). INGELMUNSTER GERMAN CEMETERY (two R.F.C. three other British were taken to Harlebeke New British Cemetery). KASTELHOEK GERMAN CEMETERY (No.61), HOLLEBEKE, on the road from Houthem to Zillebeke (five United Kingdom soldiers who died January-February 1917; others were taken to Harlebeke New British Cemetery). KLEIN-ZILLEBEKE GERMAN CEMETERY, ZILLEBEKE, between Klein-Zillebeke and Zwarteleen (three unidentified). KORTEKEER GERMAN CEMETERY No.12A, LANGEMARCK, on the road running North from Kortekeer, which is between Langemarck and Bixschoote (three United Kingdom graves of 1914). KRUISEECKE GERMAN CEMETERY, COMINES, on the road from Becelaere to Wervicq (two unidentified; other British were taken to Zantvoorde British Cemetery). L'ALOUETTE GERMAN CEMETERY, NEUVE-EGLISE, 2,000 meters due East of Neuve-Eglise village (three unidentified). LANGEMARCK GERMAN CEMETERY N0.9, on the Pilckem road (five United Kingdom soldiers). LANGEMARCK NORTH GERMAN CEMETERY, on the road to Koekuit and Clercken (one unidentified). MENIN COMMUNAL CEMETERY (one United Kingdom grave of 1914). MESSINES GERMAN CEMETERY No.2, at the North-East corner of the village (seven United Kingdom graves of 1915). MESSINES GERMAN CEMETERY No.3, a little East of the Church (one United Kingdom grave and one Canadian). MOTOR CAR CORNER CEMETERY GERMAN EXTENSION, PLOEGSTEERT (seven unidentified who fell in 1918). PETIT-PONT GERMAN CEMETERY, PLOEGSTEERT, between Petit-Pont and Hill 63 (two unidentified M.G.C. Officers). RABSCHLOSS GERMAN CEMETERY No.64, MESSINES, 1500 metres West of Hollebeke village (one unidentified). REUTEL GERMAN CEMETERY, BECELAERE (ten unidentified; other British were taken to Perth Cemetery (China Wall), Zillebeke). SLYPSKAPPELLE CHURCHYARD, MOORSLEDE (two United Kingdom soldiers and one Newfoundland; one other is still buried there). TERDEGHEM CHURCHYARD (Nord, France) (four R.G.A. and one Canadian). THOUROUT GERMAN CEMETERY No.2, due East of Hooge, on the road running North from Thourout (two R.A.F., September 1918). Most of these burials were from the 1914 Battles of Ypres and the Allied offensive of the autumn of 1917.
The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. There are four Falkirk and District men buried or known to be buried here.
Cemetery Location
Sanctuary Wood Cemetery is located 5 Kms east of Ieper town centre, on the Canadalaan, a road leading from the Meenseweg (N8), connecting Ieper to Menen. From Ieper town centre the Meenseweg is located via Torhoutstraat and right onto Basculestraat. Basculestraat ends at a main cross roads, directly over which begins the Meenseweg. 3 Kms along the Meenseweg lies the right hand turning onto Canadalaan. The cemetery itself is located 1.5 Kms along Canadalaan on the right hand side of the road. 100 metres beyond the cemetery at the end of the Canadalaan is the Hill 62 Memorial.
Burials
There are now 1,989 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in the cemetery. 1,353 of the burials are unidentified. Many graves, in all five plots, are identified in groups but not individually.
UK – 1734 (125 unnamed)
Australian – 88 (54 unnamed)
New Zealand – 18 (13 unnamed)
Canadian – 142 – (69 unnamed)
New Foundland – 3 (2 unnamed)
South African – 3
German – 1
There are Special Memorials to eighty-eight men whose graves were destroyed by shell-fire.
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