There are many British Military Cemeteries in the Salient where you can seek out the time for quiet contemplation of the sacrifice made. Despite the cemetery’s close proximity to the Menin Gate, it lies in the fork in the road between the Menin Road and the road leading to Zonnebeke, visitors are few and far between. Ypres Town Cemetery was used by the British from October 1914 to May 1915, and once in 1918. This is a large cemetery that is still in use and the British burials are in many locations throughout. There is also a large number of I.W.G.C. burials and also a Belgian Military Cemetery. The British dead are in the south corner with one group against the retaining wall that faces onto the Menin Road with the largest group to the right of the path if you enter via the Menin Road.
Son of MP Buried Here
Captain The Hon. Arthur Annesley Eldest son of The Honourable Arthur Annesley, 11th Viscount Valentia, and Laura, Viscountess Valentia of Bletchington Park, Oxford. They had two sons and six daughters. His father was the Conservative MP for Oxford City from 1895 to 1917.
Grandson of Queen Victoria
Lieutenant H.H. Prince Maurice Victor Donald of Battenberg K.C.V.O.,
1st Battalion King’s Royal Rifle Corps, 6th Brigade, 2nd Division. Died 27 October 1914, age 23. Grave I.B. Youngest son of Prince Henry and Princess Beatrice of Battenberg and grandson of Queen Victoria.
The 1st Battalion KRRC were deployed on the Keiberg Spur, Broodsiende Ridge near the village of Zonnebeke. As they advanced their progress took them down into a shallow valley and across a minor stream and up the slope toward the hamlet of Keiberg. As they advanced across the road at the top of the ridge the Germans opened fire and Prince Maurice was hit by shrapnel from a bursting shell early in the advance. Despite the attempts of his platoon sergeant to save him and to get him back to the Advance Dressing Station at Zonnebeke he died of his wounds. His body was taken back to Ypres for burial in the military cemetery that had been started in the Town Cemetery. He was laid to rest on 31 October 1914, between the two cemeteries, and his grave was marked with a temporary marker and cross which remained in place until 1921 being replaced by the permanent headstone we see today. The grave also remained in its isolated position between the two cemeteries.
At the time of his death a close cousin and friend, Prince Albert of Schleswig-Holstein, was serving with the German army on another front. He survived the War. A direct cousin of Prince Maurice was the late Lord Louis Mountbatten, whose father, Albert Battenberg, was the uncle of Prince Maurice, who felt it necessary to change the family name to Mountbatten in 1914. The sister of Prince Maurice, Victoria Eugenie (Ena), consort of and later widow of King Alphonso XIII of Spain, regularly visited her brothers grave until her death in 1969. She had approached the Prince of Wales in his capacity as the President of the IWGC seeking permission to erect a memorial over her brother’s grave. King George V refused permission on the grounds that the decision had been taken to mark all British and Commonwealth dead with the same simple headstone and no exception should be made. King George V was the first member of the Royal Family to visit the grave after the Armistice. Queen Elizabeth II paid a visit to the grave in 1950s.
Major John Chrystie, Mentioned in Despatches, 3rd Battery, 1st Siege Brigade, Royal Garrison Artillery, 3rd Division. Killed in action 17 November 1914, age 42. Grave E1.20. The second son of Colonel. G. Chrystie (Indian Army) and Helen Anne Thomasine. Husband of Mignonne Pridham (formerly Chrystie) and had a daughter, Leslie, born on 6 June 1914. His twin brother Major George Chrystie was killed on a raid on the Northwest Frontier of India in 1913 while serving with the 25th Cavalry Force, India Army. John Chrystie was educated at Surrey County School and Portsmouth Grammar School and the Royal Military Academy from where he joined the Royal Artillery at Woolwich in 189, with the rank of Lieutenant in 1894, Captain 1899, and Major in 1911. He saw service in India and the west coast of Africa. He received the Delhi Durbar medal, being on the staff of the Durbar, in 1903, and was Adjutant from 1905 to 1907 of the Volunteers. He was killed in action on the evening of 17 November when a shell exploded close by killing him instantaneously.
Major Lord Charles George Francis Mercer-Nairne, 1st (Royal) Dragoons, attached to the staff of the 6th Cavalry Brigade, 3rd Cavalry Division. Killed in action 30 October 1914, age 40. Grave E1.10. Second son of Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne and of Maud Evelyn, Marchioness of Lansdowne, Bowood, Calne, Wiltshire. Husband of Lady Violet Mary Astor (formerly Mercer-Nairne), she remarried in 1916, and they had a daughter and a son. Previously Fitzmaurice, he took his name of Mercer-Nairne in January 1914 from his maternal grandmother Emily Jane Mercer, Baroness Nairne. His medals and honours include the South African Medal (5 Clasps), Legion of Honour (France), Order of Military Merit (Spain), Order of the Crown (Prussia), Order of the Iron Crown Class II (Austria). Equerry-in-Ordinary to King George V when Prince of Wales, 1909-10 and Equerry to His Majesty, 1910-1914. Sometime A.D.C. to Field Marshal Earl Roberts. He joined the 1st Dragoons from the Militia in May 1895 becoming a Lieutenant in February 1898, he acted as ADC to the General Officer commanding in Ireland from May to October 1899. He was promoted to Captain in 1901 and saw service in the South African war. He was killed in the fighting at Hollebeke Chateau. He was initially buried on the battlefield and his body was brought to Ypres Town Cemetery.
Major William George Sidney Cadogan MVO, Mentioned in Despatches, 10th (Prince of Wales’s Own Royal) Hussars, 6th Cavalry Brigade, 3rd Cavalry Division. Killed in action 12 November 1914, age 35. Grave E1.17. He was the fifth of seven sons born to the 5th Earl Cadogan and his wife, Lady Beatrix Jane Craven, a daughter of the 2nd Earl of Craven. The third son, Gerald Cadogan, succeeding to the earldom upon his father's death. Two other sons, Henry and Edward, were Conservative MPs, while another, Alexander, was a senior diplomat. William Cadogan was educated at Eton, where he played cricket for the school's First XI. From November 1896, he was a Second Lieutenant in the 4th (Eton College) Volunteer Battalion of The Oxfordshire Light Infantry. He went on to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and on 22 February 1899 joined the 10th Royal Hussars. Cadogan saw action in the Second Boer War, he was promoted to Lieutenant on 1 June 1900, while in South Africa. Following the end of the war in 1902 his regiment went to India. He was promoted to Captain in March 1904. In March 1906, Cadogan was made Honorary Aide-de-Camp to George, Prince of Wales (later George V), with a corresponding appointment to the Royal Victorian Order, as a Member, Fourth Class (MVO). From September 1912, he was Equerry to Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII), having been promoted to Major the previous year. In that role, he accompanied the Prince during his time at Magdalen College, Oxford. The 6th Brigade were in support of Lord Cavan’s 4th Guards Brigade and were in the line between Zillebeke and Klein Zillebeke. On 12 November William was wounded in the groin and died almost immediately.
Captain Clement Henry Peto, Commanding ‘C’ Squadron, 10th (Prince of Wales’s Own Royal) Hussars, 6th Cavalry Brigade, 3rd Cavalry Division. Killed in action 17 November 1914, age 30. Grave E2.17. Clement Henry Peto was the youngest son of Mr and Mrs W H Peto of Dunkinty, Elgin. He was born on 8 July 1884 at 169 Cromwell Road, London, and educated at Harrow. He was commissioned after attending Royal Military College Sandhurst, as a 2nd Lieutenant on 3 February 1904, promoted to Lieutenant 22 October 1905, and promoted to Captain on 17 September 1910. He served in India with the 10th Hussars and passed courses in musketry, telephony and Hindustani. On 17 November 1914 he was he commanding ‘C’ Squadron who were in support of the 4th Guards Brigade. The Germans advanced and he ordered his men to hold their fire until the enemy almost on his trenches and as the Germans retreated he and his men pursued them. Captain Peto was seen by a fellow officer to kill six of the enemy before he was himself shot through the head by a sniper. His brother, Lieutenant R Peto was also serving in the 10th Hussars, and the two brothers were mentioned in a letter sent by a Private Sparks of the 14th Hussars that featured in the Kent Messenger on 26 December 1914. In his letter Private Sparks recounts how he was rescued by two officers who jumped out of a trench and hauled the wounded Sparks to safety. Captain Clement Peto was also Mentioned in Despatches on 14 January 1915 for gallant and distinguished service in the field.
Captain Robert Giffard, Royal Field Artillery, serving as Aide-de-Comp to General Lomax, 1st Division. Killed in action 1 November 1914, age 30. Grave E1.12. Son of Henry Rycroft and C. M. Giffard, Lockeridge House, Marlborough. Husband of Janet Haig (nee Boyd) Giffard and they had a daughter, Robina. Educated at Marlborough College he joined the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich joining the Royal Artillery. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1903 and Lieutenant in December 1906, and Captain in October 1914. He was appointed ADC to General Lomax in August 1910, who was then commanding the 1st Division at Aldershot. The staff of General Haig’s 1st Corps who were in conference in Hooge Chateau, which was located on the Menin Road at the Hamlet of Hooge, and was being used as the joint HQ for the British 1st and 2nd Divisions on 31 October 1914. Major-General’s Lomax and Munro, General Officers commanding 1st and 2nd Divisions respectively, where in conference there when at 1.15pm the Germans laid down a heavy barrage registering a direct hit on the Chateau Annex. A number of officers were killed, General Munro was stunned and in a state of shock and General Lomax was seriously wounded, dying in England in 1915. With the commands in chaos at a critical juncture in the First Battle of Ypres, General Haig took command and reorganised the command of both Divisions. Robert Giffard died of his wounds on 1 November. The others who died are buried in Ypres Town Cemetery Extension Plot III, Row AA theypressalient.com/post/ypres-town-cemetery-and-extension
28th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
33309 Company Sergeant Major John Ernest Wager, 123rd Battery, 28th Brigade Royal Field Artillery, 5th Division. Killed in action 19 April 1915, age 31. Grave F.1 Eldest son of Captain Euclid Brookes and Mary Wager Weedon, Northants. Husband of Elizabeth, she later remarried. He had two brothers also serving, one of whom was Arthur Howell and was Battery Sergeant Major before being commissioned in September 1914 and was killed on the Somme in 1916. The third brother, Euclid, also served in the RFA. CSM Wager was a regular soldier who enlisted aged 15 in 1899. On the 25 October 1914, he was sent back to the UK suffering from ‘nervous disability’ and returned to France on 15 January 1915 where he joined the HQ staff of 2nd Corps and was promoted to acting CSM for the duration of the war on 20 March. He was an Artillery Clerk serving with the Corps Staff and was attached to the 123rd Battery for field experience prior to him being commissioned. The battery was positioned near Bedford House and were firing in support of the British lines at Hill 60 when he was killed on 19 April 1915 by counter-battery fire. His record shows that he was ‘OC 123 Battery RFA’ when he was killed. His burial place being noted as ‘Churchyard, Menin Road, Ypres, about ¼ mile East of Menin Gate.’ 55632 Bombardier William John Tulett, 123rd Battery, 28th Brigade Royal Field Artillery, 5th Division. Killed in action 19 April 1915, age 21. Grave F.2 Son of Captain. W. J. Tulett and Ellen Tulett, 20 Wynyard Road., Hillsborough, Sheffield. He was killed alongside CSM Wager on 19 April 1915.69507 Trumpeter Henry George Collar, 122nd Battery, 28th Brigade Royal Field Artillery, 5th Division. Killed in action 19 April 1915, age 18. Grave F.3. Son of Henry and Georgina Collar, 9, E. Block, Talavera Barracks, Aldershot. Henry was underage when he went to France in 1914. He was killed during the German counter-battery fire.
Men and Women of the IWGC
There are graves of forty nine men and women of the IWGC later CWGC who died in retirement after giving years of service and dedication in looking after the graves of the fallen in the Salient.
The extension was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.
Cemetery Location
Ypres Town Cemetery is located 1 Km east of Ieper town centre, on the Zonnebeekseweg, connecting Ieper to Menen on the N345. From Ieper town centre the Zonnebeekseweg is located via Torhoutstraat and right onto Basculestraat. Basculestraat ends at a main crossroads, and the Zonnebeekseweg is the first left turning. The cemetery itself is located 300 metres along the Zonnebeekseweg on the right hand side of the road.
Burials
The Ypres Town Cemetery contains 143 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, grouped in plots among the civil graves.
UK – 142
India – 1
IWGC – 49
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