DEVONSHIRE CEMETERY
With permission from the Express and Echo Newspaper here are copies of two articles that were published on 22/10/98.The first article is only an extract but can be seen in full at Express and Echo on their archive search page. The second article listing the buried men in France, please read the end note.
ARTICLE 1
We will remember them
by CHRIS MILLS
The Devonshire Cemetery is one of the smallest and most poignant of memorials which litter the Somme.
Unlike other graveyards where the dead of different regiments and nations are mixed into together, it is devoted to a single unit and their dead from one day.
Three days after the attack the Germans were forced back and the Devons collected their dead from no man's land.
A mass grave was fashioned out of the support line trench from where they went over the top and a wooden plaque was set up reading 'The Devonshires held this trench, The Devonshires hold it still'.
The present cemetery directly over the grave was consecrated in the 1920s.
Two long rows of headstones are overlooked by a simple stone cross. The narrow enclosure is bordered by a brick wall and sandwiched between a copse and a slope. Visitors can sign the book which is left in a metal-handled safe, together with a list of those interred.
From the copse looking north towards Mametz village, visitors can see the ground over which the 8th and 9th stumbled on July 1. Mansell Copse has since gone under the plough but when it rains the outlines of trenches can be seen through the chalk soil.
DIRECTIONS:
BY ROAD: From Calais ferryport and Eurotunnel terminal, take A26 motorway for Bethune and Paris to junction with A1 (Autoroute de Nord), take A1 south and come off at junction 14 for Bapaume, then follow D929 s to Albert. On Albert ring road take first left D938 for Mametz and Peronne. The Devonshire Cemetery sign is about 500 metres past the Mametz turn-off on the D938.
BY RAIL: Take Eurostar to international terminal at Lille, then stopping train to Albert. Taxis and bikes for hire outside station.
ARTICLE 2
Heroes all all
MEN of the 8th and 9th Battalions buried in the Devonshire Cemetery - all killed on July 1, 1916 Pte R.
- Pte R.Abbott, 22
- 2nd Lt Travers Adamson, 20
- Pte J.Ash, 18, from Talaton
- Pte G.Balch from Dolton
- Pte Edward Bassett, 33, from Ellacombe, Torquay
- Pte F.Batten, 20, from Spence Cross, Payhembury
- Pte J.Bennett
- Pte Willie Best, 22
- Pte G.Bewhay
- CSM H.Best
- Pte E.Bolton
- Pte Edward Bottomley, 30
- Pte S.Boundy
- Pte F.Bowden from Ashprington Village, Totnes
- Pte A.Bowles
- Pte John Bradford, 20, from Alphington, Exeter
- Pte Harry Brown, 28, from Plymouth
- Pte William Browning, 19, from Chelston, Torquay
- Pte J.Bullock from Devonport, Plymouth
- Pte William Bussell, 30
- Lce Sgt H.Butland
- Pte Walter Calverley, 21
- Pte Albert Carpenter, 26, from Doddiscombleigh, Exeter
- Pte James Carter, 41
- Pte F.Cartwright
- Pte Thomas Clark, 20
- Pte F.Clayton, 19
- Pte R.Clayton
- Corp S.Collier
- Pte T.Collings from Sparkwell, Plympton
- Pte R.Condick
- Pte G.Connett from Fenny Bridges, Ottery St Mary
- Pte R.Connett
- Pte G.Cook from Topsham, Exeter
- Lce Cpl J.Coshell
- Lce Cpl B.Court
- Cpl G.Crawley
- Pte W.Crewe
- Pte Francis Crooke, 34, from Witheridge, Morchard Bishop
- Pte R.Dark
- Pte W.Davey, 22, from Woodbury
- 2nd Lt Robert Davidson, 31
- Lce Cpl Herbert Davies, 18
- Sgt Henry Dearsley, 21
- Pte J.Denner, 23, from Cullompton
- Pte John Down, 24, from Bow, Crediton
- Pte Harry Dunn, 24, from Willand
- Pte W, Dunn, 31
- Pte S.Dyer, 21, from Trusham, Chudleigh
- Pte J.Eales
- Pte C.Elston
- Pte Samuel Endicott, 33, from Axminster
- Pte Sydney Fedrick, 18, from Torquay
- Lce Sgt Arthur Field, 24
- Pte W.French, 32
- Pte W.Gibson
- Pte Reginald Gigg, 19, from Seaton
- Pte B.Gilbury
- Pte W.Glade from Stockland, Honiton
- Pte W.Gough from Newton Abbot
- Pte H.Grant from Pennsylvania, Exeter
- Pte W.Green
- Pte Braham Greenwood, 20
- Pte F.Griffiths
- Pte A.Grimmett
- Pte G.Gristey
- Pte John Haigh, 22
- Pte William Hamlyn, 20, from Christow, Exeter
- Pte R.Harenburg
- Pte F.Harrop
- Pte A.Harwood
- Pte F.Hettish of Bear Street, Exeter
- Pte E.Highley
- Lce Cpl R.Hill
- Pte A.Hitchcock from East Worlington, Morchard Bishop
- Lt William Hodgson, 23
- 2nd Lt Raymond Holcroft, 20
- Pte H.Holman, from Exmouth
- Pte Henry Inight, 19
- Pte C.Jefferys
- Pte Thomas Jennings, 26, from Monkleigh, Torrington
- Pte J.Jones
- Lce Cpl Albert Kershaw, 27
- Pte E.King
- Sgt R.Kitch
- Pte E.Knight, 20
- Pte W.Lawrence
- Pte W.Lee
- Pte T.Lethbridge, from Marlborough, Kingsbridge
- Lce Cpl H.Levy
- Pte Thomas lewis
- Pte M.McGirr
- Capt Duncan Martin, 30
- Pte F.Matthews from Exmouth
- Lce Cpl William Mayers, 37, from Torquay
- Pte Tom Midgley, 20
- Pte John Milford, 18, from Clapham, Kenn, Exeter
- Pte Sidney Morrish, 27, from Colaton Raleigh
- Pte P.Murley from Lynton
- Pte S.Norton, 20
- Pte Samuel Ogden, 21
- Pte R.Orsman, 19, from Buckfastleigh
- Pte Frederick Oxford, 22, from Devonport, Plymouth
- Pte H.Parkhouse
- Pte John Partridge, 29, from Lew Down
- Pte H.Pinn, 24
- Lce Cpl W.Pomfret
- Pte W.Potter, 20, from Berry Pomeroy, Totnes
- Pte W.Prior
- Sgt J.Ramsey from Stonehouse, Plymouth
- 2nd Lt H.Rayner
- Pte A.Reed, 19, from Heavitree, Exeter
- 2nd Lt John Rew, 25
- 2nd Lt William Riddell, 29, from Babbacombe, Torquay
- Pte A.Roach
- Cpl Samuel Roberts, 21, from Rackenford, Morchard Bishop
- Pte Sidney Rogers, 24, from Dodbrook, Kingsbridge
- Pte A.Rose from Marsh Green, Rockbeare, Exeter
- Pte Herbert Rowland, 20, from Thrushelton, Lew Down
- Pte H.Rushworth
- Cpl W.Salway from Membury, Axminster
- 2nd Lt Cyril Shepard, 39
- Pte W.Sillince
- Pte E.Stabb, 26, of Edmund Street, Exeter
- Pte John Stilwell, 21
- Pte Thomas Stoneman, 19, from Plymouth
- Pte Frederick Taylor, 19
- Sgt G.Thomas, 23
- Pte H.Thomas from Brixham
- Sgt A.Thresher from Heavitree, Exeter
- Pte C.Thurlow from Barnstaple
- Pte W.Tozer
- Pte Awbery Trebilcock, 20
- Capt Geoffrey Tregelles, 23, from Barnstaple
- Pte J.Trewern
- Pte J.Trusshaden
- Pte H.Venn
- Lce Cpl C.Viney from Tiverton
- Pte H.Wadsworth, 19
- Pte H.Webber from Chulmleigh
- Pte Mark Webber, 31
- Pte William Western, 33
- Pte A.Weston
- Pte E.White
- Sgt D.Williams, 28
- Pte Frank Williams, 26
- Pte J.Williams
- Sgt Lawrence Williams, 19
- Pte Marshall Williams, 22, from Newtown, Exeter
- Pte R.Willing from Dartmouth
And ten other men of the 9th Battalion, Devonshire Regt, whose bodies are unidentified
NOTE: First names, ages and home towns in Devon are given as recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Some men who took part in the attack who died of wounds later or in the battles to come are commemorated elsewhere.
Copyright©1999-2009, Shirley Turner


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