A mile and a half south east of Ypres the village of Zillebeke, and the area surrounding it, saw heavy fighting throughout much of the Great War. Although the village itself remained in British hands for most of the war, the front lines were never far away to the east, and as a consequence the commune of Zillebeke contains more than a dozen CWGC cemeteries. On this tour we shall begin by visiting the eight cemeteries in the commune to the south and west of the village, in the triangular area bounded by the Ieper-Comines railway to the north and east, and the Ieper–Wijtschate–Mesen (Messines) road to the west. Our tour begins at Bedford House Cemetery, one of the largest Commonwealth cemeteries in Flanders, situated just a few minutes drive south from the Lille Gate at Ieper.
Before the war this was the site of a country mansion called Chateau Rosendal (or Kasteel Rosendaal, if you prefer). Or, as the British later referred to it, Bedford House. The chateau served as a dressing station and later as a brigade headquarters, and although much of it was destroyed during the war, the moat can still be seen today surrounding the headstones of Enclosure No. 6. The earliest cemetery was begun here in 1915 and by the time of the Armistice five separate enclosures covered much of the grounds of the devastated chateau. Enclosures No. 1 & 5 were subsequently removed to White House Cemetery & Aeroplane Cemetery respectively, while both Enclosures No. 2 & 4 were greatly increased in size by the addition of graves brought in from the battlefield or from smaller cemeteries.
Bedford House Cemetery entrance. The line of low hills in the distance away to the south-east, known to the British during the war as the Bluff, and where we will later visit three cemeteries, marks the eastern edge of the first part of our tour. At which point you might like to take a look at the Bedford House Cemetery Plan, courtesy of the CWGC.
We are now at the eastern end of Enclosure No. 6 looking back towards the cemetery entrance (to the left of the car in the distance), having crossed over the moat to reach this point. Enclosure No. 6 was established in the 1930s for the re-burial of lone battlefield graves that were still being uncovered in the area, and it is no surprise to find that many of the headstones are those of soldiers who could not be identified. The enclosure also contains the remains of 69 soldiers of the B.E.F. killed in the area during the retreat to Dunkirk in May 1940; the Second World War graves, of which three are unidentified, are the semi-circular rows nearest the camera.
Unknown burials in Enclosure No. 6. Note the three unidentified South African headstones in the second row, exactly the same number as there are identified South Africans among the thousands of burials in this cemetery.
Of the 5,139 soldiers buried at Bedford House, a staggering 3,011 are unidentified.
When the cemetery index was originally printed in the 1920s the unidentified figures were listed, as seen above, at the end, and although no longer accurate, it does give an idea of the number of unidentified casualties among the different nations to be found in the cemetery. Quite a number of the concentration burials had yet to be made at the time,…
…later additions to the cemetery index appearing as cut-and-paste jobs such as this.
Crossing back across the water the rest of the cemetery stretches out before us. This is the view from the entrance to Enclosure No. 2, on the left, looking towards the Cross of Sacrifice (centre),…
…and Enclosure No. 4 in the distance to the right. This is a big place.
Health and safety?
Pah, humbug.
Enclosure No. 2 was begun in December 1915 and used until the end of the war, after which a further 437 men were brought in from Asylum British Cemetery & Ecole de Bienfaisance Cemetery when it was realised that there was no guarantee that they could remain there in perpetuity. These five men, four killed on 10th May 1915 and one the following day, are examples of these re-burials.
Cross of Sacrifice, with Enclosure No. 4 centre left, and the Stone of Remembrance beyond the row of trees in the right background.
View looking back from the first two headstones in Enclosure No. 4 towards those of Enclosure No. 2 (just visible to the far left) and the start of Enclosure No. 3, the five headstones on the other side of the moat in the right background. These two men of the Post Office Rifles died in February 1917.
Turning to our right, the rest of Enclosure No. 3, the smallest of the five enclosures, can be seen across the moat in the background, accessed by the stone bridge to the far right. Immediately on this side of the water in Enclosure No. 4 is a row of special memorial headstones to twenty five men whose graves had been lost (see following photographs), and the burials in the foreground are men of the First Surrey Rifles killed in February 1917.
A Duhallow block remembers twenty five British soldiers, originally buried in Kerkhove Churchyard, Zonnebeke; Zonnebeke British Cemeteries Nos. 1 & 3; Droogenbroodhoek German Cemetery, Moorslede, and Enclosure No. 1 here at Bedford House Cemetery, whose graves were later lost.
Quite a number of these special memorial headstones…
…are for East Surrey Regiment men killed in the first half of April 1915…
…in the days leading up to the Second Battle of Ypres.
The moat and Enclosure No. 3 can be seen in the background…
…of all these shots.
Having crossed the bridge, on the right, this view from just inside the entrance to Enclosure No. 3 looks back towards Enclosure No. 4 (to which we will return at the very end of the post) stretching away in the background. Enclosure No 3, the smallest of the five enclosures, was in use between February 1915 and December 1916. These two gunners died on 20th December 1915 (right), and 4th January 1916 (left).
The first three rows in this shot are in Enclosure No. 3, beyond which, as we look east, you can once again see the moat, or at least the grasses growing on its bank. The headstones on the other side of the moat in Enclosure No. 4 are the reverse of the special memorials and Duhallow Block we visited earlier.
View looking south from Enclosure No. 3 across the moat towards the Cross of Sacrifice past the lone headstone of a King’s Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) private who died in December 1915.
There are ninety identified Canadians buried in the cemetery, the majority in Enclosure No. 4, Plot I. These casualties are from June 1916.
Two unknown soldiers in Plot III lie next to a Labour Corps private who sadly died many months after the war had ended, which got me thinking. The CWGC Casualty Details List states that Harry Reidler served with the 1002nd Russian Company of the Labour Corps. As luck would have it his papers survive, and here, briefly, are the bare facts of Harry’s war. A Russian immigrant, Harry wasn’t actually Harry at all. He was Isaac. There is, in fact, no mention of the name Harry anywhere. Isaac was deemed to have enlisted in September 1917, but was not called up until June 1918 when he was posted to the 8th Labour Battalion of the Labour Corps, and then in July to the 1002nd Russian Company. Both the 8th and 9th Labour Battalions had been formed in April 1918 and were composed mainly of Russian Jews living in Britain, although their officers and N.C.O.s came from existing units. On 4th August 1918 the 1002nd Russian Company embarked for France. The rest comes from Isaac’s Casualty Form: Leave 1.5.19 to 15.5.19. Returned from leave. Field 17.5.19. 26.7.19. Committed suicide between 16.7.19 & 22.7.19 by the aid of a Mills bomb. Isaac was found dead on July 23rd 1919. Quite why he now lies in Bedford House Cemetery in Belgium, when his papers only ever mention that he served in France, is a mystery.
Looking west past the Stone of Remembrance across Enclosure No. 4 towards the Cross of Sacrifice, beyond the two lines of trees in the centre. Enclosure No. 4, by far the largest of the five enclosures, was in use between June 1916 & February 1918, and was later greatly enlarged after the Armistice when a further 3,324 graves, many unidentified, were brought in from the battlefields or small cemeteries nearby that were then closed down.
The Stone of Remembrance is bounded on three sides by special memorial headstones to men either ‘known to be buried in this cemetery’ or ‘believed to be buried in this cemetery’. This photograph shows Special Memorials 11-35 to the east of the Stone.
Close-up of the three headstones nearest the camera at the end of the row of special memorials in the previous picture.
Special Memorials 36-45, to the north of the Stone of Remembrance,…
…and Special Memorials 1-10, to the south.
Is that a pagoda? Or a chhatri? Towards the south east corner of the cemetery the Indian Plot comprises just two rows of headstones in which only seven men are identified,…
…Row A here in the foreground, with Row B behind. The wreath has been laid by the Sikh Community of Belgium.
View looking north across Enclosure No. 4 at the reverse of the headstones of Plot XV, on the left, and Plot XIV to the right.
Four unknown soldiers of the Great War, a Gordon Highlander second from left, and another unknown South African nearest the camera. These are actually the four graves in the left foreground of the previous picture. The headstones lining the wall are part of the lone row in Plot XVII, the final plot in Enclosure No. 4, and the graves of the Indian Plot can just be seen in the far left background.
Time to head back towards the car. We have a lot to see on this tour and we’ve only just started. Back at the Cross of Sacrifice, this shot looks west towards the headstones of Enclosure No. 2, Plot IV to the immediate left of the gap, and Plot V to the right.
Graves from May & June 1915 in Enclosure No. 2 Plot IV.
British graves from October 1917 and a single Canadian killed the following month in Plot III, near the western end of Enclosure No. 2, with the moat beyond and the northern edge of Enclosure No. 6 just visible in the right background.
A final look back across Enclosure No. 2…
…before we find ourselves back at Enclosure No. 6. and the massed ranks of mainly unidentified men who lie here.
The World War II graves in Enclosure No. 6, with vestiges of the original chateau visible on the right.
Panoramic view across the moat of Enclosure No. 6 (below), with the World War II graves slightly elevated in the right background.
Update October 2024: Accepting that in more recent years my tour of this cemetery would have been somewhat more thorough, I still failed, way back when I visited, to photograph the most famous of all the graves within. But now, thanks to Ian Buxton, with whom I have been corresponding recently at what, for many, would have been godforsaken hours and who has not only visited the cemetery this past week, but already had the photo below in his library from a previous visit,…
…I can show you the grave of Second Lieutenant Rupert Price Hallowes V.C., M.C., Middlesex Regiment, who died on 30th September 1915 aged 34 and who is buried in Enclosure No. 4 Plot XIV B36. During the fighting at Hooge on 19th & 20th July 1915 he was awarded a Military Cross ‘For conspicuous gallantry… when owing to shortage of bombs the enemy was advancing down the communication trench. He got out of his trench, exposed himself fearlessly, and firing at the enemy in the open, hitting several. He also assisted in constructing a block, dug out a communication trench under heavy shell fire, and rebuilt a parapet that had been blown in. Throughout the night he assisted in keeping touch and supplying bombs.’ Just a couple of months later, following another series of actions at Hooge for which he would be awarded his V.C., he died of shrapnel wounds to the head and leg and was originally buried behind the lines at Sanctuary Wood.
His body, identified primarily by his damaged identity disc (above), was subsequently disinterred and reburied here at Bedford House (below).
His V.C. citation, published in the London Gazette on 16th November 1915, reads as follows, ‘For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty during the fighting at Hooge between 25th September and 1st October, 1915. Second Lieutenant Hallowes displayed throughout these days the greatest bravery and untiring energy, and set a magnificent example to his men during four heavy and prolonged bombardments. On more than one occasion he climbed up on the parapet, utterly regardless of danger, in order to put fresh heart into his men. He made daring reconnaissances of the German positions in our lines. When the supply of bombs was running short he went back under very heavy shell fire and brought up a fresh supply. Even after he was mortally wounded he continued to cheer those around him and to inspire them with fresh courage.’ Thanks for the photo, Ian! Much appreciated.
Next, I think it’s time we headed for Railway Dugouts.
plz tell me ,, about the “Martyrs in world war ist in 1914 world war . i want to know my father”s grandfather who was martyr during the war ,he was sikh and belonging from the punjab India ,i want to know his memory able place and want to visit here once ,…thanks ,,i can provide all the details and clarifications ,,after coming any of the reply ,,by any one ,
thanks ,..,
hi iv read your comment about this cemerty.i will be goin to this place very soon on th 13july 2012. are you looking for a grave ???? i might be able to help you { might )
Post the details that you’ve got, and if I can’t help myself, I most likely know someone who can.
this sad so lovely place is breath taking .I will be visiting this cemetry on the 13 july 2012.where my grand farther a arther jones 11942 royal lancaster reg plot 4 is burid.im hoping to find his grave when i go .yours derek jones.
It’s a beautiful place, Derek. Enjoy your visit, whatever the weather. Let us know how it went when you get back.
And don’t forget to sign the cemetery register while you’re there; it’s always nice to read the comments therein.
found his grave not easy but I did …I took a cutting from an aster plant which was growing on his grave iv got it growing now in my own garden ….hoping to take my son here one day ..
Glad you found his grave Derek, and I hope the cutting is blooming. Yes, it would be nice if you could take your son one day. Thanks for getting back in touch. It’s been a while!
Hi we will be travelling from Australia to Bedford house cemetery where I believe my uncle
Charles Bruce Laugher is buried in a marked grave. How do I find his grave. Thanks Dianne
Hi Dianne. He is buried in Enclosure No.4 I. F. 7. If you find the above photograph of the headstones of Riflemen Patmore & Jennings and Serjeant Findlay you will see, to the very far right of the picture, the beginning of the row where your Uncle is buried. Check out the Cemetery Plan near the top of the post, and also here: http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/484450/LAUGHER,%20CHARLES%20BRUCE
Hope your trip goes well.
we was here in bedford house last year to find my gran dads grave which i found. This place bedford house is so great n sad to.Near the main cross is a little door in the wall which as a plan etc of this place and the names of every one that died .I also took a cutting from a plant in his grave so i can put it in my grand mothers grave which was his wife.this plant as now got roots on it so i’ll planting it in her grave in manchester.I’ll be going back to visit this place one day .make sure you take a pen so you can sighn the visitors book .good luck
I like the idea of planting a cutting on your Grandmother’s grave. A nice touch.
Thank you so much Magicfingers. We did travel to Bedford House and we found the grave. Such a beautiful resting place. A very emotional journey. This year on the 100 year anniversary of his death we have planned a family reunion to remember our Uncle.
Hello Dianne. Welcome back. So glad you had a successful trip to Europe and especially to Bedford House. A beautiful setting indeed. And have a beautiful family reunion as well.
went to visit Bedford house cemetery enclosure 3 to see the grave of my great uncle Fred Spray who was killed after only 3 months, he was only 20 years old. He was with the East Yorkshire regiment.
So sad. I’m sure you’re glad you visited him.
visited here recently. Where my uncle is buried. Beautiful and serene place
Yes Molly, it certainly is. A beautiful place.
I thought you might be interested to know that my great uncle Sidney Weeden who is buried here in October 1917 and had only been married for 3 weeks, before he died of wounds. My great Aunt Rose, his widow wanted her ashes to be buried with him. When she died in 1991 I applied to the War Graves Commission to have this done. They said it was not possible as only widows who had not re-married could have this honour. I replied she was 101 when she died and had never re-married. I attended a short service at the graveside when she was interred with him. It is thought that this must be the last widow to be interred with her husband from the First World War.
Tony, thanks so much for taking the trouble to comment. A tragic and yet, thanks to you, rather wonderful story. The next time I am in Bedford House, and it’s due a return visit, I shall try to remember to pay my respects.
In May of this year (2016) I travelled from Toronto, Canada to visit Ieper and Bedford
House where my great-uncle Farquhar McLennan lies beneath the soil. He was killed in action during the Canadian offensive at Sanctuary Wood in June, 1918. I have done some research on him and his battalion (58th CEF) and I am currently writing a manuscript (book, I hope) based on the Archives and war diaries of the 58th. Thank you for your tour and insights at Bedford House.
Hello Rick. Thanks a lot for your comments – you’ve been there so hopefully that means my tour makes some kind of sense. Let us know how the project goes, won’t you?
Sorry, my mistake, he died in June 13th, 1916.
Ha! I’d sussed that! You are not the only one who visits this site who lost forebears at Mt Sorrel, btw. Hope you’ve checked out the Hill 62 part of this site, btw – stick Hill 62 in the search box.
I’ve visited Bedford House twice now to visit my Gt Grandad Walter Moore in his final resting place. So peaceful and well kept. I will be back in 2018 for his hundedth anniversary.
Hello Neil. Time for me to revisit soo too, methinks. Peaceful indeed. Thanks for posting.
Went to see my gt.uncles grave 20777 Charles gill 11th south lancs killed in December 1917. A very moving experience and a must do to honour these very brave unfortunate men. Had great digs at CITY LOFT.
Thanks for your comment Dennis. Glad it was a memorable experience. Of course I agree with you 100%.
I believe my Great Uncle Pte James Gordon Foster is buried at Bedford House cemetery, could you please clarify does he have a marked grave and if so what area would it be in. He was in the 2nd Australian Pioneers, died 4th Oct 1917.
I would like to come visit this site if he has a grave
Your Great Uncle is indeed buried here. He died of wounds and his grave reference is: Enclosure No.2 II. B. 1., which you will be able to see on the cemetery plan. Do let us know if you do visit!
Thank you so much for the info will be planning a trip for 2020
You are welcome. Have you checked the Australian National Archives for his Army record, Lee Anne? Worth doing before you go.
Yes I have looked at my great uncle’s army records they are very interesting, and I will be coming Ypres in September 2019 to find his grave and honour him.
We visited this cemetery in October 2019 not because we have any relative buried here but because the person who turned out to be my Step Great Grandfather Pte 4764 T Coveney (He married my Great Grandmother after WW1 as her husband, my birth Great Grandfather Pte 7824 G Brown was killed in 1915 just outside of Ypres) was here for a while during its time as a dressing station. There are very few remnants of the old chateau but the area is a peaceful tranquil place and I spent quite a while thinking here. Small world ..
Indeed. Did you visit the nearby bunkers: https://thebignote.com/2018/03/28/lankhof-farm-demarcation-stone-bunkers/
You can’t go in – private – but a good zoom lens suffices.
No didn’t visit the bunkers Magicfingers, had quite a few places associated with family members to visit, quite likely though that Pte Coveney would have been around them too he was all over the place it seems.
Maybe next trip I’ll search them out. Nice article about them, I will study it. Thank you.
Any time.
Hello,my favorite cemetery is always Bedford House Cemetery and I’ve visited this place more than 15 times the last years,also Yesterday after Larch Wood Railway Cutting,Zillebeke Churchyard & Tuileries Br.Cemetery…
Every time a very silent place.
I’m family of a Belgian member of the CWGC in Ieper.
King regards,
Dirk Verstraete from Loppem,Belgium (near Brugge)
Hi Dirk, and thanks for commenting. I haven’t visited Bedford House for a good few years so it’s on the list for a revisit, as and when. If you use the Search Box you will find the other cemeteries that you visited elsewhere on this site – all visited in the snow a few years back – also try putting Hill 60 in the Search Box. And rest assured that those of us who know, are always grateful for the care the CWGC take in looking after the cemeteries, and by extension the people on the ground actually doing the work.
Hi Magicfingers,
Great post which I believe I’ve read before…maybe?
From the cut and paste list at Beythem Communal Cemetery;
Private F. P. Coade 2552A 43rd Australian Battalion, died of wounds 11 October 1917 at Passchendaele, grave was not located until 1939 and around this time he was exhumed and buried at Bedford House. Frankie still had his identity disc, a wristlet watch in damaged condition and a silver note book cover. He enlisted in 1916 and was 5’6″ tall and weighed 10 stone…(not your big Australian), his father died in 1919 and the mother in 1930. His Army record shows many letters from her to various Army departments desperately asking for information of her son…she died not knowing he was found, very sad but a common scenario I suggest.
Excellent work mate, as usual.
Thanks Daisy – you will have read bits of it before, but most of it has had bits added, and there are a few extra images (and the cut-and-paste), so it is quite a bit different from the way it was. The story you tell must have been oh so common, but it still tugs at yer heart strings, doesn’t it?
Many thanks for the update MF, those accounts of courage never cease to astound me. We visited Bedford House several years ago now and was hoping to visit again this summer when we were in Ypres once more but sadly ran out of time to do so as it is a fascinating place probably not visited as much as it should be.
Hello Jon. Thanks mate. I really need to revisit the place too; must have passed by sooooo many times but always with somewhere new to go to. I took about fifty photos when I visited way back when. I guess today I would have left the cemetery with maybe 300 to choose from………….