18th Liverpool (Pals) Battalion near Voormezeele & Ridge Wood

[Woodward]

Good evening

 

I was wondering whether somebody would be able to assist me.

 

I am doing some research into twenty-one men from the 18th King's Liverpool (Pals) Battalion, who lost their lives on the 29th April 1918 on the final day of the Battle of Lys. Amongst them was my Great-uncle L/Cpl Walter Woodward (51749).

 

The 18^th Battalion had taken over a line roughly running between Elzenwalle to Ridge Wood, located between Voormezeele and Dickebusch Lake.

All twenty-three are recorded as not having any known grave and are listed on the Tyne Cott Memorial.

 

On November 13th 1975, an article appeared in the Liverpool Echo titled “A Soldier’s Will” (shown below) which contained a short account of the burial of a Private Woodburn (300032), who is listed amongst them and the retrieval of his Will from inside his Paybook.

 

 

This would confirm that at least some of the twenty-one men would have received a proper burial, with their tags and effects being collected from the bodies and documented.

 

Overtime I assume the location of the burial has been since lost and they have never been found, or if they had been found then the bodies could no longer be identified.

 

I can only assume that they would have been buried not very far behind the line and near to where they fell.

 

I am hoping to try and explore the concentration and exhumation records held by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (if available as part of their digital collection) for clues but truthfully I do not really know where to begin and I wondered whether somebody could give me any pointers for beginning my research?

 

Thanks in advance. 

 

Matt

Edited 27 February , 2019 by Woodward

[Cheshire22]

I suggest that plot all the cemeteries in the surrounding area and see if the below has any of the cob or GRRF 

 

[Woodward]

Thanks Cheshire22, this looks like a  good place to start.  

[laughton]

Let me know if you need assistance, or just keep posting yourwork and we can follow the research.

 

How did he get the will off the body? A lot of wills are in the records.

 

Start with downloading the CWGC data for that date and unit. Then sort it by cemetery to get a short list of what cemeteries to check.

[Woodward]

Hi Laughton

Very sorry for the delay in responding, I've not had much chance to get online the last couple of days,

 

Thanks for the offer it is very much appreciated & I have little doubt that I will certainly be needing some points along the way I think. 

 

I've not had chance to look at it all for the last week or so, so I've only got as far as collating records  for Voormezeele Enclosure No. 3 by using the resources provided by the 'Canadian Expeditionary Force Study Group' suggested above. 

 

The only known graves for men from the Pals Battalions (including the 18th), killed that day are within that enclosure with one exception. I believe it is pretty likely that if they were re-interred, it would almost certainly be in one of the Commonwealth Cemetery's near Voormezeele.

 

I'd assume based on the account provided by Bill Kingshott, that he would have taken or copied Woodburn's Will from the Paybook during burial, along with collecting the rest of Woodburn's personal effects and ID tag.