Menin Road North Military Cemetery

[Roy Evans]

I have an October 1916 'photo of 10 graves in the Menin Road North Military Cemetery and am having difficulty identifying some of the names on the grave markers. When the bodies were later moved to the Menin Road South Military Cemetery the relationship of the graves was changed.

Is there any record of the burial plan for the Menin Road North Military Cemetery?

Roy

[Cnock]

Hello Roy,

Not all bodies were removed from Menin Road North Military Cem, see this commeration stone at Menin Road South Military Cemetery.

Regards,

Cnock

[Roy Evans]

Hello Roy,

Not all bodies were removed from Menin Road North Military Cem, see this commeration stone at Menin Road South Military Cemetery.

Regards,

Cnock

Thanks for the piccy. Andy Johnson kindly took 'photos of some headstones of 'my' men in the 'south' recently but not all of the names are clear in my 'north' picture. If I can get a 'north' plan I can fill in the blanks.

Roy

[Guest dreed]

I don't know if this post is still open but, hopefully it is. I have been looking into the death of my cousin ( first cousin, twice removed). His name was Montagu Christian Cuthbert Clarke and he is commemorated on the Menin gate. He was a lieutenant in the 1st Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders B company and died on 8th May at the start of the battle of frezenburg. Looking through the roll of honour it says: "He was killed in action at Ypres, 8 May, 1915, and buried in graveyard of the temporary hospital on the Menin Road, about one mile from Ypres ; unmarked.". I am hazarding a guess that this was the Menin Road North cemetery, given the date of his death. So after all the verbage, my question is did you (Roy Evans) ever get the picture or plan of the grave yard at Menin Road North? And if you did could I get a copy?

Derek

[Guest]

My Great uncle Thomas William Hunter (Private DLI) is now buried in Menim Rd South Military Cemetery but was reinterred there from the North Menim Rd Cemetery he died in June 1917, I have been trying to find the North Menim Rd cemetery but Can't ? does it still exist and what battle is he likely to have died in

[WhiteStarLine]

Hi and welcome to the forum.  Clearly you've been to the Commonwealth Grave War Commission page that covers the original burial:

 

This lists a map reference for the original Menin Road North Cemetery of Sheet 28.I.9.d.2.7.  As the Menin Road South Cemetery is Sheet 28.I.9.d.2.4, the distance between the 2 is 300 yards.

 

This translates to a location just a little north of where he lies now (North Cemetery was 50.850669, 2.904917).  As he died of wounds, chances are that he was at a Casualty Clearing Station  - you can start researching the Durham Light Infantry at this forum's excellent resource the Long, Long Trail.  Here is the very peaceful site where he was originally interred, with a June 1917 trench map on the RHS and the Menin Road South on the southern side of the road.

 

Image source: tMapper and National Library of Scotland

[laughton]

The records for the Menin Road South Military Cemetery are here:

• ZIP File Folder
  • GRRF 2128827-2128955
  • COG-BR 2128985-2129012

There are a number of pages of men concentrated from the Menin Road North Cemetery:

 

2128985

2128986

2128987

2128988

2128989

2128990

2128991

2128992

2128993

2128994

2128996

 

There are some on 2128995 as well but without coordinates.

[laughton]

One of the problems with the concentration of one cemetery into another is that we often lose the records of where the men were recovered from in the first cemetery. They were not always direct burials from the front lines, field ambulances or casualty clearing stations.

 

We can get some idea of what happened if there are Canadians buried in the cemetery, as more of the Canadian casualty records survived. As an example, Private R. L. Rorke #401606

of the 2nd Canadian Battalion is buried in Plot 3 Row E Grave 24. His Circumstance of Death (COD) tells us he died of wounds at No. 10 Canadian Field Ambulance.

 

 

[Alan24]

On 26/01/2020 at 00:02, WhiteStarLine said:

Hi and welcome to the forum.  Clearly you've been to the Commonwealth Grave War Commission page that covers the original burial:

 

This lists a map reference for the original Menin Road North Cemetery of Sheet 28.I.9.d.2.7.  As the Menin Road South Cemetery is Sheet 28.I.9.d.2.4, the distance between the 2 is 300 yards.

 

This translates to a location just a little north of where he lies now (North Cemetery was 50.850669, 2.904917).  As he died of wounds, chances are that he was at a Casualty Clearing Station  

I've just researched a soldier who was concentrated from 28.I.9.d.2.7. to the Menin Road South Cemetery according to CWGC.

I now know this location to be Menin Road North.

However, his service record shows a slightly different location 28.I.10.c.L.3 - but I don't know if the reference given is for the actual burial or the Dressing Station. Perhaps the dressing station was at White Chateau?

Also, I don't know what the 'L' refers to - surely this should be a number.

I should add that the date of this burial is 01 Dec 1915. 

 

Edited 2 October , 2022 by Alan24

[WhiteStarLine]

On 02/10/2022 at 22:45, Alan24 said:

, I don't know what the 'L' refers to - surely this should be a number.

It is always hard (or impossible) to guess what the original author meant when they used non-standard notations.  Here are 2 guesses:

Let's assume the 3 is correct as the y value.

Guess 1: the author knew that the 500 yard square was divided into hundredths.  Halfway along 100 is 50 (Roman L), making the position 28.I.10.c.50.30.

Guess 2: the dressing station is a quick patch and return to battle or move more serious cases along the medical chain.  This evacuation chain ideally needs a road for ambulance / stretcher / horses.  Find the nearest x coordinate where the y value intersects the road:  28.I.10.c.5.3.

The guesses are just that and are not related to each other.