Killed near St. Quentin buried in TYNE COT ?

[Annette Burgoyne]

I am at present looking at the resting places of K.S.L.I. men, and have just found one that as puzzled me a little.

STEVENS, Serjeant, WILLIAM MORGAN, 27565. "D" Coy. 1st Bn. King's Shropshire Light Infantry. Killed in action 18th September 1918 buried in Tyne Cot Cemetery.

The puzzle is - the 1st K.S.L.I. were making an attack in the Holnon - Fresnoy area, near St. Quentin on this day, of the eight men who died that day, apart from Sgt. Stevens, three are on the Vis-en-Artois Memorial, and four are buried in the Somme and Aisne departments.

So why is Sgt. buried in Tyne Cot.

His date of death is either wrong and he was killed in the Ypres area or could it be that his remains were found many years later and the cemeteries in the Somme/ Aisne departments were full ? If anyone knows of such cases please let me know.

I have posted the same on Info-X, and Paul Reed informs me that it was very rare for a soldier to be moved from one country to another, so it may be that the date is wrong and he was killed in Flanders.

Regards

Annette

[Somme1916]

Annette,

Is there any chance he was wounded around Ypres and died of wounds there after the unit moved out?

[Annette Burgoyne]

Hi Jon

That may be a possibility, the 1st K.S.L.I. were in the Dickebusch area until August 19th, but if he did die of wounds, I do not think he would have been buried in Tyne Cot ? because of the laps of time.

Annette

[ianw]

Tyne Cot Cemetery was in German hands until late Sept. 1918 so his remains must have been taken there as part of the works after the war. Many old plots had their dead taken there. As a long shot , could he have had a brother there already ?

[Jacky Platteeuw]

Another possibility is that he was attached to another unit i.e. for special duty or special skills he had. It would be normal that this would be mentioned but strangers things then the omission of a mention of detachment happend.

Jacky

[Alan Lines]

Annette

I wonder if he was originally buried in a cemetery that had to be closed (i.e to make way for a road.) and the bodies removed?

[Annette Burgoyne]

Thanks to all of the above

ianw, I have just had a look at C.W.G.C. site to look under Stevens but there were 1402, so I will have to contact them direct, one to ask them if their records show if Sgt. Stevens was buried somewhere else (Alan your idea may be on the right track) and two if there are any other Stevens in Tyne Cot who may be related ?

Jacky your suggestion could also be on the right lines too, you reminded me of a puzzle I found many years ago but I did not look into the matter. When I first started researching the K.S.L.I. the first thing I did was to copy out all those recorded in Soldiers Died (K.S.L.I.) by battalion and date of death (to make it easier to see how many were killed/died on anyone day). Know I also have a copy of the 1st Battalions diary (well three parts of it), anyway to cut a long story short—Soldiers Died records five men killed on 26/7/26, but the war diary makes no mention of any casualties on this day (puzzle No. 1), after looking at C.W.G.C. site, I find all five are Menin Gate, nothing unusual there the Battalion was in Ypres at time but the C.W.G.C. and Soldiers Died then threw up another puzzle - now Soldiers Died records for the 1st K.S.L.I. one man D. of W. on 27/7/16 and another D. of W. on 28th but the C.W.G.C. records that both these men were attached to the 2nd Welch and both are buried in Albert Communal Cemetery Extension, another twist to this puzzle is that I obtained copies of the Victory/British medal roll for three of the five men killed on the 26/7/16, now the medal roll records all three were also attached to 2nd Welch (this unit being the last mention unit, so making it the unit they were serving in when killed ?), puzzle No. (I've lost track) if these three were with the 2nd Welch (who were on the Somme if you go by the two above who died of wounds and buried in Albert Communal Cemetery Extension), when they were killed, why are they on the Menin Gate ? There is yet another puzzle the Victory/British medal roll makes no mention of any of the three serving in the 1st Battalion ?

Are you all puzzled out there ?, well I am, I will have to go and lie down now as my one brain cell as just burned itself out trying to write the above so it made a little sense ?

Bye

Annette

[Terry Denham]

There are only five other STEVENS buried in Tyne Cot Cemetery. None of them has any next-of-kin connection in CWGC records with Bridgend, Glamorgan - your man's home town.

[Annette Burgoyne]

Thanks Terry, its looking like the date or unit for Sgt. Stevens may be wrong ?

Regards

[Hedley Malloch]

It may be that the CWGC has made a mistake in compiling their records or in erecting headstones, or both. Perhaps he is not buried at Tyne Cot. It might be worthwhile checking the original CWGC records.

[Annette Burgoyne]

Hi Hedley

It looks like I will have to contact the C.W.G.C. I have got a long list for them, over the years researching the K.S.L.I. I have founded serveral cases such as Sgt. Stevens plus other puzzles.

Regards

Annette