Bancourt British Cemetery

Bancourt is a village which lies approximately 4 kilometres due east of Bapaume. Bancourt British Cemetery is situated east of Bancourt village.

Bancourt was occupied by Commonwealth forces in March 1917. It was lost a year later during the German offensive in the spring of 1918 but recaptured by the New Zealand Division (in particular, the 2nd Auckland Battalion) on 30 August 1918. Most of the burials in the Cemetery date from after the Armistice, when graves were brought in from the battlefields east and south of Bancourt and from certain Allied and German cemeteries. The great majority of these graves dated from the winter of 1916-1917, the retreat of March 1918, or the advance of August-September 1918. Bancourt British Cemetery now contains 2,480 burials and commemorations of the First World War, including Willoughby John Littledale, related to the Ormerods of Ormerod, who died on 23 March 1918, whilst serving as a Captain with "A" Coy, 2nd Battalion, Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry.

	CAPTAIN / W.J. LITTLEDALE / OXFORD & BUCKS. LIGHT INF. / 23RD MARCH 1918. AGE 22 / THE ONLY SON OF W.A. AND V. LITTLEDALE / FAC ET SPERA (Grave Ref. VIII. C. 17.) Willoughby John Littledale - A Coy, 2nd Bn, Oxford & Bucks. Light Infantry - "only son of Willoughby Aston Littledale and Violet Littledale, of 21, The Boltons, South Kensington, London." Commonwealth War Graves Commission Debt of Honour Register
	26378 PRIVATE / J. SHUTTLEWORTH / EAST LANCASHIRE REGIMENT / 23RD OCTOBER 1916 (Grave Ref. VIII. B. 20.) J. Shuttleworth - A Coy, 2nd Bn, East Lancashire Regiment - "son of Michael and Elizabeth Shuttleworth, of 12, May St., Blackburn." Commonwealth War Graves Commission Debt of Honour Register
	28586 LANCE CPL. / R. WADDINGTON / LANCASHIRE FUSILIERS / 2ND SEPTEMBER 1918 (Grave Ref. II. K. 5.) "Son of Mrs. L. Waddington, of 9, Ashes Lane, Milnrow, Rochdale." Commonwealth War Graves Commission Debt of Honour Register