Ruyaulcourt Military Cemetery
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Ruyaulcourt is a village 11 kilometres east of Bapaume on the D7, and 19 kilometres south-west of Cambrai. The Cemetery lies 500 metres north of Ruyaulcourt village along an unmarked road, but is signposted to the left by the village church as you enter Ruyaulcourt from Bapaume.
Ruyaulcourt village was attacked by the 7th Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry on the 28/29 March 1917. It was found unoccupied the next night by the 7th Somerset Light Infantry, lost on the 23rd March 1918, and cleared by the New Zealand Division on the 4th September, 1918.
Ruyaulcourt Military Cemetery was begun in April 1917, and used by fighting units and Field Ambulances (largely of the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division) until March 1918. It was reopened in September 1918, and there are now over 300 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site, including Henry A. Ormerod (Grave Ref. C. 20.), of the 1st/4th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment, who died on 25 June 1917.
Of the other graves, 10 are unidentified and special memorials are erected to the two airmen, Churchill and Andrews, buried in the German Cemetery, whose graves could not be found. A photograph of these memorials can be seen below.
The Cemetery covers an area of 1,608 square metres and is enclosed by a rubble wall.
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SECOND LIEUTENANT / J. CHURCHILL / ROYAL AIR FORCE / 14TH
AUGUST 1918. AGE 19 / KILLED IN ACTION / AND BURIED BY THE ENEMY / IN
RUYAULCOURT / GERMAN CEMETERY / WHOSE GRAVE IS NOW LOST SECOND LIEUTENANT / J.G. ANDREWS / ROYAL AIR FORCE / 14TH AUGUST 1918. AGE 19 / KILLED IN ACTION / AND BURIED BY THE ENEMY / IN RUYAULCOURT / GERMAN CEMETERY / WHOSE GRAVE IS NOW LOST |
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240194 PRIVATE / F. ASHWORTH / EAST LANCASHIRE REGIMENT /
6TH JULY 1917 (Grave Ref. D. 21.) |
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200402 PRIVATE / J.S. DAVIES / EAST LANCASHIRE REGIMENT /
28TH JUNE 1917 (Grave Ref. C. 22.) |
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23739 PRIVATE / W. ENTWISTLE / EAST LANCASHIRE REGIMENT /
21ST JUNE 1917 (Grave Ref. C. 3.) |
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241941 LANCE CPL. / J.W. GREEN / EAST LANCASHIRE REGIMENT /
2ND JULY 1917. AGE 23 / HE ANSWERED / HIS COUNTRY'S CALL / A BRAVE SOLDIER
LAID AT REST / FROM LOVING WIFE & DAUGHTER (Grave Ref. D. 16.) "Husband of Mrs. A. Green of 34, White Goss Rd., Haxby Rd., York." Commonwealth War Graves Commission Debt of Honour Register |
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241725 PRIVATE / J. HARDCASTLE / EAST LANCASHIRE REGIMENT /
5TH JULY 1917 (Grave Ref. D. 19.) |
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200888 PRIVATE / C.V. HARGREAVES / EAST LANCASHIRE REGIMENT
/ 28TH JUNE 1917. AGE 23 (Grave Ref. D. 4.) Charles Vincent Hargreaves - "son of Margaret Anne Hargreaves, of Kirkmoor Cottage, Clitheroe, Lancs, and the late John Hargreaves. A Journalist." Commonwealth War Graves Commission Debt of Honour Register |
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201533 PRIVATE / H.A. ORMEROD / EAST LANCASHIRE REGIMENT / 25TH JUNE 1917 |
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CAPTAIN / R. THWAITES / EAST LANCASHIRE REGIMENT / 28TH JUNE
1917. AGE 23 (Grave Ref. D. 6.) "Son of Percy and Laura Thwaites, of Raydale, Chatburn, Clitheroe, Lancs." Commonwealth War Graves Commission Debt of Honour Register |
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240109 SERJEANT / A. WARD / EAST LANCASHIRE REGIMENT / 6TH
JULY 1917. AGE 21 / A BITTER GRIEF / A SHOCK SEVERE / TO PART WITH HIM / WE
LOVED SO DEAR (Grave Ref. D. 22.) "Son of John and Alice Ward, of 147, Haywood Rd., Law Side, Accrington. Native of West Hartlepool." Commonwealth War Graves Commission Debt of Honour Register |
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241398 PRIVATE / R. WINDER / EAST LANCASHIRE REGIMENT / 5TH
JULY 1917. AGE 22 / AT PEACE (Grave Ref. D. 18.) Robert Winder - "born at Hutton, Preston. Son of John and Margaret Winder, of Waggoner Farm, Tunstead, Stacksteads, Bacup, Lancs." Commonwealth War Graves Commission Debt of Honour Register |
