BAILIE

12th (Service) Battalion (Central Antrim) Formed in County Antrim in September 1914, from the Antrim Volunteers. September 1914 : attached to 108th Brigade, 36th (Ulster) Division.

BLACK

Note: 7th (Service) Battalion Formed in Belfast in September 1914, as part of K2. September 1914 : attached to 48th Brigade, 16th (Irish) Division. 5 March 1915 : joined by one Company from the Royal Jersey Militia. 23 August 1917 : transferred to 49th Brigade, 16th (Irish) Division. 14 October 1917 : transferred to 108th Brigade, 36th (Ulster) Division. 14 November 1917 : absorbed by 2nd Bn.8th (Service) Battalion (East Belfast) Formed in Belfast in September 1914, from the Belfast Volunteers. September 1914 : attached to 107th Brigade, 36th (Ulster) Division. 29 August 1917 : amalgamated with 9th Bn, to form 8/9th Bn. 7 February 1918 : disbanded in France.14th (Service) Battalion (Young Citizens) Formed in Belfast in September 1914, from the Belfast Volunteers. September 1914 : attached to 109th Brigade, 36th (Ulster) Division. 18 February 1918 : disbanded in France.14th (Service) Battalion (Young Citizens) Formed in Belfast in September 1914, from the Belfast Volunteers. September 1914 : attached to 109th Brigade, 36th (Ulster) Division. 18 February 1918 : disbanded in France.

CAMPBELL

CLOKEY

Note: On the opening day of the Battle of Arras, 9 April 1917, the four divisions of the Canadian Corps, fighting side by side for the first time, scored a huge tactical victory in the capture of the 60 metre high Vimy Ridge. After the war, the highest point of the ridge was chosen as the site of the great memorial to all Canadians who served their country in battle during the First World War, and particularly to the 60,000 who gave their lives in France. It also bears the names of 11,000 Canadian servicemen who died in France - many of them in the fight for Vimy Ridge - who have no known grave. The memorial was designed by W S Allward.

COOMBE

DAVIS

DAVIS

Note: 2nd Battalion August 1914 : in Tidworth. Part of 7th Brigade, 3rd Division. 8 October 1915 : transferred with Brigade to 25th Division. 26 October 1915 : transferred to 74th Brigade, 25th Division. 13 November 1917 : transferred to 108th Brigade, 36th (Ulster) Division, absorbing 7th Bn. 8 February 1918 : transferred to 107th Brigade, 36th (Ulster) Division.

DONNAN

DOHERTY

The cemetery was made by French troops (as the Cemetery "du Calvaire de Bertenacre, from the crucifix on the main road), and used in July-September, 1918, after the Battles of the Lys, by the 36th (Ulster) Division. After the Armistice the 115 French and two German graves were removed, and British graves were brought in from the Royal West Surrey Cemetery, Fletre. There are now nearly 150, 1914-18 and over 30, 1939-45 war casualties commemorated in this site. One grave from the 1914-18 War, destroyed by shell fire, is represented by a special memorial. Most of the burials from the 1939-45 War were men of the 5th Cinque Ports Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment. The cemetery covers an area of 716 square metres and is enclosed by a rubble wall. The Royal West Surrey Cemetery, Fletre, was about 460 metres to the South-East. It contained the graves of 42 soldiers from the United Kingdom killed in an enemy air raid on the 18th August, 1917 (of whom 38 belonged to the 10th Queen's), and one Canadian soldier who fell in June, 1918.

DUFFIELD

Note: On 1 July 1916, supported by a French attack to the south, thirteen divisions of Commonwealth forces launched an offensive on a line from north of Gommecourt to Maricourt. Despite a preliminary bombardment lasting seven days, the German defences were barely touched and the attack met unexpectedly fierce resistance. Losses were catastrophic and with only minimal advances on the southern flank, the initial attack was a failure. In the following weeks, huge resources of manpower and equipment were deployed in an attempt to exploit the modest successes of the first day. However, the German Army resisted tenaciously and repeated attacks and counter attacks meant a major battle for every village, copse and farmhouse gained. At the end of September, Thiepval was finally captured. The village had been an original objective of 1 July. Attacks north and east continued throughout October and into November in increasingly difficult weather conditions. The Battle of the Somme finally ended on 18 November with the onset of winter. In the spring of 1917, the German forces fell back to their newly prepared defences, the Hindenburg Line, and there were no further significant engagements in the Somme sector until the Germans mounted their major offensive in March 1918. The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. The memorial also serves as an Anglo-French Battle Memorial in recognition of the joint nature of the 1916 offensive and a small cemetery containing equal numbers of Commonwealth and French graves lies at the foot of the memorial. The memorial, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, was built between 1928 and 1932 and unveiled by the Prince of Wales, in the presence of the President of France, on 31 July 1932. The dead of other Commonwealth countries who died on the Somme and have no known graves are commemorated on national memorials elsewhere.

ELLISON

GALWAY

GORDON

GRAY

The Memorial in Le Touret Military Cemetery, Richebourg-l'Avoue, is one of those erected by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to record the names of the officers and men who fell in the Great War and whose graves are not known. It serves the area enclosed on the North by the river Lys and a line drawn from Estaires to Fournes, and on the South by the old Southern boundary of the First Army about Grenay; and it covers the period from the arrival of the II Corps in Flanders in 1914 to the eve of the Battle of Loos. It does not include the names of officers and men of Canadian or Indian Regiments; they are found on the Memorials at Vimy and Neuve-Chapelle.

GRIBBEN

GUNNING

HARKNESS

HARPER

Note: The Military Medal was established in wartime Britain by King George V on 25 March 1916, a year and a half after Britain declared war against Germany. Its inception was intended to meet the enormous demand for medals during the First World War.The medal was initially awarded to NCOs and men of the Army (including the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Division) for individual or associated acts of bravery which were insufficient to merit an award of the Distinguished Conduct Medal (or DCM).

HEALY

HILL

HILL

Note: I question the accuracy of my choice here because this man came from Tullyhogue, County Tyrone and so was not in fact from the Ballynahinch District.

HOUSTON

Note: Bailleul was occupied on 14 October 1914 by the 19th Brigade and the 4th Division. It became an important railhead, air depot and hospital centre, with the 2nd, 3rd, 8th, 11th, 53rd, 1st Canadian and 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Stations quartered in it for considerable periods. It was a corps headquarters until July 1917, when it was severely bombed and shelled, and after the Battle of Bailleul (13-15 April 1918), it fell into German hands and was not retaken until 30 August 1918. The earliest Commonwealth burials at Bailleul were made at the east end of the communal cemetery and in April 1915, when the space available had been filled, the extension was opened on the east side of the cemetery. The extension was used until April 1918, and again in September, and after the Armistice graves were brought in from the neighbouring battlefields. BAILLEUL COMMUNAL CEMETERY contains 610 Commonwealth burials of the First World War; 17 of the graves were destroyed by shell fire and are represented by special memorials. BAILLEUL COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION contains 4,403 Commonwealth burials of the First World War; 11 of the graves made in April 1918 were destroyed by shell fire and are represented by special memorials. There are also 17 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War and 154 German burials from both wars. Both the Commonwealth plot in the communal cemetery and the extension were designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

HOUSTON

HUNTER

HUNTER

SCOTT

Note: The Military Cross is awarded to commissioned and warrant officers for distinguished and meritorious service in battle. For additional acts of bravery, a straight silver bar was awarded. During the First World War 2,885 of these medals were awarded to British officers.

KERR

Note: Harlebeke village was taken on the night of 19-20 October 1918 by the 9th (Scottish) Division. Harlebeke New British Cemetery was made after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the surrounding battlefields of 1918 and, in 1924-25, from German cemeteries or plots in Belgium. The earlier concentrations are in Plots I and X, and the later in Plots I, II and XI to XIX. In the latter group are many graves of October 1914. In May 1940, The British Expeditionary Force was involved in the later stages of the defence of Belgium following the German invasion, and suffered many casualties in covering the withdrawal to Dunkirk. Commonwealth forces did not return until September 1944. The cemetery now contains 1,116 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 181 of the burials are unidentified and a special memorial is erected to one casualty who is believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of 19 casualties buried by the Germans in other burial grounds whose graves could not be found on concentration. There are also ten burials of the Second World War in the cemetery. The cemetery was designed by W H Cowlishaw.

KINCAN

McBRATNEY

Note: The village was held by British troops from the summer of 1915 to March, 1918, when it was captured in the German Offensive on the Somme; it was ruined by shell fire even before that date. It was later "adopted by the Urban District of Leyton. The Military Cemetery was used by Field Ambulances and fighting units from August, 1915 to December, 1916, and in 1917 and 1918 by Indian Labour Companies. There are now over 450, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, nearly 40 are unidentified and special memorials are erected to 18 soldiers from the United Kingdom, known or believed to be buried among them. The graves of two other German soldiers have been removed. The cemetery covers an area of 2,650 square metres and is enclosed by a low concrete curb.

McCOUBREY

McGINNIS

Note: He is the only J.McGinnis listed but comes from Derry

McKEE

McKIBBIN

McPARLAND

Note: During the two world wars, the United Kingdom became an island fortress used for training troops and launching land, sea and air operations around the globe. There are more than 170,000 Commonwealth war graves in the United Kingdom, many being those of servicemen and women killed on active service, or who later succumbed to wounds. Others died in training accidents, or because of sickness or disease. The graves, many of them privately owned and marked by private memorials, will be found in more than 12,000 cemeteries and churchyards. In December 1914, Liverpool became one of the 21 Auxiliary Patrol Bases and in February 1915, the base of the 10th Cruiser Squadron. During the Second World War, Liverpool was headquarters of Western Approaches Command and a manning depot for officers and men of the Merchant Navy who agreed to serve with the Royal Navy for the duration of the war. A large Canadian hospital, which became No. 5 Canadian General Hospital, opened at Kirkdale in July 1917 and of the 386 First World War burials in Liverpool (Kirkdale) Cemetery, more than 100 are Canadian. Of the remainder, 82 are of officers and men of the King's (Liverpool) Regiment. About half of the graves from this period are scattered throughout the cemetery and the rest are contained in two war graves plots, where the names of the dead are recorded on screen walls. There are also 115 Second World War burials in the cemetery, nine of them in one of the First World War plots, the rest scattered. This cemetery also contains nine war graves of other nationalities. Originally, there were many more, including American and German from the First World War and Belgian from both wars, but these were later removed to other national cemeteries in the United Kingdom or repatriated to their home country.

MARSH

MARTIN

MARTIN

Note: The cemetery was used throughout the 1914-1918 War for the burial of sailors and soldiers who died on ships passing Gibraltar, or in the Military Hospital. The 1914-1918 War Graves are scattered in the different divisions of the cemetery. After that war, a Cross of Sacrifice was erected to the West of the cemetery, close to the sea, at the junction of the road into Spain and the Devil's Tower Road. Twenty-three burials belong to H.M.S. "Britannia, sunk by a submarine off Cape Trafalgar on the 9th November, 1918. There are also many graves of merchant sailors who died during the war from natural causes. The majority of the men who lost their lives while at Gibraltar during the 1939-1945 War are buried here. Most of their graves are in two adjacent plots at the northern end of the cemetery, but some are also scattered in other parts. The cemetery is situated on Crown land, and (with the exception of those privately owned) all the War Graves in it are registered in perpetuity in the Commission's name.

MELVILLE

MOORE

MORAN

MORRISON

NEWELL

O’HARE

PATTERSON

SCANDRETT

SCOTT

SCOTT

SIMPSON

SMYTH

Note: Potijze was within the Allied lines during practically the whole of the First Word War and although subject to incessant shell fire, Potijze Chateau contained an advanced dressing station. Potijze Chateau Grounds Cemetery was used from May 1915 to September 1918 and at the end of the war, consisted of Plot I. Plot II was formed after the Armistice when graves were brought in from isolated sites and small burial grounds to the north-east. A path separates the cemetery from Potijze Chateau Lawn Cemetery, used from May to December 1915, July 1917 and October 1918. Potijze Chateau Grounds Cemetery contains 476 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, 111 of which are unidentified. The Lawn Cemetery contains 226 burials. Both cemeteries were designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.

WATSON

WOOD

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