In Memory of
JOHN STANLEY PRITCHARD
Private
23578
5th Bn., Royal Berkshire Regiment
who died on
Tuesday, 8th August 1916. Age 21.
| Additional Information: |
Son of George Picken Pritchard, of Bushford
Bridge, Wotton-under Edge, Glos. |
Commemorative Information
| Cemetery: |
REGINA TRENCH CEMETERY, GRANDCOURT, Somme,
France
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Grave Reference/
Panel Number: |
IV. D. 28.
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| Location: |
Although Regina Trench Cemetery is in the
commune of Grandcourt, it is not possible to gain access to the cemetery
from Grandcourt. Visitors should approach the cemetery from the
direction of Courcelette, which is a village about 8 kilometres
north-east of Albert (next to the main road D929 Albert-Bapaume). The
cemetery lies about 1.5 kilometres north-west of the village of
Courcelette (signposted in the centre of Courcelette) and will be found
1.5 kilometres down a single track lane (not suitable for cars).
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| Historical Information: |
Grandcourt village was reached by part of the
36th (Ulster) Division on the 1st July, 1916, and occupied without
fighting by patrols of the Howe Battalion early in February, 1917. To
the South-East of it is Courcelette, taken by the 2nd Canadian Division
on the 15th September, 1916. Regina Trench was a German work, captured
for a time by the 5th Canadian Brigade on the 1st October, 1916;
attacked again by the 1st and 3rd Canadian Divisions on the 8th October;
taken in part by the 18th and 4th Canadian Divisions on the 21st
October; and finally cleared by the 4th Canadian Division on the 11th
November, 1916. The original part of the cemetery (now Plot II, Rows A
to D) was made in the winter of 1916-1917. The cemetery was completed
after the Armistice by the concentration of graves from the battlefields
of Courcelette, Grandcourt and Miraumont. The dates of death are, for
the great majority, October, 1916, to February, 1917. There are now over
2,000, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, over
half are unidentified and special memorials are erected to thirteen
soldiers from the United Kingdom and one from Canada, believed to be
buried among them. There is 1 American soldier buried here. The cemetery
covers an area of 6,846 square metres. Two considerable groups of
scattered graves, classed as cemeteries, were concentrated to Regina
Trench Cemetery:- COURCELETTE ROAD CEMETERY, MIRAUMONT, was on the West
side of West Miraumont Road, between Courcelette and Miraumont; and in
it were buried soldiers from Canada and from the United Kingdom, who
fell in September-November, 1916. MIRAUMONT BRITISH CEMETERY, on the
East side of the same road, contained the graves of soldiers from Canada
and from the United Kingdom, who fell in September-December, 1916. |
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