The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Rummaging through some papers of an uncle who has been dead for some years, I came across an envelope holding a faded sepia photo of a soldier and two dog-eared letters from the War Office dated 1926. These related to a trip to be organised to a war graves cemetery near to Armentières in northern France. One stated that the grave of rifleman H.V. Darby was number 10 in row C at Deplanques Farm Cemetery. I recollected that the maiden name of my uncle’s wife (whom I scarcely ever met) was also Darby and I wondered if there was a connection. There was no service number and without this it was unlikely, I was told, that I would be able to find who was his next of kin.

So it was that in the first week of September I found myself following directions from the centre of Armentières and soon I had found the grave, still immaculately maintained, H.V. Darby’s service number and the date on which the rifleman died.

Back in Little Waltham, I was about to write to The Commonwealth War Graves Commission when I thought to find what they had to say about themselves on the Internet. I found (at www.cwgc.org ) that there was a register providing personal and service details and places of commemoration for the 1.7 million members of the Commonwealth forces who died in the First or Second World Wars. (A record of some 60,000 civilian casualties of the Second World War is provided without details of burial location.)

The cemeteries and memorials where these names are commemorated, in perpetuity, are located in around 150 countries This database makes it possible to identify the exact location, by cemetery plot or memorial panel, where any given name is commemorated. These places of commemoration are maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

I keyed in : Darby, H.V., 1915, Army, UK & Colonies and immediately came the reply :

Additional Information: Son of Mr. J. Darby, of 16, Parkside Rd., Hounslow, Middx.
Cemetery: DESPLANQUE FARM CEMETERY, LA CHAPELLE-D'ARMENTIERES, Nord, France
Grave Reference: A. 10.

Location: La Chapelle-d'Armentieres is a village 1.5 kilometres to the west of Armentieres, a large town in the north of France. From the Marie in La Chapelle d'Armentieres turn left onto the main road and continue to the roundabout. Turn right towards the motorway and after 1 kilometre turn into the farmyard and pass through the archway where the cemetery will be found on the left.
Historical Information: The village of La Chapelle-d'Armentieres was in British hands from October 1914 until the fall of Armentieres on the 10th April 1918, and it was retaken in the following October. During the British occupation it was very close to the front line, and the cemeteries which it contains are those made by fighting units and Field Ambulances in the earlier days of trench warfare. Desplanque Farm Cemetery stands behind a farm, now rebuilt, which was used at first as a dressing station and later as an observation post. It was begun in October 1914 by units of the 6th Division, and used until June 1916. There are now over 50, 1914-1918 war casualties buried in this site. Of these, a small number are unidentified. The cemetery covers an area of 473 square metres and is enclosed by a rubble wall.

So all the information which I had sought had been at my fingertips all the time and I had had no need to go to Armentières. But I was glad that I had made the journey.

And as I gazed at that gravestone, I pondered on who, if anyone, had gazed at it since 1926.