Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) burial ground for the dead of World War I in the Ypres Salient on the Western Front. It is the largest cemetery for Commonwealth forces in the world, for any war. The cemetery and its surrounding memorial are located outside Passendale, near Zonnebeke in Belgium.

Name

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The name "Tyne Cot" is said to come from the Northumberland Fusiliers, seeing a resemblance between the many German concrete pill boxes on this site and typical Tyneside workers' cottages (Tyne cots). Tyne Cot CWGC Cemetery lies on a broad rise in the landscape which overlooks the surrounding countryside. As such, the location was strategically important to both sides fighting in the area. The concrete shelters which still stand in various parts of the cemetery were part of a fortified position of the German Flandern I Stellung, which played an important tactical role during the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917.

Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery

[[Image:030A- Tyne Cot - Indscription on the Tyne Cot, Passendale, Belgium.JPG|thumb|left|170px|The inscription on the cross built upon the largest of the three pillboxes reads: THIS WAS THE TYNE COT BLOCKHOUSE CAPTURED BY THE 3RD AUSTRALIAN DIVISION<br>4 October 1917<br>It originally read "2nd Division" until corrected in the 1990s.

After the Armistice in November 1918, the cemetery was greatly enlarged from its original 343 graves The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

The Cross of Sacrifice that marks many CWGC cemeteries was built on top of a German pillbox in the centre of the cemetery, purportedly at the suggestion of King George V, who visited the cemetery in 1922 as it neared completion.

Notable graves

<!-- Deleted image removed: thumb|right|150px|[[Lewis McGee's grave]] -->

The cemetery has several notable graves and memorials, including the grave of Private James Peter Robertson (1883–1917), a Canadian awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery in rushing a machine gun emplacement and rescuing two men from under heavy fire. He was killed saving the second of these men on 6 November 1917. They selected an arbitrary cut-off date of 15 August 1917 and the names of the UK missing after this date were inscribed on the Tyne Cot memorial instead. Additionally, the New Zealand contingent of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission declined to have its missing soldiers names listed on the main memorials, choosing instead to have names listed on its own memorials near the appropriate battles. Tyne Cot was chosen as one of these locations. Unlike the other New Zealand memorials to its missing, the Tyne Cot New Zealand memorial to the missing is integrated within the larger Tyne Cot memorial, forming a central apse in the main memorial wall. The inscription reads: "Here are recorded the names of officers and men of New Zealand who fell in the Battle of Broodseinde and the First Battle of Passchendaele October 1917 and whose graves are known only unto God".

The memorial contains the names of 33,783 soldiers of the UK forces, plus a further 1,176 New Zealanders. Three British Army Victoria Cross recipients are commemorated here:

  • Lieutenant Colonel Philip Bent (1891–1917)
  • Corporal William Clamp (1891–1917)
  • Lance Corporal Ernest Seaman (1893–1918)

Other notable persons commemorated include:

  • Lieutenant Allan Ivo Steel, English first-class cricketer.
  • Lieutenant David (Dai) Westacott, Welsh rugby international.
  • Lieutenant Denis Bertram Sydney Buxton, son of Sydney Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton, a radical Liberal Party (UK) politician and Governor-General of South Africa.

It was designed by Sir Herbert Baker, with sculptures by Joseph Armitage and Ferdinand Victor Blundstone, who also sculpted part of the Newfoundland National War Memorial.

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Image:Tyne cot.jpg|Graves at Tyne Cot Cemetery

Image:View from top of Tyne Cot.JPG|View towards entrance of cemetery

Image:Tyne Cot Cemetery 2 .jpg|Tyne Cot Cemetery with "Cross of Sacrifice" on the far right

Image:Tyne_Cot_Cross_3633.jpg|Tyne Cot "Cross of Sacrifice"

File:Tyne Cot Cemetery gravestones.jpg

Image:Dfr bel cem back.JPG

File:Tyne cot german graves 01.jpg|A single marker for two of the four German graves at Tyne Cot. Both are unknown.

File:Tyne cot german graves 02.jpg|A single marker for two of the four German graves at Tyne Cot. One soldier is named, the other is unknown.

Image:Tynecotcemetery.ogv|A two-minute video recording of the location

</gallery>

References

  • Memorial:
  • Cemetery:
  • Silent Cities
  • ww1cemeteries.com
  • ww1battlefields.co.uk
  • Tyne Cot Memorial (Belgian heritage register)
  • YouTube video of the Tyne Cot Cemetery