Artillery Wood Cemetery


Artillery Wood Cemetery, near Boezinge, Belgium, is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery from the First World War.
The cemetery grounds were assigned to the United Kingdom in perpetuity by King Albert I of Belgium in recognition of the sacrifices made by the British Empire in the defence and liberation of Belgium during the war.
The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.

Establishment

The cemetery was established in 1917 after fighting in the immediate area – the Battle of Pilckem Ridge – had moved away and was used for burials until March 1918.
At the point of the Armistice there were some 141 graves in the cemetery. Concentration from the battlefields and three smaller cemeteries enlarged this to the present 1,307.

Burials by Unit

The following list is compiled from the 801 identified casualties in Artillery Wood Cemetery with Imperial Units in bold:
Royal Field Artillery: 75Coldstream Guards: 70
Grenadier Guards: 61Irish Guards: 57
Royal Welch Fusiliers: 32Royal Garrison Artillery: 26
Lancashire Fusiliers: 26Border Regiment: 22
Scots Guards: 21South Wales Borderers: 20
Seaforth Highlanders: 17Royal Engineers: 17
Machine Gun Corps: 17Welch Regiment: 16
Northumberland Fusiliers: 14Gordon Highlanders: 14
King's Shropshire Light Infantry: 13King's Royal Rifle Corps: 13
Worcestershire Regiment: 13Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment: 12
Royal Scots: 12Middlesex Regiment: 11
Newfoundland Regiment: 10King's Own Scottish Borderers: 10
Sherwood Foresters: 10Machine Gun Guards: 10
Royal Fusiliers: 9Monmouthshire Regiment: 9
Welsh Guards: 8Black Watch: 8
Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers: 8Durham Light Infantry: 8
Manchester Regiment: 7Cheshire Regiment: 7
Royal Irish Fusiliers: 7Hampshire Regiment: 7
Duke of Wellington's Regiment: 6Gloucestershire Regiment: 6
Royal Horse Artillery: 6Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders: 6
London Regiment: 5Dorset Regiment: 5
Canadian Infantry Corps: 5Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry: 5
Royal Dublin Fusiliers: 5Rifle Brigade: 4
East Surrey Regiment: 4Royal Sussex Regiment: 4
Queen's Royal Regiment: 4Northamptonshire Regiment: 3
Bedfordshire Regiment: 3King's Regiment: 2
Devonshire Regiment: 2Royal Warwickshire Regiment: 2
Tank Corps: 2Suffolk Regiment: 2
York and Lancaster Regiment: 2Yorkshire Regiment: 2
Essex Regiment: 2Highland Light Infantry: 2
Suffolk Regiment: 2South Lancashire Regiment: 1
Somerset Light Infantry: 1Royal Irish Rifles: 1
King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry: 1King's Own Royal Regiment: 1
Army Service Corps: 1Canadian Mounted Rifles: 1
Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders: 1Canadian Machine Gun Corps: 1
Connaught Rangers: 1Hertfordshire Regiment: 1
New Zealand Rifle Brigade: 1Norfolk Regiment: 1
Royal Army Medical Corps: 1Royal Berkshire Regiment: 1
Wiltshire Regiment: 1

Notable burials

It is the location of the grave of Hedd Wyn, posthumous winner of the bardic chair at the 1917 National Eisteddfod, and of Francis Ledwidge, the Irish poet.