Bedford House Cemetery is a

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...

burial ground for the dead of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

located near

Zillebeke Zillebeke (also known as Zellebeck) is a village in the Flemish province of West Flanders in Belgium. It is a former municipality which is now part of Ypres. History On 3 March 1914 the then municipality was granted the arms of the last Lords o ...

, itself near

Ypres Ypres ( , ; nl, Ieper ; vls, Yper; german: Ypern ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality co ...

, on the Western Front in Belgium. The cemetery grounds were assigned to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

in perpetuity by King

Albert I of Belgium Albert I (8 April 1875 – 17 February 1934) was King of the Belgians from 23 December 1909 until his death in 1934. Born in Brussels as the fifth child and second son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders and Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-S ...

in recognition of the sacrifices made by the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

in the defence and liberation of

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

during the war.First World War
accessed 19 August 2006

Foundation

Zillebeke was directly behind the Western Front, making it a useful site for divisional headquarters and field ambulance stations. Château Rosendal, a large house with a moat and extensive gardens was put to this use. The British forces in the area named the château "Bedford House" or "Woodcote House",
, accessed 13 October 2007 with the former becoming the official name used for the post-war cemetery.Commonwealth War Graves Commission
record for Bedford House cemetery, accessed 13 October 2007 Whilst the area remained in Allied hands through the war,wo1.be
, accessed 13 October 2007 it was devastated by shell fire and the château was razed over the course of the war, being hit by German 8-inch shells, as well as 500 gas shells in just one day of the

Third Battle of Ypres The Third Battle of Ypres (german: link=no, Dritte Flandernschlacht; french: link=no, Troisième Bataille des Flandres; nl, Derde Slag om Ieper), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele (), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by t ...

.firstworldwar.com
accessed 13 October 2007

Enclosures No 1 and No 5

Five cemeteries were established in the grounds. At the end of the war, the earliest of these was moved to White House cemetery in Sint Jan, whilst the fifth was relocated to Aeroplane cemetery in Ypres.

Enclosure No 2

The second cemetery was established in December 1915 and remained in use until October 1918. After the

Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the La ...

, 437 graves were concentrated in this enclosure from two nearby battlefield cemeteries, Ecole de Bienfaisance and Asylum British, that the Commission could not maintain. Unusual for a Commonwealth cemetery on the Western Front, there are collective burials in this enclosure, although individual headstones have still been provided, marked "Buried near this spot".

Enclosure No 3

The third cemetery is the smallest and was in use from February 1915 until December 1916.

Enclosure No 4

The fourth cemetery is the largest. It was founded in June 1916 and in use until February 1918. Post-war, it received reburials of 3324 troops from other cemeteries or found under the former battlefields. The identities of most of these troops is unknown.

Enclosure No 6

A sixth cemetery was established in the 1930s for reburials of remains still being found in the area. This cemetery also received the remains of 69 British Expeditionary Force troops killed in the area during the rearguard action leading to the

Dunkirk evacuation The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, or just Dunkirk, was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers during the Second World War from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, in the ...

. Three of these soldiers' identities are unknown.

Special memorials

The cemetery as a whole has 47 "special memorials". In the form of stone obelisks or just headstones with special notations, they record the names of soldiers whose graves were lost in later fighting or could not be found after the war. As these are known casualties (not "missing"), they are included in the total figure for burials in the cemetery and are not recorded on the

Menin Gate The Menin Gate ( nl, Menenpoort), officially the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, is a war memorial in Ypres, Belgium, dedicated to the British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in the Ypres Salient of World War I and whose graves a ...

. The entire cemetery was designed by

Wilfred Clement Von Berg Captain Wilfrid Clement von Berg MC (21 October 1894 – July 1978)Archives of the Department of Architecture, University of Pretoria quoted iVON BERG, Wilfred Clement ''The South African Built Environment'', accessed 31 August 2009 was a Briti ...

Notable graves

Enclosure No 4 holds the grave of Second Lieutenant

Rupert Price Hallowes Rupert Price Hallowes VC MC (5 May 1881 – 30 September 1915) was a British recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth fo ...

,wo1.be entry for 2nd Lt Hallowes
, accessed 13 October 2007 a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

soldier who was awarded both the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

and the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

, the highest award for valour "in the face of the enemy" in the Commonwealth. Also buried in No 4 is Private Frederick Turner of the Northumberland Fusiliers. He was executed by his own side on 23 October 1917 for desertion.WW1Cemeteries.com
, accessed 13 October 2007 Such "shot at dawn" executions were pardoned by the British government in 2006.Fenton, B "Pardoned: the 306 soldiers shot at dawn for 'cowardice'
The Daily Telegraph
London 16 August 2006, accessed 13 October 2007

References

External links

* * {{CWGC cemeteries in Ypres municipality Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in Belgium Cemeteries and memorials in West Flanders Funerary and memory sites of the First World War (Western Front)