Zillebeke Churchyard Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery

Infobox Military Cemetery
name = Zillebeke Churchyard
body = Commonwealth War Graves Commission


use_dates = 1914
established = 1914
designer = W H Cowlishaw
coordinates = coord|50|50|09|N|02|55|21|E|
nearest_town = Ieper, West Flanders, Belgium
total = 32
by_country = Allies of World War I:
*United Kingdom: 22
*Canada: 10
by_war =
World War I: 32
source = [http://www.wo1.be/eng/database/dbDetail.asp?TypeID=6&SubTypeID=19&ItemID=5697 WO1.be]

Zillebeke Churchyard Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial ground for the dead of World War I located near Ypres (now "Ieper") in Belgium on the Western Front.

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. [ [http://www.webmatters.net/belgium/ww1_friedhof_vladslo.htm First World War] , accessed 19 August 2006]

Foundation

In the early days of the war, whilst the front line was still mobile, specific cemeteries for soldiers were comparatively rare and the dead were often buried in local churchyards or municipal burial grounds near where they were killed. Zillebeke was on the front line for much of the war and its churchyard was used for the war dead.cite web|url=http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_details.aspx?cemetery=55903&mode=1|title=CWGC :: Cemetery Details|publisher=www.cwgc.org|accessdate=2008-05-05] These 1914 burials reflect the mobility of the front line as they are largely of officers, and reflect the officer class [cite web|url=http://www.firstworldwar.bham.ac.uk/biogs.htm|title=University of Birmingham: Centre for First World War Studies: 'Lions Led By Donkeys'|publisher=www.firstworldwar.bham.ac.uk|accessdate=2008-05-05|last=Bourne|first=John] of that point in the war as they were nobility [cite web|url=http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/flanders/zillebeke.html|title=World War One Battlefields : Zillebeke and area|publisher=www.ww1battlefields.co.uk|accessdate=2008-05-05] or the sons of the wealthy and the well-connected.cite web|url=http://www.1914-1918.net/sacredground/ypres/zillebeke.htm|title=Zillebeke|publisher=www.1914-1918.net|accessdate=2008-05-05] As such, the cemetery deviates from almost every other Commission burial ground by having two private memorials, [cite web|url=http://bujold.co.uk/html/zillebeke___the_caterpillar_cr.html|title=Zillebeke & The Caterpillar Crater|publisher=bujold.co.uk|accessdate=2008-05-05] breaking the "equality in death" [cite book |title= [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hFqZcQmlOBsC&pg=PA39&lpg=PA39&dq=%22great+war%22+%22equality++in+death%22&source=web&ots=LSOyj504hY&sig=kG9lAZ5mSBczTymyALK5W8iDztY&hl=en#PPA39,M1 Evidence, History, and the Great War: Historians and the Impact of 1914-18] |last=Braybon |first=Gail |year=2003 |publisher=Berghahn Books |location=Oxford |isbn=1571817247 |pages=p39] principle the Commission was founded under and not complying with Sir Frederic Kenyon's report, still otherwise followed to this day, that Commission cemeteries "were designed to avoid class distinctions that would conflict with the feeling of 'brotherhood' which had developed between all ranks serving at the Front". [Modern wording, not from the report, from " [http://www.cwgc.org/admin/files/cwgc_history.pdf A History of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission] ", accessed 2008-05-05] The private memorials are a headstone dedicated to Lieutenant John Henry Gordon Lee-Steere [nl icon cite web|url=http://www.wo1.be/ned/database/personen/persdetail.asp?persoonID=232&lID=3|title=Wereldoorlog I in de Westhoek - LEE-STEERE JOHN HENRY GORDON|publisher=www.wo1.be|accessdate=2008-05-05] and the tomb of Second Lieutenant Baron Alexis George de Gunzburg. [nl icon cite web|url=http://www.wo1.be/ned/database/personen/persdetail.asp?persoonID=231&lID=3|title=Wereldoorlog I in de Westhoek - DE GUNZBURG ALEXIS GEORGE GORDON|publisher=www.wo1.be|accessdate=2008-05-05]

Amongst the nobility or well-connected buried in the cemetery are Lieutenant Henry Parnell, 5th Baron Congleton, [cite web
url=http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=7520082|title=CWGC :: Casualty Details|publisher=www.cwgc.org|accessdate=2008-05-05] Major Lord Bernard Charles Gordon-Lennox, son of Charles Gordon-Lennox, 7th Duke of Richmond [cite web|url=http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=488821|title=CWGC :: Casualty Details|publisher=www.cwgc.org|accessdate=2008-05-05] and the Hon William Reginald Wyndham, son of Henry Wyndham, 2nd Baron Leconfield. [cite web|url=http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=488839|title=CWGC :: Casualty Details
publisher=www.cwgc.org|accessdate=2008-05-05]

The Commission part of the cemetery was designed by W H Cowlishaw.

References

External links

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