| Tyne Cot | |
|---|---|
| Commonwealth War Graves Commission | |
 | |
| Used for those deceased 1917–1918 | |
| Established | October 1917 |
| Location | 50°53′13″N02°59′53″E / 50.88694°N 2.99806°E /50.88694; 2.99806 near Passendale, West Flanders, Belgium |
| Designed by | SirHerbert Baker |
| Total burials | 11,965, of which 8,369 are unnamed |
Unknowns | 101 |
| Burials by nation | |
Allied Powers:
| |
| Burials by war | |
World War I: 11,954 | |
1914 – Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the armies of the British Empire who fell in Ypres Salient, but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death – 1918[1] | |
| Official name | Funerary and memory sites of the First World War (Western Front) |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | i, ii, vi |
| Designated | 2023(45thsession) |
| Reference no. | 1567-FL08 |
| Statistics source:CWGC | |
Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing is aCommonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) burial ground for the dead ofWorld War I in theYpres Salient on theWestern Front. It is the largest cemetery forCommonwealth forces in the world, for any war. The cemetery and its surrounding memorial are located outsidePassendale, nearZonnebeke in Belgium.
The name "Tyne Cot" is said to come from theNorthumberland Fusiliers, seeing a resemblance between the many German concretepill boxes on this site and typicalTyneside workers' cottages (Tyne cots).[2] Tyne Cot CWGC Cemetery lies on a broad rise in the landscape which overlooks the surrounding countryside. As such, the location wasstrategically 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 GermanFlandern I Stellung,[3] which played animportant tactical role during theBattle of Passchendaele in 1917.
On 4 October 1917, the area where Tyne Cot CWGC Cemetery is now located was captured by the3rd Australian Division and theNew Zealand Division and two days later a cemetery for British and Canadian war dead was begun. The cemetery was recaptured by German forces on 13 April 1918 and was finally liberated byBelgian forces on 28 September.[4]
After theArmistice in November 1918, the cemetery was greatly enlarged from its original 343 graves[4] by concentrating graves from the battlefields, smaller cemeteries nearby and fromLangemark.[1]
The cemetery grounds were assigned to the United Kingdom in perpetuity by KingAlbert I of Belgium in recognition of the sacrifices made by theBritish Empire in the defence and liberation ofBelgium during the war.[5] The cemetery was designed by SirHerbert Baker.
TheCross of Sacrifice that marks many CWGC cemeteries was built on top of a German pill box in the centre of the cemetery, purportedly at the suggestion ofKing George V, who visited the cemetery in 1922 as it neared completion.[1] The King's visit, described in the poemThe King's Pilgrimage, included a speech in which he said:
We can truly say that the whole circuit of the Earth is girdled with the graves of our dead. In the course of my pilgrimage, I have many times asked myself whether there can be more potent advocates of peace upon Earth through the years to come, than this massed multitude of silent witnesses to the desolation of war.
— King George V, 11 May 1922[6]
The cemetery has several notable graves and memorials, including the grave of PrivateJames Peter Robertson (1883–1917), a Canadian awarded theVictoria 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.[1]
Two Australian recipients of the Victoria Cross buried in the cemetery areCaptainClarence Smith Jeffries (1894–1917), andSergeantLewis McGee (1888–1917). Jeffries led an assault party and rushed one of the strong points at theFirst Battle of Passchendaele on 12 October 1917, capturing four machine guns and thirty five prisoners, before running his company forward again. He was planning another attack when he was killed by an enemy gunner. On the same day, McGee, who had earned his decoration eight days earlier atBroodseinde, was killed charging an enemy pillbox in the same battle.
Also at Tyne Cot, behind the Cross of Sacrifice which was constructed on top of an old German pillbox in the middle of the cemetery, there are 4 German graves, buried alongside Commonwealth graves. These graves are of men that were treated here after the battle, when the pillbox underneath the main cross was used as a dressing station for wounded men.
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The stone wall surrounding the cemetery makes-up theTyne Cot Memorial to the Missing, one of severalCommonwealth War Graves Commission Memorials to the Missing along theWestern Front. The UK missing lost in theYpres Salient are commemorated at theMenin Gate memorial to the missing inYpres and the Tyne Cot Memorial. Upon completion of the Menin Gate, builders discovered it was not large enough to contain all the names as originally planned.[7] 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.[8] Additionally, theNew 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.[9] 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 theBattle of Broodseinde and theFirst Battle of Passchendaele October 1917 and whose graves are known only unto God".[10]
The memorial contains the names of 33,783 soldiers of the UK forces, plus a further 1,176 New Zealanders.[11] Three British ArmyVictoria Cross recipients are commemorated here:[12]
Other notable persons commemorated include:
It was designed by SirHerbert Baker, with sculptures byJoseph Armitage andFerdinand Victor Blundstone, who also sculpted part of theNewfoundland National War Memorial.[14]
The memorial was unveiled on 20 June 1927 by SirGilbert Dyett.[14]
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