In Memory of
NATHAN STARLING
Private 3234
1st/2nd Bn., London Regt (Royal Fusiliers)
who died on
Monday, 3rd July 1916.
Additional Information:
Son of William and Jessie Starling, of Poplar, London; husband of Rebecca Starling, of 3,
Woollett Street, Poplar.
Commemorative Information
Cemetery:
ABBEVILLE COMMUNAL CEMETERY, Somme, France
Grave Reference/
Panel Number:
IV. C. 5.
Location:
The town of Abbeville is on the main road from Paris to Boulogne (N1), about 80 kilometres
south of Boulogne. The communal cemetery and communal cemetery extension are
located on the left hand side of the road when leaving the town in a north-east direction
for Drucat. CWGC direction signs will be found within the cemetery. Enter the Communal
Cemetery by the left hand side main gate and follow CWGC signs within the Cemetery.
Historical Information:
Abbeville, was during the greater part of the war, under various titles, the headquarters
of the British Lines of Communication; and three Hospitals were stationed there from 1915
to 1919. The first British burials in the communal cemetery took place from November,
1914, to October, 1915, in the two French military plots. Plots III., IV., V. and VI. are
in
the North corner next to the extension, and include burials from October, 1915, to
September, 1916. During the 1939-45 War it was one of the main operational aerodromes
of the Air Components in 1940; but Abbeville, the last crossing over the Somme, fell to
the enemy at the end of May of that year. On June 4th, 1940, the British 51st Division in
conjunction with the French unsuccessfully attacked this bridgehead, suffering heavy
losses. Towards the end of 1943 there existed near Abbeville no less than eight large
ski-shaped buildings at first thought to be launching sites for flying bombs. It was found
that they were storage buildings for the bomb components, and they were heavily
bombed. Abbeville was re-taken on September 4th, 1944, by Canadian and Polish units.
There are now nearly 800, 1914-18 and 30, 1939-45 war casualties commemorated in this
site. Of these, a small number from the 1939-45 War are unidentified.
Copyright The Commonwealth War Graves Commission