In Memory of
W J STARLING
Private 3/11191
1st Bn., Northamptonshire Regiment
who died on
Sunday, 19th March 1916.
Commemorative Information
Cemetery:
CHOCQUES MILITARY CEMETERY, Pas de Calais, France
Grave Reference/
Panel Number:
I. H. 124.
Location:
Chocques is 4 kilometres north-west of Bethune on the road to Lillers. When you reach
the traffic lights on this road at Chocques, follow the signs for the centre of town and
go
through the main street, then turn left towards Gonnheim. Take the next turning on the
right and the cemetery lies approximately 400 metres down the road on the left.
Historical Information:
Chocques was in British occupation from the late autumn of 1914 to the end of the War.
It was at one time the Headquarters of the I Corps. From January, 1915, to April, 1918,
No. 1 Casualty Clearing Station was posted in the village, and during that time almost all
the burials in the Cemetery were those of men who died there of wounds received in the
fighting on the Bethune front. These men are buried in Plot I, and the officers in part of
Plot V. From April to September, 1918, the burials were carried out by Field Ambulances,
Divisions and units; the graves are in parts of Plots II to VI, and they represent the
repulse of the German attack on this front. The groups of graves of a single Royal
Artillery
Brigade in Plot II, Row A, and of the 2nd Seaforths in II D, and III A, are significant of
the
casualties of the 4th Division at that time. The big collective grave in VI A contains the
remains of soldiers of the 4th King's Liverpool Regiment killed in a troop train in April,
1918.
The stone memorial in 1A is placed behind the graves of 8 men of the 3rd Squadron,
R.F.C., killed in a bomb explosion on the Aerodrome at Merville in March, 1915. After the
Armistice it was found necessary to concentrate into this Cemetery (Plots II, III, IV and
VI) a large number of isolated graves or small graveyards in the country between
Chocques and Bethune. Among the small cemeteries thus removed, to ensure the
maintenance of the graves, were:- ANNEZIN COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION, a short
distance West of Bethune, made by the 3rd Division in April, 1918, and containing 38
graves; LES HARISOIRS BRITISH CEMETERY, Mont-Bernenchon, three miles North East of
Chocques, made by the 4th Division in April, 1918, and containing 27 graves; CANAL
CEMETERY, Les Harisoirs, made by the 4th Division in April, 1918, and containing 17
graves; BOIS-DES-MONTAGNES BRITISH CEMETERY, Vaudricourt, two miles South West of
Bethune, made by the 46th Field Ambulance in September, 1915, and containing 8 graves;
and CHOCQUES CHURCHYARD, containing 1 British and 35 Indian graves. There are now
nearly 2,000, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. The Cemetery covers an
area of 5,430 square metres. It occupies a corner site, standing above the road; and it is
bounded by a low stone wall and approached by stone steps. The War Stone stands on a
platform at the North angle of the cemetery, and the Cross at the East end.
Copyright The Commonwealth War Graves Commission