The village of Bucquoy, located about 25 minutes drive south of Arras, spent much of the war behind German lines, being captured in March 1917 and becoming the subject of much fighting between April and August 1918. The cemetery itself is located on the south side of the village on the D919 or Arras-Amiens Road. It contains over 500 burials including four members of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. All four of these men were not originally buried in this cemetery but were moved here from small cemeteries and scattered graves throughout the area. All are members of the 10th Battalion, three of these men were killed between 8 and 11 February 1917 while their battalion held trenches in the area. The final man, Private D. J. White, was killed during the Battle of the Ancre in 1916 and his burial in this location is a little more unusual given the 10 kilometre distance the area where he was killed and this cemetery. It is possible that he died while in German hands and was originally buried somewhere behind their lines towards Bucquoy.
Apart from the four Dublin Fusiliers buried here there is also an unusual and interesting memorial in the cemetery to a further two members of the regiment. Located on the right boundary wall of the cemetery as you face away from the entrance are six headstones commemorating British soldiers who, as the memorial states, “…fell in 1915 and 1916 and were buried by the enemy in Miraumont German Cemetery but whose graves were destroyed in later battles.”. Two of these men were Lieutenant Charles Bernard Davies and Private John Daly of the 1st Battalion. Davies was born in Cardiff in 1894 and had served with his battalion in France from February 1916. A well known sportsman he had played rugby for Cardiff and Swansea and cricket for a number of clubs. In 1914 he joined the Oxford OTC and was later commissioned into the Dublin Fusiliers, sent to France and attached to the 1st Battalion.
On the night of 8/9 June 1916 Davies led a routine reconnaissance patrol of three men into no-man’s land in front of the Dublin’s trenches, with Daly as one of the group. What exactly happened during the patrol is unclear but only one of the party, Private James Dunne returned. Dunne had been seriously wounded in five places and was beyond any meaningful medical treatment, he refused to believe that he was going to die and managed to explain that the last he had seen of Davies was him struggling with a German soldier in one of the enemy’s trenches and believed he had been taken prisoner. Dunne died soon afterwards and is buried in Louvencourt Military Cemetery. Unbeknownst to Dunne and the families of Lieutenant Davies and Private Daly, both had been wounded before being taken prisoner. They died of those wounds and for this reason were buried in Miraumont German Cemetery where their graves, as previously mentioned, were later destroyed. Their families were not given the confirmation of their deaths until September 1917. The final member of the patrol party led into no-man’s land that night, Private Patrick Hayden, was also reported missing presumed dead and eventually reported as killed on the night on the raid. His body was also never recovered and his name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.
Queens Cemetery Entrance
Miraumont German Cemetery Memorial
The memorials to Lieutenant Davies and Private Dunne
Lieutenant Charles Bernard Davies
The memorial plaque sent to the family of Lieutenant Davies
The memorial headstone for Lieutenant Davies
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Cemetery Location
