 |
Military extensions are enclosed into
civilian cemeteries. The number of graves they include is quiet variable.
At the extremity of Hamel cemetery, on the right, four soldiers lie : three
unknown French and one British. At the beginning of the conflict and on
some moments, it was common to bury bodies in the closer local civilian
cimetery. But we can wonder why these four soldiers are resting in Hamel
: they could have found a place in military cemeteries around.
|
 |
We have some informations about James
Gilpin dead on the 1st of August 1916 at 21 years old. He was in the
Royal Engineers, 123th Field Company, 24th Division. Below his graves,
there is an epitaph from his family : " No matter how we call there's
nothing left to answer but his photo on the wall ". Gilpin was from
Oakenshaw or maybe Stockley, villages near Willington (Durhamshire, North-East
of England). His name is on the cenotaph of that town. He was a member
of a large mining family. In 1901 census, men of his family are listed
as coal hewers and the young boys were often coal mine pony drivers. With
that experience in handling horses, James drived horse drawn waggons near
the Front. That the meaning of "driver" on his grave.
|
 |
In August 1916, the battle of the Somme
last for around one month and Hamel is a few kilometers far from the lines.
The village belongs to the French sector, the back-front, where troops
are billeting, where the sanitary and various supplying services are settled.
Consequently, many convoys circulated there to feed the front. It was not
yet a British sector but James Gilpin died there maybe victim of a shell
or an accident.
|
 |
As a last remark, we can underline
the quality of that tiny military extension (clean graves, gravel). The
municipality only receive a couple of Euros by year for that task. Its
example might be followed by the too numerous municipality which forsake
the few military graves they are officially in charge of...
|
