WEEK 42

Headstone

Harry Tyzack is my fourth cousin, twice removed. According to the 1911 Census he was an Oil Merchant’s Clerk and lived at Woodburn Road Council School, Sheffield with his parents. Special thanks are owed to Trevor Higgins for writing the following text:-

Harry was a member of the 6th Btn KOYLI, who were in position south east of Arras, in preparation of what is now known as the first battle of the Scarpe (river). On the 9th April their orders were to take the village of Tilloy-les-Mofflaines on the Wancourt Ridge. The Germans held a well fortified trench which held the village and the surrounding ridge. British casualties were high.

Tilloy Cemetery is some 2 miles from the battle scene and Harry is buried in Plot III. Plots I and II contain the burials of immediate casualties as the cemetery was initially a casualty clearing station. It suggests Harry was initially buried in either Artillery Track or Harp Redoubt burial plots, where the bodies of some 90 soldiers were recovered and later interned in Tilloy. The cemetery was added to later and now contains 1642 bodies of which 611 are unidentified.

This is a revised version of a post which was originally published on my WordPress Blog on 29/12/2009 and republished on Mollekin Portalite on 11/05/2011.