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Thanks to information / photo supplied by Captain J Pat Thompson OBE, MNI, Royal Fleet Auxiliay (Rtd).
Private LUMLEY, Harold Robert. Born: 18th July 1897 (corrected by unknown Guest).
Unit: 20th Bn.
Regiment: Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment)
Service No: PS/8964
Date of Death: 30 July 1916
How died: Died of wounds
Theatre of War: France & Flanders
Commemoration: CAUDRY OLD COMMUNAL CEMETERY, France. Row A. Grave 2.
Cemetery Location: Caudry is a town some 13 kilometres east of Cambrai on the south side of the main road (N43) to Le Cateau. The Old Communal Cemetery is near the centre of town, but is best accessed from the eastern by-pass road (a dual carriageway). At the first set of traffic lights on this road turn right and head into town. The Cemetery is about 1 kilometre down this road (Rue Aristide Briard) on the right. 98 Casualties are identified.
Visiting: Wheelchair access to the cemetery possible via main entrance.
Historical Information: Caudry town was the scene of part of the Battle of Le Cateau on the 26th August 1914, and from that date it remained in German hands until the 10th October 1918, when it was captured by the 37th Division. It had been a German centre for medical units, and during October 1918 and the following five months the 21st, 3rd, 19th, and 49th.
Casualty Clearing Stations passed through it. There are now over 100, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, one-third are unidentified and three, which cannot now be exactly located, are represented by special memorials. Five, identified as a group but not individually, are marked with headstones bearing the additional words "Buried near this spot". This cemetery contained also French, German and Russian graves. The low curb on which the names of the British soldiers are inscribed was erected by the people of Caudry (whose War Memorial includes a representation of the entrance of British troops into the town); it has been supplemented by recumbent headstones.
'Soldiers Died in the Great War' records the above mentioned casualty's forenames as 'Harold Robert', that he was born in Barnard Castle, [County] Durham, enlisted in Barnard Castle and resided in New Shildon.
Remembered with honour at: CAUDRY OLD COMMUNAL CEMETERY.
PASSCHENDAELE
Tree stump glistens like its wet
Tree stump glistens but it's red
Tree stump glistens where soldier bled
Early in the morning
Water shimmers in the heat
A heavy pack meant his defeat
No solid ground beneath his feet
Mud and doom was yawning
Branches stick up from the ground
Darkened twigs before a mound
A hand thrust up as soldier drowned
Just as day was dawning
Yellow stinking, sinking mud
Ground that's covered with soldier's blood
And at home as flowers bud
Another widow mourning
