BUCKINGHAM, Herbert John

Herbert was born on the 7th September 1897 in Newport to William & Edith (nee MUDGE). The 1911 Census had him living at 15 Prince Street in Ryde.

Herbert, aged 19, was Killed in Action, just south of Sancourt, on the 30th September 1918, & is buried in the Cantimpre Canadian Cemetery in France with 225 of his First World War comrades.

The Allied advance in the Battle of Cambrai in 1917 did not reach this district & it was not until September 1918 that the villages of Haynecourt, Sailly & Cantimpre fell into Allied hands. The "Marcoing Line," one of the German defence systems before Cambrai, ran from Marcoing northward through Sailly, to the west of Cantimpre & the east of Haynecourt. On the 27th September 1918, the 1st Canadian & 11th Divisions took Haynecourt; & on the next day Sailly was taken. Two cemeteries were made by units which took part in the advance.

Cantimpre Canadian Cemetery (originally called Marcoing Line British Cemetery) contains 225 First World War burials, 21 of them unidentified. All but two of the burials are of Canadian soldiers, largely of the 54th, 75th and 87th Infantry Battalions.

Herbert is also remembered on the County & Binstead War Memorials.