DELVILLE WOOD

ARQUES-LA-BATAILLE BRITISH CEMETERY

The South African Native Labour Contingent came to France early in 1917 and No 1 General Labour Hospital was established at its camp at Arques-la-Bataille near Dieppe. Most of those who died in France lie in Arques-la-Bataille British Cemetery designed by J.R. Truelove. Here, there are 381 burials of the First World War of whom 260 graves of men of the Contingent, including some of whom were exhumed from Ste Marie Cemetery, Le Havre.

All these graves are grouped around a Great War Stone, on the face of which is a concave bronze medallion with the head of a Springbok in high relief. Inscribed on the stone in English, Sesotho and Xhosa are the words :

To the memory of those Natives of the South African Labour Corps who crossed the seas in response to the call of their great Chief, King George V, and laid down their lives in France, for the British Empire, during the Great War 1914-1918, this Memorial is erected by their comrades.