Historical Information (Source: CWGC)

The village of Sissonne was in German hands during almost the whole of the 1914-1918 War.  The British Cemetery was made after the Armistice by the concentration of graves from the nearby Chemin-des-Dames battlefield and from smaller burial grounds and German military cemeteries.

There are now 291 Commonwealth burials of the 1914-18 war commemorated in this site. Of these, 127 are unidentified and special memorials are erected to four United Kingdom soldiers, buried in LA MALMAISON GERMAN CEMETERY and CHATEAU-PORCIEN COMMUNAL CEMETERY, whose graves could not be found. A few of those buried here fell in 1914, but the great majority in 1918.

The cemetery covers an area of 1,135 square metres and is enclosed by a rubble wall.

Francis William Bond Graves was posthumously awarded the French Croix de Guerre with Palm and Silver Star for his work as a driver with a French ambulance unit. Francis was the son of William and Louisa Graves of 19 South Street, Oakham.  He worked as a chauffeur and when he joined up on 4 May 1917 he became an ambulance driver serving with the British Ambulance Committee. Francis was attached to Section Sanitaire Anglais No. 2 run by the French Red Cross Society when he was killed less than a month before the war ended.

The citation to his medal says: "He always displayed great courage and untiring devotion to duty. He has often distinguished himself in most difficult and perilous situations. He was mortally wounded by a shell burst on 19 October 1918, whille undertaking the evacuation of wounded men from an advanced Poste de Secours  (First Aid Post)"

Source: Rutland remembers