Violaines Communal Cemetery
Historical Information (Source: CWGC)
Violaines saw bitter fighting in May 1940, during the withdrawal of our forces to Dunkirk, particularly near the Aire-Le Bassee Canal which runs through the commune about 2 kilometres from the village. At the time the dead were buried where they lay, on the banks of the canal and in the surrounding fields. In 1942, however, the occupying forces permitted the local people to transfer the graves to the communal cemetery.
There are now over 30, 1939-45 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, a small number are unidentified.
Served with
- United Kingdom (27)
Served in
Army (27)
Henry Noel Atkinson - DSO. – 22 October 1914
In 1923 the body was found and re-interred in Cabaret Rouge BC - XIII. E. 12.
Memorial stone here in the cemetry
Born December 25, 1888, at Audlem Vicarage. Henry was the son of the Reverend Arthur Atkinson, Canon of Chester Cathedral, and Ursula Mary Atkinson (née Cotton-Jodrell) and the grandson of the former Bishop of Calcutta. He was one of the first and one of the youngest men to be awarded the DSO. Henry had been a member of Chester Golf Club and had won the Welsh Amateur Golf Championship in 1913. He received his commission in March 1913 and resided at the time at Highfield Hall, Northrop, Flint.
His citation for his DSO appeared in ‘The London Gazette’ on December 1, 1914 and read: ‘For conspicuous gallantry under heavy fire from both flanks by collecting a few men and checking the enemy, thereby facilitating the retirement of his comrades.’
Fought at Mons, Le Cateau and the Aisne. Regarded as the first officer from the Crewe and Nantwich area to fall. After the war, as no grave could be found, his family had a tombstone laid where they believed he had fallen.
In February 1923, his body (identified by his disc) was found together with another Cheshire soldier, about 400 yards from where the tombstone had been placed. His body was reinterred in the Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, and his tombstone placed in the Violaines Communal Cemetery by the Cheshire Regiment as a perpetual memorial to all those of the Regiment who had no known grave. After his death, it was reputed that his uncle, an influential man in the Cheshire Regiment, War Office and Parliament, had Henry posthumously promoted to Lieutenant.
