Historical Information (Source: CWGC)

High Wood was fiercely fought over during the Battle of the Somme until cleared by 47th (London) Division on 15 September 1916. It was lost during the German advance of April 1918, but retaken the following August. Thistle Dump Cemetery was begun in August 1916 and used as a front line cemetery until February 1917. It was later increased after the Armistice by the concentration of 56 graves from the Somme battlefields.

There are now 196 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in the cemetery. 59 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to four casualties known to be buried among them. The cemetery also contains seven German war graves.