Filey sisters all set to visit great uncle’s war grave in France

Two Filey sisters are fulfilling a lifelong promise to travel to a British war cemetery in France, to visit the grave of their great uncle who died in the Great War.

Jill Court and Ruth Milner are heading to the La Neuville war graves at Corbie, near Amiens, to scatter some sand from Filey beach and to leave white Yorkshire roses on the grave of Tom Chapman, an uncle of their late mother, Mavis Whiteley née Chapman.

Private Tom Chapman of the 12th battalion, West Yorkshire regiment, died on July 27th, 1916 aged just 20.

There are many relatives of Tom’s still living in Filey, and one great nephew still has the telegram sent from the war office which informed Tom’s parents of his death.

Tom was one of four boys and two girls born to John William and Elizabeth Chapman.

One of the sisters, Jill Court, who, with her son Tim, is a voulunteer at Filey Museum, has extensively researched the family tree.

Neuville British Cemetery contains 866 Commonwealth burials of the First World War.

In April 1916, No.21 Casualty Clearing Station set-up at La Neuville and remained there during the 1916 Battles of the Somme, until March 1917. La Neuville British Cemetery was opened in early July 1916.