Please find below a series of photos of the burial service for Private Harry James Biurch, 16th Battalion The Cheshire Regiment and four unknown soldiers of unknown regiments on Wednesday 21 May 2025. The service took place at Poelcapelle British Cemetery at Poelkapelle. The service was conducted by Reverend Gary Birch CF, Senior Chaplain Headquarters South West.

Harry James Birch was born in the Liverpool area in 1888, one of ten children of Alfred and Anna Birch. He was baptised at St. John's Church in Waterloo, Sefton on the 25 March 1888, and grew up in that same area. Prior to the war he worked as a Carrier of the local railways, particularly at Waterloo Station. In 1915 Harry married Helen Josephine Norris, and in February 1916, at the age of 28, he joined the Army. He was originally posted to the Army Reserve, before joining the training depot of the King's Liverpool Regiment in December 1916. He was then transferred to the 16th Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment, arriving in France the following March.

When Birch joined them, the 16th Bn Cheshire Regiment were in the front line near Maissemy in the Somme area. They stayed on the Somme until mid-October when they moved up to an area south of Houthulst Forest in Belgium to take part in the Third Battle of Ypres. On 21 October 1917 the battalion moved into position for an attack the following day. At dawn 22 October they attacked, finding the going extremey hard over the shell-damaged and sodden ground. Whilst they did initially make some ground, the conditions and counterattacks later in the day meant that by nightfall they had withdrawn back to the original line. Harry James Birch was one of 120 men of the 16th Battalion Cheshire Regiment who died on the 22 October 1917. A news report about his death claimed that he had died whilst trying to carry in wounded comrades under heavy shell fire. After the war almost all of 120 were missing, with 110 being listed on the Tyne Cot Memorial.

In September 2018, roadworks in the Poelkapelle-Houthulstseweg area uncovered the remains of five British soldiers. All are thought to have died on or around 22 October 1917. A leather belt with Pte Birch's name and service number scratched onto it helped to identify him - and DNA provided by his great-nephew confirmed this. Sadly, despite extensive research, it has not been possible to identify the four men found alongside Birch. Artefacts found with them indicate that they could have been other men of the Cheshire Regiment, or they could have been with the Lancashire Fusiliers, The Royal Engineers, the Royal Garrison Artillery, or the West Yorkshire Regiment. In total 2,068 men lost their lives in Belgium between 22 and 24 October 1917 - more than 1,000 of them remain missing.







































































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