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Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Alfred Sydney Boffin

In memory of:

Private Alfred Sydney Boffin

October 30, 1917

Military Service

Service Number:

12829

Age:

24

Force:

Army

Unit:

Canadian Machine Gun Corps

Division:

Eaton's Motor Machine Gun Bty

Citation(s):

1914-15 Star, Victory Medal, British War Medal.

Additional Information

Son of Ephraim James and Helen Boffin, of Forest Hill, Oxford, England. Born in 1893. Listed his civilian occupation as farmer.

Commemorated on Page 203 of the First World War Book of Remembrance. Request a copy of this page. Download high resolution copy of this page.

Burial Information

Cemetery:

TYNE COT CEMETERY
Belgium

Grave Reference:

XII. D. 22.

Location:

Tyne Cot Cemetery is located 9 Km north east of Ieper town centre on the Tynecotstraat, a road leading from the Zonnebeekseweg (N332). The cemetery itself lies 700 meters along the Tynecotstraat on the right hand side of the road. Tyne Cot or Tyne Cottage was the name given by the Northumberland Fusiliers to a barn which stood near the level crossing on the Passchendaele-Broodseinde road. Three of these blockhouses still stand in the cemetery; the largest, which was captured on 4 October 1917 by the 3rd Australian Division, was chosen as the site for the Cross of Sacrifice by King George V during his pilgrimage to the cemeteries of the Western Front in Belgium and France in 1922. The Tyne Cot Cemetery is now the resting-place of nearly 12,000 soldiers of the Commonwealth Forces, the largest number of burials of any Commonwealth cemetery of either world war.

Information courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Digital Collection

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  • Circumstances of Death Registers– Private Boffin's remains were collected from the battlefield and buried at the Waterloo Farm (Canadian) Cemetery located at trench map coordinates 28.D.9.d.8.8. After the Armistice, his remains were exhumed from that cemetery and concentrated into the Tyne Cot Cemetery, a short distance to the southeast.

    Details

    Circumstances of Death Registers
    Circumstances of Death Registers – Private Boffin's remains were collected from the battlefield and buried at the Waterloo Farm (Canadian) Cemetery located at trench map coordinates 28.D.9.d.8.8. After the Armistice, his remains were exhumed from that cemetery and concentrated into the Tyne Cot Cemetery, a short distance to the southeast.
  • Circumstances of Death Registers– Private Boffin #12829 was killed in action during the attack on the Village of Passchendaele on 30 October 1917. He and Corporal Johnstone #794 were together at the time, both of which paid the ultimate sacrifice.

    Details

    Circumstances of Death Registers
    Circumstances of Death Registers – Private Boffin #12829 was killed in action during the attack on the Village of Passchendaele on 30 October 1917. He and Corporal Johnstone #794 were together at the time, both of which paid the ultimate sacrifice.
  • Map– Corporal Johnston #794 and Private Boffin #12829, the two men killed in the shelling of the party collecting the ammunition were together at the time of their death. They fell in the vicinity of 28.D.16.b.75.45, as recorded for Corporal Johnston. They were initially buried at Waterloo Farm (Canadian) Cemetery. This local cemetery was later concentrated into the Tyne Cot Cemetery, where it is reported: "TYNE COT CEMETERY was greatly enlarged after the Armistice when remains were brought in from the battlefields of Passchendaele and Langemarck, and from a few small burial grounds, including the following: WATERLOO FARM CEMETERY, PASSCHENDAELE, 650 metres North-East of 's Gravenstafel, containing the graves of ten soldiers from Canada, seven from the United Kingdom and two from New Zealand, who fell in 1917-18".

    Details

    Map
    Map – Corporal Johnston #794 and Private Boffin #12829, the two men killed in the shelling of the party collecting the ammunition were together at the time of their death. They fell in the vicinity of 28.D.16.b.75.45, as recorded for Corporal Johnston. They were initially buried at Waterloo Farm (Canadian) Cemetery. This local cemetery was later concentrated into the Tyne Cot Cemetery, where it is reported: "TYNE COT CEMETERY was greatly enlarged after the Armistice when remains were brought in from the battlefields of Passchendaele and Langemarck, and from a few small burial grounds, including the following: WATERLOO FARM CEMETERY, PASSCHENDAELE, 650 metres North-East of 's Gravenstafel, containing the graves of ten soldiers from Canada, seven from the United Kingdom and two from New Zealand, who fell in 1917-18".
  • Document– The war diary reports that Private Boffin #1289 and Corporal Johnston #794 were two of the men in an ammunition party that was sent out to find small arms ammunition to feed the 1st Canadian Machine Gun Brigade. Both Boffin and Johnston were killed and another 9 other ranks were wounded. Based on the location where Corporal Johnston was reported lost, we know that they were to the southeast of the Field Ambulance at Waterloo Farm Cemetery, specifically at trench map reference 28.D.16.b.75.45.

    Details

    Document
    Document – The war diary reports that Private Boffin #1289 and Corporal Johnston #794 were two of the men in an ammunition party that was sent out to find small arms ammunition to feed the 1st Canadian Machine Gun Brigade. Both Boffin and Johnston were killed and another 9 other ranks were wounded. Based on the location where Corporal Johnston was reported lost, we know that they were to the southeast of the Field Ambulance at Waterloo Farm Cemetery, specifically at trench map reference 28.D.16.b.75.45.
  • Cross of Sacrifice

    Details

    Cross of Sacrifice
    Cross of Sacrifice
  • Cemetery

    Details

    Cemetery
    Cemetery
  • Grave marker

    Details

    Grave marker
    Grave marker

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