Military service
Burial/memorial information
Son of Hugh and Syllendia Cunningham.
Digital gallery of Corporal William Benjamin Cunningham
Digital gallery of
Corporal William Benjamin Cunningham
Source: Library and Archives Canada. CIRCUMSTANCES OF DEATH REGISTERS, FIRST WORLD WAR Surnames: Crossley to Cyrs. Microform Sequence 25; Volume Number 31829_B016734. Reference RG150, 1992-93/314, 169. Page 503 of 890.
Digital gallery of
Corporal William Benjamin Cunningham
Inscription on the Menin Gate … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens
Digital gallery of
Corporal William Benjamin Cunningham
Corporal William Benjamin Cunningham #865074 was serving with the 44th Canadian Infantry Battalion when it went into action just north of Decline Copse in the Passchendaele sector of Belgium. It was here that Corporal Cunningham was killed but his remains were never knowingly recovered. He is the only Corporal of the 44th Battalion named on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.
Digital gallery of
Corporal William Benjamin Cunningham
Map 9 of Nicholson's Official History of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the Great War 1914-1919 depicts the location of the 44th Canadian Infantry Battalion on 27 October 1917, the day that Corporal Cunningham was killed in action. The battalion was southwest of Vienna Cottage on the approach to Decline Copse.
Digital gallery of
Corporal William Benjamin Cunningham
The Concentration of Graves (Exhumations and Reburials) for the Tyne Cot Cemetery records the recovery of an Unknown Canadian Soldier, a Corporal of the 44th Battalion, in September 1920. The remains were recovered at Trench Map Coordinates 28.D.12.c.9.8, south of Passchendaele and just north of Decline Copse. The identity of the Unknown Corporal was unknown at the time and remained so until February 2020. Corporal Cunningham is the only Unknown Corporal of the 44th Battalion lost in Belgium in the Great War.
Digital gallery of
Corporal William Benjamin Cunningham
An extract of a detailed trench map has been marked to show the exact position where the remains of the Unknown Canadian Corporal of the 44th Infantry Battalion were recovered. This places the remains on or near the front line on 27 October 1917, the day that Corporal Cunninghame paid the ultimate sacrifice. Decline Copse can be seen at 28.D.18.a.5.5, to the south of Vienna Cottage. For those not familiar with reading Trench Map Coordinates, the area is found on Map Sheet 28 (Ypres Sector of Belgium) in Sector D, which is divided into 30 squares each 1,000 yards by 1,000 yards. Each square consists of 4 sub-squares (a, b, c, d) each 500 yards by 500 yards. Each of those squares is marked by hash marks at every 50 yards. The remains were recovered in the lower left square (c), 9 hash marks to the right (east) and 8 hash marks up (north). This spot is referred to as 28.D.12.c.9.8.
Digital gallery of
Corporal William Benjamin Cunningham
Corporal William Benjamin Cunningham's grave identified by Norm Christie. 24 April 2019, CEFRG (Canadian Expeditionary Force Research Group) https://cefrg.ca
Digital gallery of
Corporal William Benjamin Cunningham
Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
Digital gallery of
Corporal William Benjamin Cunningham
Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
Image gallery
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Source: Library and Archives Canada. CIRCUMSTANCES OF DEATH REGISTERS, FIRST WORLD WAR Surnames: Crossley to Cyrs. Microform Sequence 25; Volume Number 31829_B016734. Reference RG150, 1992-93/314, 169. Page 503 of 890.
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Inscription on the Menin Gate … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens
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Corporal William Benjamin Cunningham #865074 was serving with the 44th Canadian Infantry Battalion when it went into action just north of Decline Copse in the Passchendaele sector of Belgium. It was here that Corporal Cunningham was killed but his remains were never knowingly recovered. He is the only Corporal of the 44th Battalion named on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.
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Map 9 of Nicholson's Official History of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the Great War 1914-1919 depicts the location of the 44th Canadian Infantry Battalion on 27 October 1917, the day that Corporal Cunningham was killed in action. The battalion was southwest of Vienna Cottage on the approach to Decline Copse.
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The Concentration of Graves (Exhumations and Reburials) for the Tyne Cot Cemetery records the recovery of an Unknown Canadian Soldier, a Corporal of the 44th Battalion, in September 1920. The remains were recovered at Trench Map Coordinates 28.D.12.c.9.8, south of Passchendaele and just north of Decline Copse. The identity of the Unknown Corporal was unknown at the time and remained so until February 2020. Corporal Cunningham is the only Unknown Corporal of the 44th Battalion lost in Belgium in the Great War.
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An extract of a detailed trench map has been marked to show the exact position where the remains of the Unknown Canadian Corporal of the 44th Infantry Battalion were recovered. This places the remains on or near the front line on 27 October 1917, the day that Corporal Cunninghame paid the ultimate sacrifice. Decline Copse can be seen at 28.D.18.a.5.5, to the south of Vienna Cottage. For those not familiar with reading Trench Map Coordinates, the area is found on Map Sheet 28 (Ypres Sector of Belgium) in Sector D, which is divided into 30 squares each 1,000 yards by 1,000 yards. Each square consists of 4 sub-squares (a, b, c, d) each 500 yards by 500 yards. Each of those squares is marked by hash marks at every 50 yards. The remains were recovered in the lower left square (c), 9 hash marks to the right (east) and 8 hash marks up (north). This spot is referred to as 28.D.12.c.9.8.
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Corporal William Benjamin Cunningham's grave identified by Norm Christie. 24 April 2019, CEFRG (Canadian Expeditionary Force Research Group) https://cefrg.ca
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Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
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Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
TYNE COT CEMETERY Belgium
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.
For more information, visit Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
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