CWGC Cemetery: PHILOSOPHE BRITISH CEMETERY, MAZINGARBE

Visiting Information

Wheelchair access with some difficulty. For further information regarding wheelchair access, please contact our Enquiries Section on telephone number 01628 507200.

Local Information

Philosophe lies between Bethune and Lens. From the Lens-Bethune road (N43), follow the D165E road for 400 metres to a right turn. The cemetery lies to the left 100 metres along this track. The first CWGC sign for the cemetery is at the junction of the N43 and the D165E.

Historical Information

The cemetery was started in August 1915. In 1916 it was taken over by the 16th (Irish) Division, who held the Loos Salient at the time, and many of their dead were brought back to the cemetery from the front line. Succeeding divisions used the cemetery until October 1918, and men of the same Division, and often the same battalion, were buried side by side. After the Armistice, many isolated graves from the Loos battlefield were brought into the cemetery, including those of 41 men of the 9th Black Watch. There are now 1,996 Commonwealth burials of the First World War in the cemetery, 277 of them unidentified. The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.