Private John Cassidy

Private John Cassidy ( possibly ) 1st/7th ( Territorial ) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. He was killed in action in Flanders on 26th October 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres, aged 25. He was the son of Mrs Anne Cassidy of Lucker Cottage, Belford, Northumberland and is buried in Poelcapelle British Cemetery, near Ypres, Belgium. This cemetery was constructed after the Armistice by bringing in casualties from the surrounding battlefields. The photographs show the desolation of the Flanders battlefield where the drainage systems had been destroyed by the incessant shelling. His Headstone is inscribed ” R.I.P. The Souls Of The Righteous Are In The Hands Of God “. The colour photo shows the impressive Memorial raised to commemorate the 50th ( Northumbrian ) Division of which the Battalion was part until February 1918 when it was attached to the 42nd ( East Lancashire ) Division for lines of communication duties. It was erected near the village of Weiltje in the Ypres Salient where nearby the Division had fought its first action of the War on 26th April 1915 during the Battle of St. Julien only days after landing on the Continent.