Birth: 1891 New Zealand
Father: Matthew Absalom 1849-1911
Mother: Ruth Ellison 1857-1939
Marriage: Unknown
Wife: Unknown
Death: 3 December 1917 Belgium
Burial: Grave/Memorial XXVI. B. 14. Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Poperinge, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
15?
From the Commonwealth War Graves Commision, Matthew Absalom, son of Matthew and Ruth Absalom of Reefton, New Zealand and a corporal in the Cantebury Regiment of the NZEF first Bn. Service Number 14043 died on 3 December 1917 aged 26, and is referenced at XXVI. B. 14. Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Belgium. The following information is added. Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery is located 12 kilometres west of Ieper town centre, on the Boescheepseweg, a road leading from the N308 connecting Ieper to Poperinge. During the First World War, the village of Lijssenthoek was situated on the main communication line between the Allied military bases in the rear and the Ypres battlefields. Close to the Front, but out of the extreme range of most German field artillery, it became a natural place to establish casualty clearing stations. The cemetery was first used by the French 15th Hopital D'Evacuation and in June 1915, it began to be used by casualty clearing stations of the Commonwealth forces. From April to August 1918, the casualty clearing stations fell back before the German advance and field ambulances (including a French ambulance) took their places. The cemetery contains 9,901 Commonwealth burials of the First World War and 883 war graves of other nationalities, mostly French and German. The only concentration burials are 24 added to Plot XXXI in 1920 from isolated positions near Poperinghe and 17 added to Plot XXXII from St. Denijs Churchyard in 1981. It is the second largest Commonwealth cemetery in Belgium (10753 casulties including 291 from New Zealand). There are 5 Special Memorial headstones to men known to be buried in this cemetery, these are located together alongside Plot 32 near the Stone of Remembrance. The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield. See here for a description of the NZEF.
Denis Heydecker has an entry in RootsWeb WorldConnect for Matthew Absalom was born in 1891, parents Matthew Absalom and Ruth Ellison, married, had 15 children and died in 1917. William and Grace Barras have similar information in Ancestry Public Member Trees, but give the birth as being in Australia, and do not give any children.
Matthew Absalom was the first cousin of Susannah Emily Absalom, the wife of George Fullick, my third cousin twice removed.
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