Two missing officers' graves identified and rededicated after 111 years in Belgium

The Bugler sounding the Last Post at the ceremonies (Photo: Eric Compernolle BEM).

Rededication services have taken place for Captain Gordon Cuthbert and Lieutenant Leslie Harvey who both served with 1/8 Battalion Duke of Cambridge’s Own, Middlesex Regiment and died near Ypres on 25 April 1915.

Their final resting places were identified thanks to research submitted to the CWGC/JCCC. The rededication services took place on 29 April 2026 for Capt. Cuthbert at CWGC Tyne Cot Cemetery and Lt. Harvey at CWGC Sanctuary Wood Cemetery, Belgium.

JCCC Caseworker, Alexia Clark, said: “I am grateful to the researcher who put such a lot of effort into discovering the stories of these two men, and the records behind the un-named graves and who ultimately submitted the cases for their identification. Their work has led us to recognise the final resting places of Captain Cuthbert and Lieutenant Harvey, and to restore their names to. It has been a privilege to have contributed to these cases and to have organised the services of rededication today.”

The services today were supported by serving soldiers from the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment and led by Padre Victoria Day of 26 Engineer Regiment. 

Their final resting places are now marked with newly inscribed Commission headstones to be cared for in perpetuity.

CWGC Commemorations Case Officer Polly Brewster, said: “On the 25th April 1915, Captain Gordon Cuthbert and Lieutenant Leslie Harvey were engaged in fierce fighting near Ypres and made the ultimate sacrifice. It feels very poignant that 110 years later, almost to the day, we are now able to commemorate them by name at their final resting places. The Commission will continue to care for their graves in perpetuity, ensuring that they can rest in peace and dignity, their sacrifice remembered.”

The salute is taken as the Last Post sounds for Captain Cuthbert (Photo: Eric Compernolle BEM), Captain Gordon Cuthbert (Copyright unknown).

Captain Gordon Cuthbert

14 August 1876 – 25 April 1915

Gordon Cuthbert was born in Sunbury, Middlesex in August 1876, the third of four children born to Henry Westell Cuthbert, a Russia Broker, and Oil and Tallow Broker, and his wife Rosa Isabel. Gordon was the only son, having two older sisters - Mildred born in 1873 and Eva born in 1874, and one younger sister in Mary born in 1880. Gordon was educated at Clifton College in Bristol.

On reaching his majority in 1897 Gordon was granted the Freedom of the City of London and membership of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers. He followed in his father’s footsteps in civilian life, becoming an oil broker in the firm Messrs Cuthbert & Hall of Fenchurch Street, and a member of the Baltic Exchange.

In 1894 he joined the London Rifle Brigade, and he was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant in the 2nd Volunteer Brigade of the Middlesex Regiment in February 1900. He transferred to the Territorial Reserve in 1908, was appointed captain in command of the Twickenham Company in 1911.

In 1905 he married Eleanor Bruce Anketell in Middlesex, and they began a family with the birth of his son Cholmeley Ranson Cuthbert late that year. Cholmeley was followed by two sisters – Elizabeth, born in 1908 and Patricia born in 1911.

On the outbreak of war in August 1914, he rejoined the Middlesex Regiment and proceeded to Gibraltar for garrison duty until February 1915 when he was sent to northern Europe. He was killed on 25 April whilst leading a storming party which retook a trench near Ypres that had been vacated by another battalion owing to gas. In the chaos of war immediate burial was impossible, and following the war Gordon’s name was added to the Menin Gate Memorial to the missing in Ypres.

In 1920 the body of a Captain of the Middlesex Regiment was recovered on the southern side of the Ypres-Roulers railway line – his rank and regiment were determined from elements of his uniform, but his personal identity was impossible to tell and so he was buried as an unknown Captain at Tyne Cot Cemetery. Detailed research has now allowed the unknown Captain to be connected to Gordon Cuthbert.

Wreathes are placed at the foot of Lieutenant Harvey's new headstone (Photo: Eric Compernolle BEM).

Lieutenant Leslie Harvey

3 January 1884 – 25 April 1915

Leslie Harvey was born in January 1884, the only child of parents Cecil Allenby Harvey – a bank manager, and his wife Ann Amey. Sadly, Leslie’s mother died when he was just a year old. Leslie was educated at Eastbourne and Isleworth schools and trained as a solicitor.

He joined the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps, and on the outbreak of war volunteered immediately, being given a commission in the Middlesex regiment on 28 August 1914.. Leslie was sent to Gibraltar with the regiment in October 1914 and was promoted to Lieutenant in February 1915. Following a short period of leave in England he was sent to France, in late February – early March 1915.

By April 1915 Leslie had reached Belgium and was engaged in fighting in the Zonnebeke area. On 25 April 1915 he was killed whilst leading a bayonet charge. Although he was buried by his men at the time – near a railway crossing – the records of his grave were lost, and following the war he was named on the Menin Gate Memorial to the missing at Ypres.

In early 1929, the body of an unknown Lieutenant of the Middlesex Regiment was recovered from a location just south of the Ypres-Roulers railway – identified by a shoulder title, and his badges and buttons. It was impossible to determine his personal identity and he was buried as an unknown Lieutenant at Sanctuary Wood Cemetery, alongside two other men recovered at the same place and time. Archival research has now connected this unknown Lieutenant to Leslie Harvey, and allowed us to identify his final resting place.

(Photo: Eric Compernolle BEM)