The Devonshire Cemetery contains 153 graves of which ten are unknown.

Lieutenant William Noel Hodgson M.C.

Amongst those buried in the cemetery is Lieutenant William Noel Hodgson M.C., 9th Battalion Devonshire Regiment who was killed in action July 1, 1916 aged 23.  He was known as one of the war poets.  He was the son of the Vicar of Thornbury and the youngest of four children, all of whom were talented.  He won a scholarship to Durham School and subsequently to Christchurch College, Oxford to read Classics and gained a First in Classical Moderations in 1913.  He was commissioned in 1915 and was posted to Festubert and at Vermelles in 1915.  He was awarded the Military Cross.  He was on the Somme in spring 1916.  A few days before the Big Push on the July 1 he wrote his last poem ‘Before Action’ from which the last line ‘Help me to die, O Lord’ has immortalised him.

Captain Duncan Lenox Martin

Also buried in the cemetery is Captain Duncan Lenox Martin, 9th Battalion Devonshire Regiment, killed in action July 1, 1916 aged 30.  While on leave prior to the attack on the July 1, Captain Martin had made a plasticine model of the area concerned in the coming advance.  The 9th Battalion was to attack in a northwesterly direction parallel to the main road.  His model showed that the leading waves would be subjected to enfilade fire from a machine-gun post sited in Mametz Civil cemetery if not destroyed during the preliminary bombardment.  This proved to be the case and Martin reported this to his superiors.  It was not possible to change the well-laid plans and Captain Martin fell with many of his men during the first few yards of the advance.