Chester Farm Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery

Chester Farm is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial ground for the dead of the First World War located in the Ypres Salient on the Western Front.

The cemetery grounds were assigned to the United Kingdom in perpetuity by the King of Belgium in recognition of the sacrifices made by the British Empire in the defence and liberation of Belgium during the war.

Foundation
Commonwealth troops began using the site as a cemetery in March 1915. The cemetery is named after a nearby farm.

Unusually, the dead are mostly grouped by battalion, departing from the usual Commission practice of there being little or no order other than date to the burials.

There are special markers for six soldiers (five British and one Canadian) who are known or believed to be buried in the cemetery but whose actual plot was lost or destroyed. These stones usually have the Rudyard Kipling-derived footnote "Their glory shall not be blotted out".

Notable graves
Private Alfred Bootham of Manchester, who was killed on 9 June 1915, is buried at Chester Farm. He was 16 years old. The painter ES Carlos is also buried here.