A burial service for Lance Corporal Claude Stanley Dell of 5th Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (The Green Howards), who was killed in action on 25 April 1915. This service took place at Poelcapelle British Cemetery on October 13 2026. Family of L.Cpl. Dell attended. The Service was conducted by Rev. Army Chaplain David Jeal (Royal Dragoon Guards) 
Military honour was perforemd by men of the 2nd. Bn.The Royal Yorkshire Regiment.
At the end of this post you'll find the story of L.Cpl. Dell

Op 13 oktober 2026 werd een begrafenisdienst gehouden voor Lance Corporal Claude Stanley Dell van het 5th Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (The Green Howards) op Poelcapelle British Cemetery. L.Cpl Dell sneuvelde op 25 april 1915. Familie van L.Cpl Dell woonde de plechtigheid bij. De dienst werd geleid door Aalmoezenier David Jeal (Royal Dragoon Guards). Militair protocol en eer werden betuigd door mannen van het 2nd. Bn.The Royal Yorkshire Regiment. Op het einde van dit verslag vind je het verhaal van L.Cpl. Dell.


















































































































23 November 1889 - 25 April 1915

Claude Stanley Dell was born in London on 23 November 1889 to Frederick Dell, a tea merchant, and his wife Emma Pallmerine. He was the fourth of five brothers - Frederick, Leighton and Charles all older than him, and Guy who was a few years his junior.

By 1911 the family, having suffered some problems with their tea business, had moved north to Scarborough, where the younger boys were locally acclaimed as excellent swimmers and active members of the Scarborough Swimming Club. Charles, Claude and Guy all swam around the castle foot according to local news reports and competed both in swimming and life-saving competitions – frequently winning plaudits and medals for their achievements. The boys were all working by this time – mostly in the grocery trade like their father.

By the outbreak of war Leighton was already serving in the Royal Field Artillery, but his brothers were quick to follow suit with Frederick joining the Yorkshire Hussars, and Charles, Claude and Guy all joining the 5th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment which – prior to the outbreak of war – had been a territorial battalion raised in Scarborough in 1908 from local volunteer units.

On the outbreak of war 5th Battalion became part of the York & Durham Brigade, Northumbrian Division. They undertook a period of training before leaving for the front from Newcastle on 17 April 1915, arriving in Boulogne on 18 April and making their way from there towards Ypres, arriving on 23 April.

They received their first orders shortly after midnight on 24 April and began to move towards the banks of the Yser Canal where they dug quick shelter holes. In the afternoon they crossed the canal with a view to supporting Canadian troops, and in the afternoon they were ordered to proceed to St Jean to support the 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade. Having failed to make contact with the wider York & Durham Brigade, the battalion found themselves taken over by a Canadian general and instructed to take up a position entrenched at the rear of the Canadian line – ready to counter attack when necessary.

It rained steadily overnight from the 24 – 25 April and at 3am orders came for the battalion to move again – this time to Fortuin, where they arrived at 5am and the 5th Battalion Durham Light Infantry and others of the York & Durham Brigade. At dawn the shelling commenced – B & C Companies were able to take cover in reserve trenches, but A & D Companies had no shelter except for a hedge at the roadside.

At 6am A & D Companies advanced to support the Royal Irish and were met with heavy fire before being given the order to retire – during this movement they suffered heavy casualties. They dug in at a hedge bottom left of the road. At noon a request for help came from the Durham Light Infantry who had been ordered to search a farmhouse – a party of 25 men led by Captain Barber and Lieutenant Brown, with Lance Corporal Dell as the NCO – was sent out. It met the fire of a machine gun in the house, as well as fire from a range of other location. Initially Captain Barber and his team did well despite the conditions – gaining some ground and knocking out the machine gun. All too soon though they found themselves exposed and Captain Barber, Lance Corporal Dell and nine other men were killed in the ensuing fire. Lieutenant Brown and the remainder of the party were unable to take the objective and had no choice but to retreat.

The Battalion’s defensive line was ordered to be held at all costs, and the bombardment and fire against them lasted all day. Finally, under cover of darkness they were able to cautiously come out to gather the wounded and dead – Lieutenant Brown himself undertaking to recover the body of Lance Corporal Dell and oversee his burial.

Charles and Guy – both also serving in the 5th Battalion must have learned about their brother’s death quickly, and Charles wrote home to inform his parents. The letter – partly reproduced in the Scarborough Pictorial says he ‘has to convey the sad news of poor Claude who met his end which was painless and whilst doing his duty.’

The letter went on to reassure them ‘Guy and I are both scathless although I was hit in the pack by shrapnel but the bullet did not get right through.’

Claude’s brothers all survived the war. Frederick, Leighton and Guy all saw service in the Royal Flying Corps during the later part of the war, whilst Charles was the only one to stay with the Yorkshire Regiment throughout.

The Recovery

In 2021, workmen digging a rainwater cistern in Hazewindestraat, St Juliaan spotted human remains in their trench. They informed the local police, who in turn notified The Flanders Heritage Agency – the recovery of the remains was undertaken shortly thereafter in partnership between these groups.

Once the recovery had been made, a report was produced showing exactly where the remains had been found, and containing a detailed list of the artefactual evidence. The ammunition and webbing found with the man showed him to be a Commonwealth soldier, and shoulder titles still partly attached to cloth showed his service with the 5th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment.

Following this the JCCC were able to build a shortlist of 20 potential candidates – men of the 5th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment who had died in this area in the Spring of 1915, and whose names were inscribed on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing. Following successful DNA extraction, families of the missing men were traced and eliminated one by one until eventually a match was made with the DNA of a distant cousin of Claude Stanley Dell via his mother’s line. In this way it was possible to positively identify the remains as those of Lance Corporal Dell, and today we lay him to rest amongst his comrades, near to where he fell.

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