A joint rededication service, organised by the MOD’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC), also referred to as the ‘MOD Struggle Detectives’, was held on the Commonwealth Struggle Graves Fee’s (CWGC) Hooge Crater Cemetery close to Ypres for each males on Tuesday 9 June 2026.
John Edgar Springate, from Lambeth, and Ernest Albert Stevens, from West Wycombe, Bucks, each joined the Military someday after the beginning of 1916. Although neither man’s report has survived to present us particular particulars of their service, by the late summer time of 1918 each have been serving with 11 Bn QRWS Regiment in Belgium.
On the night of 1 October 1918, the battalion launched an assault in direction of the Wervicq – Menin railway and, beneath very heavy machine gun fireplace, suffered vital casualties. In a single day, they suffered additional losses while transferring to an meeting level. Throughout these two days the battalion misplaced 36 males, 15 of whom remained lacking following the conflict.
The names of the lacking have been listed on the Tyne Cot Memorial. John Edgar Springate and Ernest Albert Stevens have been two of those males.
After the conflict, the stays of an unknown sergeant of the QRWS Regiment have been recovered south-west of Gheluwe and north-east of Wervicq. In a separate restoration the stays of an unknown lance corporal of the QRWS Regiment have been additionally recovered close by.
Since each may solely be partially recognized by rank and regiment, they have been buried in graves marked merely ‘Recognized to God’. Now, following in depth archival analysis we all know that the unknown Serjeant was Ernest Albert Stevens, and the unknown Lance Corporal was John Edgar Springate.
JCCC Caseworker, Alexia Clark, mentioned:
I’m grateful to the researcher who initially submitted proof suggesting the situation of LCpl Springate and Sjt Stevens’ graves. In rededicating their graves in the present day, we now have reunited their mortal stays with their names, guaranteeing that their sacrifice is not going to be forgotten.
The headstones over each graves have been changed by CWGC who will look after them in perpetuity.
Rev. Adele Rees CF, Chaplain to 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, blesses the gravestone of LCpl Springate.
Sean Phillips, Commemorations Help Coordinator on the CWGC mentioned:
It’s with nice reverence that, after greater than a century, we will now mark the graves of Lance Corporal Springate and Serjeant Stevens with headstones that establish their names and bear the small print of their service. The reminiscence of those troopers is now etched in stone, honouring their sacrifices at their remaining place of relaxation in Hooge Crater Cemetery.
Colonel Mark Nooney, of The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, lays a wreath on the newly engraved gravestone of Sjt Stevens.
