Begrafenis Private John Tame

Burial service Private John Tame - Sint-Jan - 17/05/2025

The burial service for Pirivate John Tame, 2^nd Battalion The Royal Berkshire Regiment, took place on Thursday 8 May 2025 at New Irish Farm Cemetery in Ieper/Sint-Jan. The service was conducted by Reverend Stephen Cassells CF, Chaplain to 2^nd Battalion The Rifles. Relatives of Private John Tame attended the burial service.

Private John Tame was born in Windsor, Berkshire, in early 1895. He was the third eldest of seven children born to Edward Tame and his wife Alice. Edward died just months after the birth of their youngest child in 1906.

John's elder brothers, Alfred and William George Tame enlisted into the Army and served with 2^nd Battalion The Royal Berkshire Regiment which was stationed in India at the outbreak of the First World War. The battalion returned to the United Kingdom and arrived on the Western Front on 5 November 1914. Lance Corporal Alfred Tame and Corporal William George Tame were killed on 9 May 1915 during the Battle of Aubers Ridge. Both brothers are still missing and are commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial.

John appears to have enlisted following the start of hostilities and joined 6^th (Service) Battalion The Royal Berkshire Regiment. The battalion arrived on the Western Front on 25 July 1915 and was sent to the Somme region. Private Tame was wounded during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. It was most likely following this that he transferred to 2^nd Battalion.

On the night of 15 to 16 August 1917 2^nd Battalion The Royal Berkshire Regiment moved forward into assembly positions on Westhoek Ridge. At 04:45 hours on 16 August they attacked as part of the wider Battle of Langemarck. They crossed the ground east of the Hannebeke and captured this without difficulty. As the creeping barrage they were following advanced, they took most of the Iron Cross Redoubt and defensive positions north of it. The left company captured Anzac and the Green Line was reached in certain places. A line was formed northwest of Polygon Wood and ran through the northwestern corner of the Iron Cross Redoubt. However, the line was weak due the casualties they had already suffered, and machine gun fire made it difficult to reorganise.

At 10:30 hours the Germans counterattacked form the direction of Polygon Wood. The attacking British troops rallied and managed to establish posts in old trenches west of the Hannebeke. The German attack stopped after the Iron Cross Redoubt line. At 15:30 hours another German attack commenced with one group coming in a north westerly direction and another from Nonne Bosschen Wood and the Zonnebeke Redoubt. The attack was slow and at 16:30 hours British artillery started to shell the ridge. The British battalions in the line around 2nd Battalion The Royal Berkshire Regiment were seen to be retiring and it became necessary for them to retire as well. A line was taken up in concrete dugouts near Westhoek and the various battalions in the area consolidated the line. No further attacks came. It was during the fighting that day that Private Tame went missing. He was 22 years old. He was commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial.

In May 2018 the remains of the soldier of The Royal Berkshire Regiment were found during road works near Zonnebeke. Various artefacts were found with the soldier although few directly connected to him. Examination of the remains revealed that the soldier appeared to have been previously wounded around his left shoulder. DNA testing was carried out which identified this man as Private John Tame. We will now remember Private Tame and his missing brothers, and his remains were laid to rest with full military honours.

Close to a farm known by the troops as 'Irish Farm', the cemetery was used from August to November 1917, and April and May 1918, and at the war's end contained just 73 burials. After the Armistice more than 5,400 graves were brought in from the battlefields north-east of Ypres and from a number of small cemeteries to what is now known as New Irish Farm Cemetery.