In memory of

Private John G Ballantyne

53rd Australian Infantry A. I. F.

†September 30th 1918, age 35

Private John Ballantyne, A.I.F. was the second son of Mr and Mrs John Ballantyne, for many years resident in the parishes of Newlands and Kirkurd.  He had been in Australia several years when the war broke out, but returned to this country as a private in the Australian Imperial Force in December 1917.  He proceeded to France in March 1918 and fell at Tincourt on 30th September 1918.  He was 35 years of age. His brother William fell in October 13th 1915. On the 30th there was important progress on St Quentin-Cambrai Front.  Thorigny-Guistain-Rumilly taken.  Cambrai was fired on by the enemy.  There was also stiff American fighting in the Argonne Forest, and progress by the British north of Neuve Chapelle.

The villages were occupied by British troops in March, 1917, during the German Retreat to the Hindenburg Line; and from the following May until March, 1918, Tincourt became a centre for Casualty Clearing Stations. On the 23rd March, 1918, the villages were evacuated; and they were recovered, in a ruined condition, about the 6th September. From that month to December, 1918, Casualty Clearing Stations were again posted on the site of Tincourt. The cemetery was begun in June, 1917, and used until September, 1919.