Bedford House Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery Bedford House Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial ground for the dead of the First World War located near Zillebeke , itself near Ypres , on the Western Front . The cemetery grounds were assigned to the United Kingdom in perpetuity by King Albert I of Belgium in recognition of the sacrifices made by the British Empire in the defence and liberation of Belgium during the war . Foundation . Zillebeke was directly behind the Western Front , making it a useful site for divisional headquarters and field ambulance stations . Château Rosendal , a large house with a moat and extensive gardens was put to this use . The British forces in the area named the château " Bedford House " or " Woodcote House " , with the former becoming the official name used for the post - war cemetery . Whilst the area remained in Allied hands through the war , it was devastated by shell fire and the château was razed over the course of the war , being hit by German 8 - inch shells , as well as 500 gas shells in just one day of the Third Battle of Ypres . Enclosure No 1 and No 5 . Five cemeteries were established in the grounds . At the end of the war , the earliest of these was moved to White House cemetery in Sint Jan , whilst the fifth was relocated to Aeroplane cemetery in Ypres . Enclosure No 2 . The second cemetery was established in December 1915 and remained in use until October 1918 . After the Armistice , 437 graves were concentrated in this enclosure from two nearby battlefield cemeteries , Ecole de Bienfaisance and Asylum British , that the Commission could not maintain . Unusual for a Commonwealth cemetery on the Western Front , there are collective burials in this enclosure , although individual headstones have still been provided , marked " Buried near this spot " . Enclosure No 3 . The third cemetery is the smallest and was in use from February 1915 until December 1916 . Enclosure No 4 . The fourth cemetery is the largest . It was founded in June 1916 and in use until February 1918 . Post - war , it received reburials of 3324 troops from other cemeteries or found under the former battlefields . The identities of most of these troops is unknown . Enclosure No 6 . A sixth cemetery was established in the 1930s for reburials of remains still being found in the area . This cemetery also received the remains of 69 British Expeditionary Force troops killed in the area during the rearguard action leading to the Dunkirk evacuation . Three of these soldiers ' identities are unknown . Special memorials . The cemetery as a whole has 47 " special memorials " . In the form of stone obelisks or just headstones with special notations , they record the names of soldiers whose graves were lost in later fighting or could not be found after the war . As these are known casualties ( not " missing " ) , they are included in the total figure for burials in the cemetery and are not recorded on the Menin Gate . The entire cemetery was designed by Wilfred Clement Von Berg . Notable graves . Enclosure No 4 holds the grave of Second Lieutenant Rupert Price Hallowes , a Welsh soldier who was awarded both the Military Cross and the Victoria Cross , the highest award for valour " in the face of the enemy " in the Commonwealth . Also buried in No 4 is Private Frederick Turner of the Northumberland Fusiliers . He was executed by his own side on 23 October 1917 for desertion . Such " shot at dawn " executions were pardoned by the British government in 2006 .