Henin Communal Cemetery Extension.
8k South of Arras.
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At the census of 1901, Bernard, aged 4, was living at 49 Harker St, Skelton Green and had been born in Skelton,
His father, who worked as an Ironstone miner, came from Lincolnshire and his mother from Stanghow, N Yorks.
He had an older brother, Robert, aged 17, who worked as a labourer in the Ironstone mine and he had been
born in Marske N Yorks.
His two sisters were Hilda age 15 and Edith age 9.
The 10th (Service) Battalion KOYLI, were formed at Pontefract in September 1914.
They were attached to 64th Brigade, 21st Division.
At the time of Bernard's death the Division fought in the Arras offensive, one of the most important campaigns
in which the BEF was engaged.
Yet in comparison with the Somme of 1916 and Passchendaele of 1917, terribly neglected by historians.
The British Army launched a large-scale attack at Arras as part of a master plan by new French Commander in Chief
Robert Nivelle.
Although initially successful, it soon bogged down and became a terribly costly affair, as did most.
The British attack was against the formidable Hindenburg Line, to which the enemy had recently made a strategic withdrawal.
The battle can be considered to be composed of a number of phases:
The Battle of Vimy and the First Battle of the Scarpe were the opening phases.
The Second and third Battle of the Scarpe and the final Battle of Bullecourt and other actions against the Hindenburg Line
concluded the fighting.
Bernard Scuffham lost his life it seems during the Battle of Bullecourt.
Henin-sur-Cojeul was captured on 2 April 1917, lost in March 1918, after an obstinate resistance by the 40th
Division, and retaken on the following 24 August by the 52nd (Lowland) Division.
The extension was made between April and November 1917, chiefly by the 21st and 30th Divisions.
It was used for 15 burials at the end of August 1918 and enlarged after the Armistice when graves were brought
in from Henin British Cemetery.
