Today on my cycle tour, I have visited In Flanders Field – Museum. Last time I visited hear, both of my sons were young, they are now in their mid twenties.

On entry you are asked to pick a person to follow their story throughout the museum, it is displayed on a map, you drill down to a location, one location looked to be in Devizes. Low and behold it was a Devizes person. Their story is below.

The youngest son of the Reverend John Hart Burges, Eric attended St Edmund’s School in Canterbury and went on to study at St John’s College, Oxford. There he gained a Third Class Honours in Modern History, a Diploma in Economics and Political Science and a Certificate in Social Training. Eric was also a Corporal in the school’s Officers’ Training Corps (OTC) and a member of the Debating Society. When war broke out, he volunteered. He was commissioned as an officer on 15 August 1914 and arrived at Zeebrugge on 7 October. 2nd Lt Eric Burges marched with his platoon to Bruges where he was billeted.

When Eric Burges arrived in Bruges in early October 1914, the intention had been to join his battalion in defending Antwerp. However, the town on the Scheldt was evacuated and the battalion moved back towards Ypres on an exhausting march through Beernem, Wingene and Roeselare. One week after his arrival in Flanders, Eric saw the towers of Ypres, then still intact. Exactly on his 33rd birthday Second Lieutenant Eric Burges of the Wiltshire Regiment was killed on 23 October 1914 between Geluveld and Kruiseik by a shell that exploded near him. His body could not be recovered. He is commemorated on panel 53 of the Menin Gate in Ieper.

If you would like to see more information its available on this website: Read more here