Kortrijk was called Courtrai during the First World War and was in German hands for most of the fighting. In October 1918 the town was entered by the 12th Royal Irish Rifles. St Jan (St Jean as was) Cemetery had been used by the Germans. In November 1918, No. 44 Casualty Clearing Station was posted at Kortrijk for a week, and it was followed for eight months by No. 62. These two units made a new plot in the south-west part of the cemetery (at the back) which was enlarged after the Armistice. There are now 221 Commonwealth servicemen from the First World War buried here, including John Jarvis Baines from Uppingham who died at 62 CCS.