Current Information:

Born-Southwark

On 20th January, 1916, 24th London of 142 Brigade, 47th Division moved into the support trenches at Loos in northern France where they stayed for the next 8 days providing working parties to dig new trenches and carrying parties taking supplies up to the front line, both dangerous tasks, constantly under the threat of shell fire. The 27th January was the Kaisers birthday and the enemy ‘celebrated’ this with a 2 hour heavy bombardment of the front line and communication trenches in which working parties from 24th London were engaged. Trench mortars and rifle grenades also added to their misery, but no infantry attack followed. 4 men were killed as a result of this, one of them being Charles Lait. For some reason as yet unknown, he is commemorated on the Arras Memorial to the missing rather than the nearby Loos Memorial.