Current Information:

Age-19

6, Coopersale Road, Homerton

Philosophe British Cemetery, Mazingarbe, France

40th Division, including 20th Middlesex of 121 Brigade, arrived in France in May 1916 and after a period of trench instruction, took over front line duties at Loos, a mining village on the outskirts of Lens where they stayed throughout the summer and autumn. During the evening of 8th October, 1916, two parties from 20th Middlesex, consisting of 6 officers and 130 men, raided the German lines opposite with the objective of gaining prisoners, war material and information about the enemy defences. It was not a successful raid. Perhaps it was the bright moonlight that gave the game away or maybe the two Bangalore Torpedoes fired at the commencement of the raid failed to destroy enough of the enemy wire. Either way, neither party managed to get into the German trenches and no prisoners were captured. All that came from it was the deaths of a few more men one of whom was Arthur Attwood.