Current Information:

Born-Chelsea

Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, France

40th Division, including 13th East Surrey of 120 Brigade, landed in France at the beginning of June, 1916 and after the requisite period of trench warfare instruction, the division took over the front line in the old Loos battlefield, near Lens. August, 1916 was spent here with periods of five to six days in the front line either in the Calonne or the Loos sector interspersed with periods in reserve when they provided working and carrying parties. At this time most attention was fixed on the battle unfolding further south on the Somme  but that was not to say that things were quiet on this sector of the line. The Battalion Diary records that both sides sent over rifle grenades and trench mortars, which they called ‘rum-jars’, on a regular basis and there were of course casualties as a result. Charles Parkes died from wounds on 29th August, 1916 after having been evacuated back to a base hospital in Boulogne but there is no information as to when he was wounded.