Current Information:

Born-Chelsea

Enlisted-Mill Hill

Blauwepoort Farm Cemetery, Belgium

On 6th May, 1915, the 4th Middlesex battalion of 8 Brigade, 3rd Division marched to a chateau one mile south-west of Ypres and that evening moved up to the front line. The following day, 7th May the troops to their left attacked the salient in front of Hill 60 which had been captured  by the enemy the previous night.  4th Middlesex were not directly engaged in this operation but suffered over twenty casualties as a result of the fierce artillery war that accompanied it.

Relieved on 10th May, 4th Middlesex were back in the same trenches by 13th May until relieved a week later. The Battalion Diary is not very forthcoming regarding this tour of the front line but the casualty figures of eight killed, and thirty eight wounded over the seven days suggests that normal conditions prevailed and that being in the front line was always dangerous with the threat of shell fire, gas and the sniper’s bullet ever present. One of the battalion’s casualties during this period was Joseph Alleyn who was killed in action  on 13th May.