Current Information:

Born-Fulham

During the evening of 20th April, 1915, the 4th King’s Royal Rifle Corps battalion of 80 Brigade, 27th Division left their dugouts at Bellewarde, near Hooge and moved into trenches in Nonne Boschen Wood in the Ypres salient. Their time here coincided with the start of the Second Battle of Ypres when the enemy, using gas as a weapon for the first time, attacked in the northern part of the salient. This battle continued for two weeks by the end of which, the line had not been broken but had been pushed back to a tighter perimeter around Ypres. Throughout this period 4th King’s Royal Rifle Corps came under increased artillery fire and as a consequence suffered a number of casualties. On 26th April, after a quiet night, the enemy guns opened up during the day with particular ferocity and on two occasions shells fell directly in the battalion’s trenches killing at least eight men. One of these was Frank Coles.