Current Information:

Age-29

35 Winchester Ave, Brondesbury Park

Maroc British Cemetery, Grenay

On the 26^th August 1915, the 6^th London battalion of 140 Brigade 47^th Division relieved the 7^th Scottish Borderers in the W.3 Sector of the line, due east of the mining village of Maroc in France. They remained in these trenches for seven days during which time they were kept busy with the usual routines of improving and extending the trenches and the inevitable patrolling. An order from battalion HQ required all men with experience of using a sickle and scythe to come forward. Many did so, thinking that they may be required to leave the front line and spend time doing necessary harvest work in the back areas, but what they were really needed for was to cut down the long grass in No Man’s Land, so that a better view of the enemy could be had. This was not what they had in mind when they put their names forward.

This was a quiet period in the trenches for 6^th London. Both sides seemed content to hold their own line and apart from the odd shell coming over and the occasional rifle bullet, there was little in the way of aggressive action.

But patrol work continued as it always did and on the night of the 31^st August. 1915, a three man patrol of Second Lieutenant Quilter, Corporal Ben Barker and Rifleman Allen went out to reconnoitre that part of No Man’s Land that lay between their front line and the German trenches. The danger with patrols was that an enemy patrol might be encountered or that the patrol might be spotted from the enemy’s trenches and fired upon but these did not happen on this occasion. However, what did occur was that as the patrol made its way back to their own lines, they were seen and shot at, not by sentries from their own battalion, but by those from another unit on their flank who were obviously unaware that a British patrol was out there. Lt Quilter was hit and killed.