Current Information:

Born-Buckingham

Enlisted-London

Trois Arbres Cemetery, Steenwerck, France

The Race to the Sea September-October 1914

By the middle of September 1914, the Aisne battlefield had stagnated into trench warfare and in order to break this impasse, both sides tried to outflank each other in a general movement northwards. Moving up through Picardy, Artois and Flanders the race was over by 19th October when the North Sea was reached. The Western Front, a line of trenches stretching from Belgium to Switzerland, was now a reality. Initially it was the French army that conducted this movement whilst the British Expeditionary Force remained on the Aisne but by 6 October British reinforcements were needed to help beat off German attacks around Lille. They moved north and along with reinforcements from Britain, they took up new positions in Flanders, on the left of the Allied line and much closer to the Channel ports.

The Battle of Messines 12th October-2nd November 1914

The Battle of Messines was fought  in October 1914. It was part of the Race to the Sea and it took place between the Comines-Ypres canal  and  the River Douve. It involved the 1st and 2nd Cavalry Divisions and elements  of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Divisions as well part of the Indian Division. On 17th October, 1914, the 18th Hussars of 2nd Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division moved forward to Ploegsteert from where they were ordered to undertake an attack along the line of the River Lys near Warneton. However they found the enemy lines to be too strongly held and the attack was soon stopped. At some stage during the day Charles White was killed.