Current Information:

Age-25

"Aulay," Kidbrooke Grove, Blackheath

Kandahar Farm Cemetery, Belgium

First Battle of Ypres

Between 21st October and 22nd November, 1914 a desperate fight took place around the Belgium city of Ypres, the first of three major battles that were to be fought there during the course of the war. British troops entered Ypres in October. The 1st and 2nd Divisions plus the 3rd Cavalry Division had made their way up from the Aisne as part of the “Race to the Sea”, whilst the 7th Division came west to Ypres after Antwerp had fallen. The Germans knew that Ypres was the gateway to the Channel ports and that these were vital to Britain’s war effort so they poured reinforcements into the area. The fighting fell into three distinct battles; the Battle of Langemarck, 21-24 October, the Battle of Gheluvelt, 29-31 October and the Battle of Nonne Bosschen, 11 November. Ypres did not fall to the Germans but its defence during these two months resulted in the destruction of much of the old regular British Army.

The 1st Cheshire battalion of 15 Brigade, 5th Division, arrived at Ypres on 6th November having moved north from the fighting in the La Bassée area, and went straight into trenches just south of the 6km marker on the Menin Road where they remained until relieved on 19th November. The Battalion diary entry for 17th November, the day on which Huntly Nicholson was killed, recorded that there was a heavy artillery bombardment of their trenches followed by an infantry attack which they managed to repulse.