Current Information:

Born-Hackney

Monchy British Cemetery, Monchy-le-Preux, France

Long Trench, which lay to the east of Monchy-le-Preux near Arras, was the scene of heavy fighting in mid-July, 1917, involving some of the battalions of 12th Division. One of these was 9th Essex of 35 Brigade who had been involved in defending it from the German attack on 11th July, when sections of it were lost to the enemy, and then played a part in its recapture on 17th July, along with 6th Royal West Kent and 6th Royal West Surrey (Queens), both of 37 Brigade. The three battalions attacked at 4.45am and despite suffering some heavy casualties, mainly from German machine-gun fire, they managed to gain a foothold in Long Trench, where they hung on with varying fortune until the arrival of reinforcements in the evening which swung the balance in their favour. The main attack on Long Lane had been delivered by 6th Royal West Kent while at the same time, 9th Essex had attacked on the left and had secured a line of posts between Long Lane and the British front line where they came under heavy machine-gun fire and suffered a number of casualties. 9th Essex remained in these forward positions until relieved on 24th July. Archibald Beard was killed on 22nd July.