Current Information:

Enlisted-Kingston-on-Thames

At the outbreak of war in 1914, the 2nd East Surrey battalion were in India but they soon returned home where they joined 85 Brigade of 28th Division. In late January, 1915, 28th Division arrived in France and being a regular division they were quickly put into the trenches which in the case of 85 Brigade meant water-logged positions south of Ypres near St. Eloi and Oosthoek. It was a far cry from the warmth of India and there were many cases of sickness and frostbite.

On 10th February, 1915, 2nd East Surrey moved to Kruisstrat and the trenches south of St Eloi remaining there until relieved on 13th February. The battalion diary entry for 11th February recorded that ‘nothing unusual happened’. This of course would not have been the case for Gordon Quinnell and the four other members of the battalion who were killed on that day and the fifteen men who were wounded. The attrition rate among British soldiers on the Western Front was on average 300 each day and 60% of these were as a result of shellfire. When not involved in an actual battle it was either shell fire or a sniper’s bullet that caused most deaths and injuries.