Current Information:

Age-18

10H, Roscoe Street, St Luke's

There was very little rest for the infantry on the Western Front. When not in the front line or support trenches they were in reserve and that nearly always meant either providing carrying parties to take supplies of all kinds to the front line or working at trench digging, road making, railway laying and host of other tasks, sometimes under command of the Royal Engineers. These activities usually took place at night and were often very dangerous. Harassing artillery and machine-gun fire from the enemy would be kept up intermittently throughout the night designed to disrupt the work as much as possible. Tracks along which carrying parties had to travel to reach the front line were known to the German gunners and targeted accordingly. Many a soldier met his death while in reserve.

John Murphy was killed on 18th March when the 2nd Cornwall Light Infantry battalion of 82 Brigade, 27th Division, wetre in billets at Dickebusch and sending out working parties at night to dig trenches.