Current Information:

83, Vauxhall Mansions, Vauxhall Walk

Ferme Buterne Military Cemetery, Houplines, France

Throughout April, 1917, the 2nd London battalion, then part of 17 Brigade, 6th Division, were in trenches in Chapelle d’Armentières with their companies rotating between the front line and reserve billets. John Alford was killed during the evening of 13th April. but the battalion diary provides no further information concerning his death. 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.