Current Information:

12, Clyde Road, Silvertown

Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Belgium

The First World War saw an enormous growth in the size of the British army, not just in the infantry and artillery but also in all of the other branches including the Royal Engineers, without whom the war could not have been fought. The engineers were responsible for the maintenance of all the supply routes to the front line including roads, bridges, canals, railways. They looked after the telephones and the embryonic wireless system and they made sure that there was a water supply. They designed and built the fortifications both in the front line and further back, including gun emplacements and they were responsible for all tunnelling and mining work. Each division usually had three Field Companies attached to them and when an attack went in so did the engineers to help consolidate any gains made. 

The 9th Field Company of the Royal Engineers were part of 4th Division which had been on the Western Front since the start of the war in 1914. During the first week of July, 1917 they were in billets in Elverdinghe, just to the west of Ypres working at various tasks on the trenches along the Yser canal. On 6th July there was an attack by 11 Brigade on the International trench and some of 9th Field Company went over with the infantry to reverse the parapets of captured trenches and dig new communication trenches. They sustained some casualties while doing this including Timothy Hickie.