Current Information:

Born-Poplar

London Rifle Brigade Cemetery

12^th East Surrey arrived in France in May 1916 and joined 122 Brigade 41^st Division. At the end of the month and after a period of trench instruction, they took over part of the line near Ploegsteert Wood, just north of Armentières and throughout June they did seven day spells in these trenches with seven days in reserve at Soyer Farm. On the night of 30^th June they sent out a raiding party of 34 men and 2 officers into the German trenches opposite. Some of the men who formed the raiding party had, before joining the battalion, belonged to a fraternity well known in Bermondsey as the “Black Hand Gang”. When they reached the German trenches they planted in the earth a board with a black hand painted on it to show where they had entered. Unfortunately there were a number of casualties as a result of this raid and from the inevitable German retaliation.