Current Information:

Born-Kennington

On 4th May, 1916, 1st Royal West Surrey (Queens) of 100 Brigade, 33rd Division left their billets in Beuvry and moved into the nearby front line trenches at Auchy in France. At 5.55am on 6th May, the enemy exploded a mine in front of their positions, burying 2 men who were in a sap head in the vicinity. They followed this up with an artillery bombardment. The Battalion Diary records that some of B Company straight away occupied the new crater, which became known as Queen’s Crater, and prevented the Germans from leaving their trenches. There was further shelling of the trenches held by 1st Queens at midday and in the afternoon and by the end of the day, 4 men from the battalion had been killed, one of whom was George Mills.