Current Information:

Born-Twickenham

Enlisted-Teddington

On 8th March, 1916, 12th Royal Fusiliers of 17 Brigade, 24th Division left their camp at Ouderdom and moved into the front line trenches at Sanctuary Wood in the Ypres salient where they remained for 10 days. The Battalion Diary recorded that it was cold with snow falling on some nights but that for the first few days in these positions, things were generally quiet. However on 14th March, 1916, things began to hot up with the enemy artillery much more active. On 15th March the heavy shelling continued and Battalion HQ was forced to move to a better protected position in ‘Warrington Avenue’ trench. But even here they were not immune to the enemy firepower and on 17th March there were over 20 casualties in the battalion, 4 of whom were killed. One of these was Charles Clark.