Current Information:

Born & Enlisted-London

After the opening battles of the war at Mons on 23rd August, 1914 and Le Cateau on 26th August, the British Army (BEF), in conjunction with the French Army, began a retreat that took them all the way back to the River Marne, 200 miles to the south. With the Germans in hot pursuit they were forced to fight a series of rear guard actions as they fell back in extremely hot weather. The Great Retreat, as it became known, came to an end on 5th September, 1914 when the allied forces attacked along the River Marne and drove the Germans back to the River Aisne.

On 1st September 1914 during the Great Retreat, 6 Brigade of 2nd Division halted a mile south of Pisseleux, south of the River Aisne, to cover the withdrawal of 4 Brigade. At 4pm heavy German rifle and artillery fire engaged the British guns and they were unable to withdraw until the 1st Liverpool (Kings) battalion  had pushed forward to the western side of the railway and checked the German  advance.  At 6pm 1st Liverpool withdrew.  They had been engaged against a much bigger German force and had inevitably suffered some casualties. One of these was John Mason.