Current Information:

Age-30

Born-Battersea

Guards Grave, Villers Cotterets Forest, France

On 1st  September, 1914, as the Great Retreat continued after the Battle of Mons, the 3rd Coldstream Guards battalion of 4 Brigade, 2nd Division, came into action. Along with the rest of 4 Brigade they covered the withdrawal of the rest of 2nd Division from a position to the east of Taillefontaine, five miles from Villers Cottérêts. 3rd Coldstream were in the second line of this defensive formation when, at 10am, it was attacked by a large German force. 3rd Coldstream Guards and 2nd Grenadier Guards were drawn up on a grass ride along the highest ridge of the Villers Cottérêts forest which passes through an open space, Rond de la Reine, to another open space, Croix de Belle Vue, a mile on.  Here they were greatly extended with wide gaps between the companies which the Germans were able to penetrate. Nevertheless the two battalions were able to fall back slowly and eventually they were joined by the 1st Irish Guards. There was a degree of confusion and much intermingling as the three battalions fought their way back through the forest to Villers Cottérêts which they reached by 2pm. They had been engaged against a much larger German force and 4 Brigade suffered over 300 casualties one of whom was Horace Hilbert.