Current Information:

Age-25

107, Stapleton Hall Road, Stroud Green

Philosophe British Cemetery, Mazingarbe, France

40th Division, including 20th Middlesex of 121 Brigade, arrived in France in May 1916 and after a period of trench instruction, took over front line duties at Loos, a mining village on the outskirts of Lens where they stayed for the rest of the summer. On 19th September, 1916, 20th Middlesex moved into the front line trenches in the Loos, left sub sector and remained in these positions for the next eight days. The Battalion Diary entry for 25th September recorded that the artillery shelled the German trenches to the right of Puits 16 starting at 5am  and that retaliation from the Germans inevitably followed. At intermittent periods throughout the day this exchange of trench mortars, rifle grenades and even aerial darts continued. There were of course casualties and one of these was George Buist.