Current Information:

Age-20

10, Mill Lane, West Hampstead

In early November 1914, the 9th London (Queen Victoria’s Rifles) battalion arrived in France where they were attached to 13th Brigade, 5th Division. After a period of trench instruction they took over a section of the front line on 16th December near Wulverghem in Belgium. The conditions here were truly awful. The winter of 1914-1915 was one of the wettest on record and the trenches were little more than water-filled ditches, lacking any kind of shelter. But here they had to stay for four days and nights where, apart from the mud and the rain they had to endure German snipers and artillery. Three men were killed during this period, including Harry Nicholls on 17th December.