Current Information:

Age-33

104, North Street, Barking

On 14th March, 1915, after some heavy fighting during the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, the 2nd West Yorkshire battalion of 23rd Brigade, 8th Division, moved back to billets at Rouge Croix but two days later they were back in the front line at Neuve Chapelle where they remained until 22nd March. According to the battalion diary things were quiet here but that would not have been the opinion of James Hurley who was killed here on 18th March. The attrition rate among British soldiers on the Western Front was on average 300 each day and 60% of these were as a result of shellfire. When not involved in an actual battle it was either shell fire or a sniper’s bullet that caused most deaths and injuries.