Current Information:

Age-20

18, Gilhams Court, Paradise Street, Rotherhithe

Estaires Communal Cemetery, France

On 18th March, 1915, the 2nd Border battalion of 20 Brigade, 7th Division left their billets in Estaires and moved into trenches at Rue Tilloye where they remained until relieved on 25th March. The battalion diary recorded nothing about this four day tour of the front line, other than the dates, so there is no information concerning the death of John Bagley on 23rd 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.