Current Information:

Enlisted-New Cross

On 16th January, 1915, the 1st Royal West Kent battalion of 13 Brigade, 5th Division, moved into the front line at Wulverghem, just south of Messines in Belgium. The trenches here were close to the River Douvre and consequently were often flooded and up to the men’s waists in places, a situation made worse by some heavy shelling of their trenches by the enemy artillery. However on 22nd January there was little shelling of the battalion’s positions but a considerable amount of sniping which resulted in the deaths of five men. One of these was Henry Penny.