Current Information:

Age-19

4, Ralph Street, Borough

Born-Southwark

La Chapelle d'Armentieres Communal Cemetery, France

6th Division, which included the 1st Royal Fusiliers battalion of 17 Brigade, arrived in France in October 1914 and spent the first winter of the war in the Armentières sector of the Western Front. On 1st March, 1915, 1st Royal Fusiliers relieved the 3rd Rifle Brigade in the front line trenches at La Chapelle d'Armentieres where they remained until they were themselves relieved on 5th March. During this time they provided trench instruction to platoons of the 2nd London, a battalion which had recently arrived in France to join 17 Brigade. The battalion diary provides no further information about this period in the trenches other than recording the number of casualties there were on each day. As was the case all the way along the line, there was an ever present danger to life and limb from shell fire, snipers and trench mortars, added to which were the perils of night time patrols but it is not known which of these resulted in the death of Samuel Kendrick who was killed on 4th March.

The following information has been supplied by Mick Huggett: Samuel Kendrick first went to the Western Front to join the 1st Battalion, Royal Fusiliers on 4th December 1914, when his unit were stationed at Chapel d’Armentieres, Northern France. Kendrick was killed in action on 4th March 1915, just 6 days after his 19th birthday, and was buried in grave E.5 of Chapelle D’Armentieres Communal Cemetery, Armentieres, France. His family were living at 4 Ralph Street, Union Road, Borough, Southwark.