Current Information:

Born-Bethnal Green

Mindel Trench British Cemetery, St Laurent-Blangy, France

After their involvement in the Battle of Arras in the Spring of 1917, the 6th Dorsetshire battalion of 50 Brigade, 17th Division spent the rest of the summer in that sector before moving north in the Autumn to Ypres. The summer months of 1917 were largely uneventful for the battalion with periods in the front line followed by time spent in support or reserve where they were employed in the reconstruction of the trenches and salvage work. Even so there were casualties for 6th Dorset, some from sniper fire but mainly from shell-fire and it was probably this that accounted for the death of Alfred Saunders on 9th August.