Current Information:

Enlisted-Chelsea

On 13th May, 1915, the 18th London (London Irish) battalion of 141 Brigade, 47th Division left their billets in Bethune and moved into trenches at Givenchy where they remained until relieved on 19th May when they moved back to billets in Le Preol. Joseph Lightfoot was killed on 18th May but the battalion diary provides no further information concerning his death. 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.