Current Information:

Age-17

Higham Lodge, Ravensbourne Park, Catford

Dud Corner Cemetery, Loos, France

The 7th London battalion arrived in France on 18th March, 1915 where they joined 140 Brigade of 47th Division. On 1st June they relieved a battalion of the Coldstream Guards in the trenches at Vermelles,  where the ground was chalky and the trenches comfortable after the Festubert breastworks which had been their previous experience. Battalion HQ was in the cellars of Le Rutoire Farm and the German front lines 1000 yards away. Although a relatively quiet sector at this time, there were dangers and on 5th June a German shell known as a  ‘whizz bang’ landed right outside a dug-out in the support line killing three men one of whom was Charles Crossingham.