Current Information:

Age-23

39, Plevna Street, Cubitt Town

Born-Cubitt Town

Woburn Abbey Cemetery, Cuinchy, France

The Battle of Festubert (15–25 May 1915)

This followed quickly on the heels of the Battle of Aubers Ridge and was an offensive operation by the British Army in the Artois region of France in conjunction with a French attack further south.  Initial success soon ground to a halt and although there had been an advance of two miles in some places the end result was not the hoped for breakout but merely more muddy trenches which became the front line. British casualties over the ten days amounted to nearly 17,000, three times as many as inflicted on the Germans.

The 17th London (Poplar & Stepney Rifles) battalion arrived in France in March 1915 as part of 141 Brigade, 47th Division. On 13th May, 1915 they moved into the front line at Pont Fixe, Givenchy in northern France. The Battalion Diary records that on 23rd May Thomas Whitear was killed in action when hit by shrapnel after which six shrapnel wounds were found in his body.