Current Information:

174, Church Street, Deptford

Ramparts Cemetery, Lille Gate, Ypres

On 30th March 1915, the 4th Royal Fusiliers battalion of 9 Brigade, 3rd Division went into trenches to the south-east of Ypres where they remained until relieved on 1st April when they moved back to billets in Rosendale. There is little information in the battalion diary entry about this period spent in the trenches so the circumstance that led to the death of Thomas Hopkins, who died from wounds on 1st April are not known. 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.