Current Information:

Born-St Pancras

On 17th January, 1915, the 2nd Royal West Surrey (Queens) battalion of 22 Brigade, 7th Division, moved into the front line to the west of Wulverghem in Belgium where they remained until relieved on 21st January. Edward King was killed on 20th January on a day that the battalion diary described as ‘quiet’, not a description with which he would have agreed. 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.