At the beginning of WW1 my Great Uncle
Harry’s brigade was part of the 4th Division and his battalion, the Fifth City of London Rifles, went
to France in November 1914. Three weeks after he was
killed on 26 April 1915, his battalion was
transferred to GHQ for three months and they must have been severely mauled at 2nd Ypres because
while at GHQ they formed a composite battalion with two others. This suggests that on
average the three battalions forming the new composite battalion were at only one-third strength each,
that is, down from about 600 troops each to 200 with poor Uncle Harry among the lost.
Information provided by
Geoffrey Hotten.