He was serving as a corporal in the 7th Battalion at the time of his death in action in October 1916 at Gueudecourt, in the Somme department of France.
By the following summer, the First Contingent's strength had been too reduced by casualties to compose a full company, having lost 50% of what had then remained of its strength at Gueudecourt on 25 September 1916.
The 10th King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and the 1st East Yorks (64th Brigade) attacked Gird Trench, but could make no headway, while the 1st Lincolns were stopped by shellfire in the British frontline.
•
For the next phase of the Somme Offensive, the Battle of Le Transloy, men of the 88th Brigade including the Royal Newfoundland Regiment and 1st Essex Battalion were brought into the lines that ran through and around the northern edge of the village on 10 October 1916.
The Battle of Morval, 25–28 September 1916, was an attack during the Battle of the Somme by the British Fourth Army on the villages of Morval, Gueudecourt and Lesboeufs held by the German 1st Army, which had been the final objectives of the Battle of Flers-Courcelette (15–22 September).