Corporal George Patterson

Corporal George Patterson, 1st/7th ( Territorial ) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. He was killed in Belgium on 12th June 1915, aged 19. He was the son of George and Alice Patterson of 73 Low Greens, Berwick and is commemorated on the Menin Gate, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium. At this time the Battalion were holding trenches in the Hooge sector of the Ypres Salient and whilst in supports for a 3rd Division attack suffered casualties from heavy artillery fire. In the period 12th -16th June 1 Officer and 12 Other Ranks were killed and 3 Officers and 53 Other Ranks were wounded. The artist’s impressions depict scenes from the Second Battle of Ypres and the photograph shows the impressive Memorial raised to the 50th ( Northumbrian ) Division of which the Battalion was part until February 1918 when it was transferred to the 42nd ( East Lancashire ) Division as a Pioneer Battalion. It was erected near the village of Weiltje in the Ypres Salient near where the Division fought its first Battle on the 26th April only days after landing on the Continent. The photograph shows troops trying on their rudimentary gas masks. The Germans had used poison gas for the first time on the Western Front on 22nd April 1915.