Second Lieutenant Patrick Grey

Second Lieutenant Patrick Riddle Grey, 15th ( Service ) Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers ( att. 8th Battalion ). He was killed in action in France, aged 24, on 26th September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Thiepval, Somme, France. He was the son of Major James Lilburn Grey and Beatrix Mary Grey ( nee Riddle ) of Moorside House, Tweedmouth. He was a keen rower and a member of the Berwick Amateur Rowing Club. He had been educated at the Avenue Academy and Edinburgh University studying mining engineering from 1911-1915. Whilst  In Edinburgh he had served with the Edinburgh University O.T.C. Engineer Unit. He was also a keen member of the Berwick Amateur Rowing Club. On the day he was killed the Battalion was in action in and around ” Mouquet Farm ” and ” High Trench “. During this period the Battalion suffered 4 Officers and 77 Other Ranks killed and 4 Officers and 225 Other Ranks wounded. The photographs show the churned up nature of the ground after the autumn rains turned the chalky soil of the Region into a glutinous quagmire in which it was difficult to move as can be seen from the photographs. The colour image shows a peaceful Somme landscape today.