Lance Corporal Andrew Burrell

Lance Corporal Andrew Burrell, ” A ” Battalion, Tank Corps. He was killed in action in Belgium on 20th September 1917, aged 20, during the Third Battle of Ypres. He was the son of Mrs Helen Burrell of Cotland Place, Stow and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Flanders, Belgium.  He had been employed as a porter at Stow station when he enlisted in the 18th Motor Machine Gun Section of the Royal Field Artillery in May 1915. He was then transferred to the Heavy Section Machine Gun Corps which became the Tank Corps. The tank pictured is a Mark 4 and was used at Ypres. However the churned up often flooded nature of the ground was not suitable for their use and their effectiveness was very limited. The photographs show the desolate nature of the battlefield.