Percy James East: A Detailed Biography
Private Percy James East, G/6280, 6th (Service) Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), was born at Sandwich, Kent, about September 1892 and was killed in action in France on 18 March 1916. [1][2] He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Loos Memorial, Pas‑de‑Calais, France, where his name appears on Panels 15–19 alongside many comrades of the 12th (Eastern) Division. [1][3]
Early Life and Family
Percy James East’s birth is registered in the September quarter of 1892 in the Sandwich registration district, Kent (volume 2A, page 950, line 204), placing his birth around late summer 1892. He was the son of Walter East and Selina Caroline East, née Mannering, and grew up in a close‑knit Kentish family rooted in the small port and market town of Sandwich. [1]
By the 1901 census the family were living in Harnet Street, Sandwich, with Percy recorded as a school‑age child in his parents’ household. [1] Sandwich’s mix of maritime, agricultural and small‑trades employment provided the backdrop to his early life, and the family’s continuing presence there is reflected in the later addresses recorded for his mother. [1]
Early Life and Family (Work and Home)
By 1911 Percy was living at 1 Jessamine Villas, Sandwich, where his occupation is given as bottle washer, indicating work in a bottling or mineral‑water business or similar local industry. [1] This sort of manual but semi‑skilled employment was typical for young working‑class men in small Kent towns in the years immediately before the First World War. [1]
In 1915 his address is given as 11 Jasmine (Jessamine) Villas, Woodnesborough Road, Sandwich, showing that he remained close to his childhood home and that the small terrace of Jessamine Villas continued to be the family base. [1] After his death, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission recorded his mother, Selina C. East, as living at “1, Jessamine Villas, Boatsman’s Hill, Sandwich, Kent”, further confirming this cluster of related addresses as the East family’s long‑term home. [1]
Military Service
Percy enlisted at Sandwich into The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), being posted to the 6th (Service) Battalion, with the service number G/6280 and the rank of Private. [1][2] His medal entitlement—1914–15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal—confirms overseas service in a theatre of war from 1915. [1]
The 6th (Service) Battalion, The Buffs, was formed at Canterbury in August 1914 as part of Kitchener’s First New Army (K1), joining 37th Brigade of the 12th (Eastern) Division and training at Colchester, Purfleet and then Shorncliffe before moving to Aldershot in February 1915. [1][4][5] In late May 1915 the Division crossed to France via Folkestone–Boulogne and Southampton–Le Havre, concentrating south of Saint‑Omer by early June and joining III Corps; the 6th Buffs thereafter served continuously on the Western Front. [1][5][6]
Military Service (Battles and Front‑Line Duty)
The 6th Buffs and 12th (Eastern) Division first saw major action at the Battle of Loos in September–October 1915, where they attacked in the sector near Hulluch and the Hohenzollern Redoubt, suffering heavy casualties in repeated assaults and German counter‑attacks. [1][3][6] Subsequent fighting in October 1915 around positions known as “The Quarries” at Hulluch further depleted the battalion but also established it as a seasoned front‑line unit. [1][3]
In early 1916 the area around the Hohenzollern Redoubt became the focus of intensive mine warfare. On 2 March 1916, four large British mines were blown under German positions, followed by attacks that captured a series of craters, including the key Triangle Crater, with 12th (Eastern) Division selected to hold and exploit the new positions. [1][3][5] The 37th Brigade, including the 6th Buffs, relieved 36th Brigade in the crater sector on 5 March 1916 and endured continuous German bombing attacks, shelling and trench raiding in appalling mud and cratered ground for the rest of the month. [3][7]
Circumstances of Death
Percy’s individual record notes that he served in France between 31 August 1915 and 18 March 1916, and that he was killed in action in France on 18 March 1916. [1] A contemporary War Office casualty list dated 13 April 1916 initially recorded “E J East, Private, 6280, Buffs, France and Flanders” as missing, reflecting the confusion following the intense fighting in the Hohenzollern Craters sector; this entry clearly relates to Percy under an initialled form of his name. [1]
The broader context of his death is the Hohenzollern Redoubt action of 2–18 March 1916, during which 12th (Eastern) Division fought to hold newly captured mine craters against persistent German counter‑attacks and mortar fire. [3][5] German Minenwerfer bombardments and infantry assaults repeatedly struck the crater line and the old British front trenches, causing very high casualties; accounts of the period describe men standing shin‑deep in churned earth and water, exposed to accurate plunging mortar fire and close‑quarters bombing. [3][6] Percy’s death on 18 March 1916 coincides with the final phase of this action, when the Division was still in the line and suffering losses from shelling and localised attacks around Triangle Crater and the adjacent saps. [1][3]
Burial and Commemoration
Percy James East has no known grave, a common outcome for soldiers killed in cratered and heavily shelled sectors such as Hohenzollern, where bodies were often buried, re‑buried or obliterated by later explosions. [1][3] Instead he is commemorated on the Loos Memorial at Dud Corner Cemetery, near Loos‑en‑Gohelle, Pas‑de‑Calais, which bears the names of more than 20,000 officers and men who fell in the area from 1915 to the end of the war and have no known resting place; his name appears on Panels 15–19 among those of The Buffs and associated units. [1][2]
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission record for “EAST, PERCY JAMES, Private, G/6280, 6th Bn., The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), died 18 March 1916, aged 22, son of Selina C. East, of 1, Jessamine Villas, Boatsman’s Hill, Sandwich, Kent” confirms his age, unit and family details. [1] A Find a Grave memorial (ID 15344005) likewise records his name and commemorative location, providing a modern point of reference for family historians and researchers. [1]
Legacy
Percy’s medals—the 1914–15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal—together with the award of a wound stripe and the issue of a Memorial Death Plaque, underline his recognised service and sacrifice on the Western Front. [1] His life also preserved in genealogical form via FamilySearch ID LY9B‑M9F. [1]
Local and national remembrance projects ensure that Percy’s name is not confined to official registers. The “A Street Near You” database lists “Private Percy James East, G/6280, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), 18/03/1916 (aged 22)” among the regiment’s casualties, linking him to the wider story of The Buffs’ wartime losses. [2][8] More broadly, the history of the Hohenzollern Redoubt action and the 12th (Eastern) Division highlights the ferocity of the fighting in which he died, placing his individual story within a larger narrative of sacrifice in one of the most dangerous sectors of the Western Front in early 1916. [3][5][6]
Key External Links
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission – Private Percy James East:
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2941756/east,-percy-james/ [1] - 12th (Eastern) Division and Hohenzollern Redoubt action (context for March 1916 fighting):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohenzollern_Redoubt_action,_2%E2%80%9318_March_1916 [3] - Casualty databases and regimental context – The Buffs (East Kent Regiment):
https://astreetnearyou.org/regiment/256/The-Buffs-(East-Kent-Regiment) [2]
https://vickersmg.blog/in-use/british-service/the-british-army/buffs-east-kent-regiment/ [4]
Sources
[1] Individual-Report-for-Percy-James-East.pdf
[2] The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) – First World War Casualties https://astreetnearyou.org/regiment/256/The-Buffs-(East-Kent-Regiment)
[3] Hohenzollern Redoubt action, 2–18 March 1916 – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohenzollern_Redoubt_action,_2%E2%80%9318_March_1916
[4] Buffs (East Kent) Regiment https://vickersmg.blog/in-use/british-service/the-british-army/buffs-east-kent-regiment/
[5] 12th (Eastern) Division – The Long, Long Trail https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/12th-eastern-division/
[6] The 12th (Eastern) Division Memorial Cross – Hellfire Corner http://www.hellfirecorner.co.uk/middlebrook3.htm
[7] Current Information – London War Memorial https://londonwarmemorial.co.uk/view_profile.php?id=23678
[8] Search for “East Kent Regiment The Buffs” in unit | Lives of the First … https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/searchlives/field/unit/East%20Kent%20Regiment%20The%20Buffs/filter/span%5B/?page=21
[9] The Buffs 6th batt East Kent – The – Great War Forum https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/105179-the-buffs-6th-batt-east-kent/
[10] William Richard COTTER VC – The VC and GC Association https://vcgca.org/our-people/profile/396/William-Richard-COTTER
[11] Lance Corporal William Cotter VC | The Western Front Association https://www.westernfrontassociation.com/world-war-i-articles/2016/february/lance-corporal-william-cotter-vc/
[12] Britain WWI Victory Medal East Kent Regiment (The Buffs) KIA Loos … https://www.medals-orders.com/great-britain-united-kingdom-wwi-victory-interallied-military-medal-east-kent-regiment-the-buffs-kia-1916-loos-ww1-1914-1918-british-decoration-great-war.html
[13] The 1st/3rd (East Kent–The Buffs) https://www.maltaramc.com/regmltgar/3rd.html
[14] We remember George Shilling – Lives of the First World War https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/4014113
[15] Acting Corporal William Richard Cotter – A Street Near You https://astreetnearyou.org/person/2947410/Acting-Corporal-William-Richard-Cotter
[16] Britain WW1 WW1 Victory Medal – Pte A. Dyke, East Kent Reg. https://www.dracomedals.com/britain-wwi-ww1-victory-medal-pte-east-kent-regiment-the-buffs-kia-loos-1916..html
[17] Search for “Buffs,(East Kent) Regiment” in unit https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/searchlives/field/unit/Buffs,(East%20Kent)%20Regiment/filter/span%5B/?page=30
[18] Private Year: 1914-18 East Kent Regiment (The Buffs) 6th Battalion I … https://www.facebook.com/groups/436081820298097/posts/1084910138748592/
[19] Hohenzollern Redoubt Facts for Kids https://kids.kiddle.co/Hohenzollern_Redoubt
[20] Percy James East – Timenote https://timenote.info/lv/Percy-James-East
[21] 6th Battalion The Buffs https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/6404-6th-battalion-the-buffs/