Beresford was wounded at the Battle of Loos in September 1915 whilst serving with the famous 9th
Brigade and was mentioned in one of General French’s dispatches, which read;
“Gasette No 29422 Mentioned in Despatches – The following despatch has been received by the
Secretary of State for War from the Field Marshall Commanding-in-Chief the British Army in
France. I have the honour to bring to notice the name, to whom I recommend for gallant and
distinguished service in this field”
Gazette date 31/1/1915 page 18, Duty location – France.
From researching the time of Berseford’s death it would seem probable that he was involved in the
Third Battle of Ypres, or as most commonly known Passchendale. The offensive began in July
1917, with encouraging gains but terrible Summer weather soon bogged it down. By August the
offensive was clearly failing in its objectives and had descended into attritional fighting. New
techniques on both sides led to agonisingly slow forward movements for the British, at enormous
cost in casualties to both sides. Bad weather in October led to the battlefield becoming an
impossible quagmire.
The Battle of Pilckem Ridge, and advanced British 18pounder RFA gun battery
Taking up new positions close to a communications trench near Boesinghe,
31st July 1917.