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Major Leonard RUSSELL
3rd (Reserve) Battalion East Lancashire Regiment attached to C Company, 2nd Battalion Date of birth: 25th December 1872 Date of death: 9th May 1915 Killed in action aged 42 Buried at Royal Irish Rifles Graveyard, Plot III Row G Grave 15
Leonard Russell was born at The Mount, Northfleet in Kent on the 25th of December 1872 the fifth son of John Russell JP, a brewer, and his first wife, Mary Ameila (nee Willis) Russell of Hillside, Gravesend in Kent. He was educated at New Road School, Gravesend, where he was a boarder, and at Lancing College where he was in School House from September 1885 to December 1887 after which he spent a year in Paris and two years in Germany. He returned to England and attended the Royal Military College Sandhurst in 1892 following which he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the East Lancashire Regiment on the 19th of July 1893, joining the 2nd Battalion in Malta on the 29th of September 1893. He returned home on the 10th of April 1895 and went to India with the battalion in on the 16th of September 1897. He was promoted to Lieutenant on the 1st of July 1896 and to Captain on the 17th of November 1901. He served in India for fourteen years, being attached to the 5th Dragoon Guards in 1899, and returned home from the 28th of July 1901 until the 29th of September 1902 when he returned to India. He was married to Jenny Eleanor (nee Nevill) at St James' Church, Piccadilly on the 9th of July 1902 and had two children, Leonard Cecil Nevill born in India on the 19th of July 1903 and John Eaton Nevill born in December 1911. He served in South Africa for three years, from 1911 and was Musketry Instructor for his battalion being a “splendid shot” himself. On the outbreak of war the 2nd Battalion East Lancashire Regiment was based at Wynberg in South Africa and, following the outbreak of war, they sailed from Cape Town on the 1st of October 1914, landing at Southampton on the 30th. They landed in France at Le Havre on the 6th of November 1914. He was promoted to Major on the 15th of March 1915. On the 8th of May 1915 the 2nd Battalion East Lancashire Regiment moved to assembly trenches on the Fromelles-Sailly Road, opposite Rouge Bancs for an attack the following morning, the opening day of the Battle of Aubers Ridge. As the men left the trench at 5.40 am the following morning the front ranks of the attacking companies were swept by machine gun fire and all suffered heavy casualties before reaching their own advance trench. Forced to ground, they were told to attack again at 1pm after a barrage from their artillery, but the barrage fell upon the East Lancashire men instead. A young officer, in this, his first action, reported:- "Suddenly there broke over us a hail of shrapnel. It seemed to come from everywhere except the enemy, and men were being hit right and left. I realised that our artillery were bombarding the enemy trenches, after which we would assault if there were any of us left. From all around came the cries of wounded men mingled with the splitting crash of shrapnel, and every few minutes one's ears were numbed by bursts of Jack Johnsons behind the forward trench." The attack was a failure with casualties of 10 officers killed with 9 wounded and 63 other ranks killed, 325 wounded and 42 missing. His wife applied for his medals in October 1919.

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