Lewis (or Louis) was born in Platt on 24 September 1897, the son of William Lewis and Charlotte Hayes (née Hares.) He had seven brothers and sisters, and in 1901, the family lived in Sunnyside, Borough Green, where his father worked as a carrier and furniture removal man. After William’s untimely death in 1909, the family moved back to Platt at 12 Whatcote Cottages, where Lewis and his siblings transferred from Borough Green Council to Platt School. Before the war, the family moved again, this time to 4 Railway Cottages in Wrotham Heath (demolished in the late 1930s), and young Lewis became one of the early members of the Platt Guild – a boys group run by Mr King-Smith in a hut at Platt Farm.

Lewis enlisted in the Army at age 16 on 10 September 1914 and joined the 2/4th Battalion, The Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), which was formed the same month as the second line unit and, in November, attached to the 2nd Kent Brigade in the 2nd Home Counties Division. After training at Ascot and then Cambridge, Lewis was based in Bedford when the battalion received orders to proceed overseas in July 1915. Along with the instructions came tropical clothing, so it would have been clear to the West Kents that they would not be embarking for France. Now part of the 160th Brigade in the 53rd (Welsh) Division, they had been selected to reinforce the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force in a new offensive to secure the Dardanelles by landing at Suvla Bay on the Gallipoli peninsula while simultaneously taking the attention away from the Anzac position.

Lewis left Devonport on 18 July and sailed with his unit on the SS Northland for Alexandria. The voyage lasted 13 days, and on arrival, they immediately proceeded to Mudros and travelled onwards to Gallipoli. The battalion eventually landed at Suvla’s West Beach on the evening of 10 August, four days after the start of what turned out to be a failed offensive. Three days later, they had worked their way up to the firing line, and in an area that afforded minimal cover for the new arrivals, they quickly set to work to improve their defences. Digging continued throughout the remainder of the month under the watchful eye of enemy snipers, who concealed themselves in bushes in front of the British line and left no opportunity to take a shot at any careless West Kents.

A regimental history written after the war recounted that the battalion’s time at Suvla was ‘one of monotonous hardships’. There was occasional shelling; however, rifle fire was persistent and was indistinguishable from attack or defence. Even periods away from the front line were far from safe, and there were no baths or opportunities to wash clothes, rations were hard to cook with limited fuel and appliances, and recreation or leave was non-existent. Unfortunately, Lewis’s service papers have not survived, so we can only speculate about his time in Gallipoli. He would likely have fallen ill, especially as the battalion had been reduced through sickness to 12 officers and 200 other ranks by the start of December.

The West Kents eventually left Gallipoli on board the HMT Alcahara on the evening of 13 December. They sailed for Mudros, where they changed ships and continued their journey towards Alexandria on board the HMT Haverford.

On arrival in Egypt, the battalion proceeded by train to Wardan, near Cairo, and enjoyed their first real rest since arriving in the region. During much of 1916, the West Kents were tasked with keeping order in the Nile Delta, and by August, they were in camp at Kantara.

At the start of 1917, Lewis was in the Sinai desert and eventually advanced with his unit into Palestine, where he took part in the first attempt to take Gaza on 26 March. In the attack, the West Kents, along with the Gloucestershire Hussars and a section of artillery, were ordered to advance along the coast on the extreme left of the main assault so that they might distract Turkish attention. At dawn on the day of the battle, a thick sea fog held up the advance until 10:00 am, when the battalion pushed forward over the sand hills. The opposition was light, and casualties minimal, allowing the British to achieve their objectives; however, just as victory seemed within their grasp, the unexpected arrival of Turkish reinforcements put pressure on the Allies, and they withdrew.

On 19 April, the battalion made a second attack on Gaza at an area southwest of the town known as Samson’s Ridge. During the action, 38 men lost their lives (including Thomas Bance from Whatcote Cottages), and nine officers and 145 men were wounded, with Lewis numbering among the latter. The British achieved their first objective; however, the gains were much less successful elsewhere, and the operation was considered a failure.

Lewis’s movements during the remainder of 1917 are currently unknown; however, he probably rejoined his unit before the battalion began its advance through Hebron towards Jerusalem. On 8 December, the West Kents were on the ridge just south of Bethlehem and marched unopposed into Jerusalem two days later. The Turks concentrated their fire on the main thrust of the Allied advance, which was approaching from the west, and almost completely ignored the British flank on the east.

Five days later, Lewis was based on the Mount of Olives, preparing to move on the El Aziziye ridge, just east of the city. At dawn on the 17th, the battalion, along with the 4th Royal Sussex, successfully attacked the Turkish position and took over 100 prisoners. Jerusalem was firmly in British hands, and having repulsed a counter-attack on the 27th, they established a reasonably secure line north and east of the city. By then, the weather had taken a turn for the worse, and it would have been with some relief that the battalion moved back into billets by the end of the year.

On 18 January, the West Kents received orders to push forward the Divisional front and capture a prominent hill near the Bireh road known as Sheikh Abdallah (otherwise called ‘Hill 2984’.) In the assault, they achieved their objective with little opposition, sustaining very few casualties. However, during the early stages of consolidating the position, the Turks retaliated with heavy artillery and sniper fire, inflicting a substantial number of killed and wounded in the battalion. Lewis was one of those who lost his life, and his body was taken back to Jerusalem and buried in the City War Cemetery.

Scott Wishart