Another man on the memorial to lose his life after exchanging working in the pits for undermining the Germans was Isaac Lewis. His service papers are lost.

Born in Ibstock in 1889, the son of a miner, Isaac was one of eight siblings. Isaac had married Emily Blakesley in the summer of 1914 and by 1915 their daughter Edna was born. He had not been recruited along with the earlier volunteers in June, but wasn't long behind them. There's no indication from his MIC that he was a tunneller, but it does shows his first entry into theatre at Egypt on 7.12.1915.

This deployment of the 254th Tunnelling Company is confirmed in the Long Long Trail page about the tunnellers. An obvious reference I neglected to mention in my last blog post. The summary reads:

We can trace the deaths of six other men alongside Isaac on the 19/06/1917:

Two further men where to die of wounds in the next 48hrs:

Unlike many war diaries, those of the Tunnelling companies often refer to enlisted men by name. So what, if anything, does the diary tell us? This extract from the 254th diary around the time of Isaac's death was kindly given by Jeremy Banning.

It seems curiously silent on loss of these men, but does talk of the shelling of their base camp.

Isaac's final resting place is Poperinghe New Military cemetery where his is in the company of others from 254th and 171st Tunnellers and just four rows from the 254th OC, Major Alfred Osborn Wraith, who died a few days before Isaac on an unlucky 13/06/1917. There is the tersest of entries noting the major's funeral on the 14th in the diary.

In the spring of 1920, Emily marries William Badcock, an older brother of "Harry Badcock KIA 31.7.1915". Isaac's Victory and British medal are either returned for amendment, or never reach their intended recipient.