Brigadier Ternan’s The Story of the Tyneside Scottish records on page 87
" One of the most disliked duties was the carrying up of gas cylinders for installation in the front trench, from time to time, hundreds were planted under the parapet ready for use as soon as the wind should be favourable” Accidents from gas occasionally occurred to carrying parties, and enemy shells sometimes exploded the cylinders with fatal results to the men in the vicinity.
On one occasion we lost seventeen men in our front trench owing to a shell having struck the parapet a short distance away, and though it did not hit the cylinder it’s self , the latter was bulged sufficiently to allow gas to escape.”
The war diary of the 22nd Battalion NF (3rd Tyneside Scottish) details the event described by Brigadier Ternan:
On the night of 22/23 25 men were gassed while our own gas cylinders were being placed in the front line"
Located in the Albert Communal Cemetery are a row of Tyneside Scottish graves which all belonged to men of the 22nd Battalion who were killed on the 22nd June 1916. It is believed they were all killed as a result ofthe gas incident.
| Pte | M | BROWN | '22/937' | I. E. 28. | CWGC information | |
| Cpl | F | DOUGLAS | '22/871' | I. E. 29. | CWGC information | |
| Pte | W | FELTON | (18) | '22/486' | I. E. 27. | CWGC information |
| Pte | A | LUNHAM | '22/825' | I. E. 25. | CWGC information | |
| L/Cpl | A | McPHERSON | (27) | '22/142' | I. E. 24. | CWGC information |
| L/Cpl | R W | NELSON | (29) | '22/539' | I. G. 21. | CWGC information |
| Pte | R | PATTERSON | '22/1001' | I. E. 30. | CWGC information | |
| Pte | T W | RICE | (35) | '22/105' | I. G. 24. | CWGC information |
| L/Cpl | G S | THOMPSON | (28) | '22/744' | I. E. 26. | CWGC information |
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