Barking and Dagenham in the Great War

The First World War was only a matter of days old when Barking placed itself firmly on the map, after Driver Job Henry Charles Drain of the 37th Battery, Royal Field Artillery, was awarded the Victoria Cross. He was born in Barking on 18 October 1895, and on 26 August 1914, the 18-year-old Drain was at Le Cateau, France, when Captain Douglas Reynolds of the same battery was trying to recapture two guns. Driver Drain and another driver, Frederick Luke, volunteered to help and gave great assi...