Enlisted in 1915. In a Pals Brigade with others from Evenwood. See 'Evenwood's Hey Day' by Elsie Anderson et al available at the Bowes Museum.
In 1915/16 wrote letters to the local Vicar telling of the wonderful sights in the Mediterranean and the Curiosities of Alexandria. He next wrote from the Serbian front where a Bulgarian attack was expected. By June 1916, he had been commissioned in the 9th Gloucesters and was in Salonika.