Editing Shoreditch (section)

===First World War===
{{See also|20th (Service) Battalion, Middlesex Regiment (Shoreditch)}}
In the [[First World War]], the Mayor, Henry Busby Bird, and [[Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch|Borough of Shoreditch]] raised a [[pals battalion]] of volunteers from around the borough who would serve together as the [[20th (Service) Battalion, Middlesex Regiment (Shoreditch)]]. The battalion was also known as the 'Boxers' Battalion' (the parent Middlesex Regiment was nicknamed the 'Die-hards'). The volunteers were enlisted at Shoreditch Town Hall and trained at [[Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets|Victoria Park]] and [[Columbia Road Flower Market|Columbia Market]]. The unit served on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] from 1916 to 1918 as part of [[121st Brigade (United Kingdom)|121st Brigade]] of [[40th Division (United Kingdom)|40th Division]], seeing action against the [[Hindenburg Line]] and at [[Battle of Cambrai (1917)|Bourlon Wood]]. After the huge casualties it suffered during the [[German spring offensive]] of March–April 1918, the battalion returned to England to be reconstituted from men of lower medical category. It then went back to Flanders as part of [[14th (Light) Division]], and served during the final victorious advance.<ref>[https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7354301 20th Middlesex War Diary, 1 June 1916–31 May 1918,  The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 95/2615/4.]</ref><ref>[http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/the-duke-of-cambridges-own-middlesex-regiment/ Middlesex Regiment at the Long, Long Trail.]</ref><ref>[https://queensregimentalassociation.org/journals-and-newsletters/middlesex-journals/pdfs/volume-5/vol-5-2.pdf Colonel Burnand obituary, ''The Die-Hards'', Vol V, No 2, November 1934, p. 128.]</ref><ref>[https://abneypark.org/grave-stories-blog/sir-henry-busby-bird Sir Henry Busby Bird at Abney Park Trust.]</ref> The battalion's memorial is in [[St Leonard's Church, Shoreditch|St Leonard's Church]] in Shoreditch High Street.<ref>[https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/53140 Imperial War Museum, War Memorial Register, Ref 53140.]</ref>