The Thorne brothers, Marlborough and Cornelius, were both officers for the East Surrey Regiment. They served in the trenches of Fricourt in the Northern parts of France, in September of 1915. Marlborough, 20 years old, and another soldier, Private Warby, were sent out to bomb a German sniper in the middle of the night. The sniper was believed to be lurking around a crater. Along with bombing the German, the men were tasted with reconnoitering the area and survey how strongly the German defense was.