Eric Leon Boiling was born in Thame in 1893.  His mother, Jane Elizabeth Boiling, had 3 older children, Ethel, born in 1884,  Agnes, born in 1887, and William, born in 1889.

They were all living in the Red Cow on the Aylesbury Road, before she married James Burnard in 1895, when they  moved to 46 Park Street.  In 1911, Eric was living with his uncle in Wealdstone, Middlesex, and was  working as a dental mechanic.

By 1915, Eric had enlisted. He embarked for France on 1st September 1915, with the 8th Battalion,  East Kent (Buffs) Regiment.  Just 3 weeks later, on 26th September, the battalion, as part of the 17th Brigade, 24th Division, was put into the fight on the second day of the Battle of Loos.

The inexperienced troops suffered heavily from machine gun fire crossing open ground, and then artillery fire in front of the uncut German wire. The battalion almost ceased to exist, losing 24  officers, and 610 other ranks, killed, wounded, or missing.

G/2220, Private Eric Leon Boiling, age 32, has no known grave, and is commemorated on the Loos Memorial in France.  In Thame, he is remembered on the Thame war memorial, and on the St Marys Church and All Saints Church memorial boards.