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The Tyneside Scottish and Irish battalions of the Northumberland Fusiliers were formed in 1914. The Tyneside Scottish were the 20th to 23rd Battalions and formed part of the 102nd Brigade, 34th Division. The Tyneside Irish were the 24th to 27th Battalion, and part of 103rd Brigade in the same division. Both Brigades were committed to the attack on La Boisselle on 1st July 1916, some elements of the Tyneside Irish attacking up Mash Valley, and the bulk of the Tyneside Scottish advancing from Tara Hill down into Avoca Valley. Casualties were very heavy: the Tyneside Brigade lost 2,324 officers and men, and the Tyneside Irish Brigade 1,968. Losses among senior officers were particularly heavy, with all four battalion commanders in the Tyneside Brigade being killed; in the Tyneside Irish Brigade the Brigade commander was wounded and three of the four battalion commanders were killed or wounded. The memorial was unveiled in the 1920s.
The Tynside memorial is on the western edge of the village of La Boisselle, located just off the main D929 Albert-Bapaume road.
