Casualties at the Somme

This document is a cabinet note from the papers of David Lloyd George. The note is dated 4 December 1916, approximately two weeks after the offensive had finished. Lloyd George was Secretary of State for War at the time, however two days later on 6 December 1916 he became the Prime Minister. The note contains a table of the estimated number of British casualties at the Battle of the Somme. The table splits the number of casualties into 1 July 1916 – 31 October 1916, and 1 - 27 November 1916. In total the number of casualties was recorded as 412,963. The Battle of the Somme was one of the costliest offensives of the war in terms of loss of life.