Percy Bemrose was born at Radcliffe-on-Trent in April 1893, the son of Samuel and Mary Ann Bemrose of Thraves Yard, Radcliffe-on-Trent. He enlisted on 5 December 1910 with the 2nd Battalion, Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) and was initially stationed at Crownhill Barracks, Crownhill, Devon. Posted to India on 17 October 1912, Bemrose remained here until the outbreak of war.

Travelling to Britain on 2 September 1914 he transferred to the 1st Battalion and entered the war in France on 4 November. The Battalion served throughout the rest of 1914 and the start of 1915 on the Western Front. Here they took part in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle; being held in reserve from 10-11 March they had been moved into line by the morning of 12 March. They arrived in time to meet the German counter-attack, spearheaded by two Bavarian Battalions which pushed into the advanced trenches, driving the Battalion back. Support from flanking units halted the German advance and the Battalion drove them back with a bayonet assaults, pushing them back into their own lines. During this fighting one of Bemrose's comrades, Private Rivers twice broke up German attacks with single-handed grenade attacks. The second time he was killed in return fire but still succeeded in preventing an attack against his exposed Company, for these actions he was awarded the Victoria Cross. Unfortunately the Battalion's valiant counter attack was unsupported and soon petered out. They were withdrawn from the frontline the next morning having suffered casualties of almost half their number. Bemrose was amongst these losses. Although he has no known grave, he is commemorated on the Le Touret and Radcliffe-on-Trent Memorials. The first of his family to die in the Great War, tragically Bemrose was not the last, with his brother Bertie being killed in action in 1918.