2nd Lieut. RAYMUND BINNS, 3rd Bn. (attached 8th Bn.) The Yorkshire Regt.
The letter written by Raymund Binns’ Colonel, announcing his death to his widow, described him as “a fine soldier,” who died “whilst assaulting the enemy’s position, which the battalion eventually captured.”
His death was instantaneous-a bullet through the head.
A brother officer, describing his bearing during the attack in which he met his death, on the evening of July 10th, 1916, said :-
He was perfectly splendid, and the men followed him wherever he went. The men of his platoon carried him back to Bécourt cemetery outside Albert and gave him a burial any soldier might be proud of. He was the bravest platoon commander I have had.
At the time when the bullet struck him he was leading the bombers of the battalion. His men had just captured the first trench. His soldier servant, who supplied these details, spoke feelingly of his affection for his officer and of the regard felt for him by all the men in his platoon.
At the outbreak of war Lieut. Binns, though married and successfully embarked on his career as an artist, unhesitatingly gave up his happy home and congenial work to join the Army. “I feel the times call for something a bit heroic,” he observed quietly to a near relative who was discussing the sacrifice he had made.
The artist friend, with whom he worked and who was much attached to him, wrote thus:-
When Fr. John Gerard sent Raymund Binns with a letter of introduction, his name was familiar to me as figuring very frequently among the winners of the drawing prizes at Stonyhurst; and it was a pleasure to pass him along from the uncongenial surroundings of an office in the city to the Art and Book Company.
Attendance at evening classes soon gave him greater facility in draughtsmanship, and when I moved into the country to work with stained glass in more pleasant surroundings, he very gladly joined me. He was at all times a well tried friend. He was keen in work or at play, clean-minded and cheery, a Catholic through and through, and an honour to the College of his upbringing.
I have not seen his equal in diving, and he was a fine swimmer and a capital forward at hockey.
The time came when his artistic ability had outrun the work I could lay before him. In London he was rapidly making a name for himself by the dignity and well-ordered balance of his designs and letterings. Not the least happy of these are the drawings which form the design still used for the cover of the Stonyhurst Magazine, and the delightful end papers of the book of views of Stonyhurst.
Lieut. Binns was born in 1884, and entered Stonyhurst in 1897. He was the son of the late Dr. Binns and of Mrs. Binns, of East Bergholt.
Source : Stonyhurst War Record