North K C Lt 4th Hussars
LIEUTENANT K. C. NORTH
4TH (QUEEN’S OWN) HUSSARS
KENNETH CROFT NORTH was the eldest son of Arthur North, The Close, Knaresborough.
He entered the School in 1901, and was in the Running VIII in 1905 and 1906. In 1906 he passed into the R.M.C., Sandhurst, from which he joined his Regiment in South Africa in 1907. He was promoted Lieutenant in 1910.
He commandod the machine guns of the 4th Hussars from the commencement of the War. While defending the crossing of the Hollebeke Canal near Ypres, he was twice hit by shell, and, mortally wounded, died on October 31st, 1914. Age 27.
He was mentioned in Despatches of October 8th, 1914, and a second time in those of January 14th, 1915.
Brigadier-General P. Howell, c.м.о., wrote as follows:- “I want to record that, in my opinion, your husband was the best Officer of his rank with whom I have ever had to deal, and certainly the most gallant. During the period we have been out here, I had learnt to place absolute confidence in his commonsense and judgment. Nothing seemed to upset him, and I could always feel confident that the Maxim guns required no orders, because they were invariably employed in the best possible way to suit the circumstances of the moment. Though all our Officers have done well, and many brilliantly, when it came to choosing one name for the D.S.O. I had no hesitation whatever in selecting that of K.C. Half a dozen different acts of gallantry entitled him to more than that.”
(a). On August 25th he remained behind his Brigade to right a waggon which had been overturned. Under heavy shell fire he succeeded in bringing it away.
(b). On September 1st, during a rearguard action, Lieut. Col. Hogg, D.S.O., was wounded in the rear fighting line, during wood fighting. Lieut. North took back his waggon, when the Germans were at short range, and brought Lieut.-Col. Hogg into Haramont village.
(c). On his own initiative, on October 17th, the day after the 4th Hussars had driven the Germans out of Bas Warneton, Lieut. North returned there, climbed the church tower, and made a sketch of the German trenches on the south. This sketch was forwarded by the 2nd Cavalry Division for the use of the Artillery.
“d). At Hollebeke, on October 30th, when other troops had retired, Lieut. North was left isolated with his Maxim gun detachment. He obtained a wheelbarrow and got both of his guns away, the men of his detachment covering the retirement themselves for over a mile.
(e). On October 31st, at the canal bridge, north of Hollebeke, one Squadron of the 4th Hussars and the Maxim gun detachment were shelled by guns of all calibres and attacked by Infantry. The enemy were unable to reach the bridge, largely owing to Lieut. North’s handling of his machine guns. One of these was knocked to bits and Lieut. North was killed. The bridge remained in our possession till the 4th Hussars were relieved.
“The above constitute but a part of the exceptional work of this Officer.”
He married in December, 1911, Frances Evelyn, second daughter of Henry Berry, of Donisthorpe House, Moor Allerton, Leeds.
Source : Memorials Of Rugbeians Who Fell In The Great War Vol 1