Balfour I B Lt 14th Royal Scots Attd 1st King’s Own Scottish Borderers

Balfour I B Lt 14th Royal Scots

LIEUTENANT ISAAC BAYLEY BALFOUR

ROYAL SCOTS

LIEUTENANT ISAAC BAYLEY BALFOUR (F, 1903-1908) was born on October 19th, 1889-son of Professor I. B. Balfour, M.D., D.SC., LL.D., F.L.S., Professor of Botany in the University of Edinburgh-and came to Winchester from Bilton Grange. He was three years in Sixth Book, for his last two years Head of the House and from 1907 to 1908 Senior Commoner Prefect: he also played in Lords in the latter year. In the following October he went up to Magdalen College, Oxford, and graduated with a Second Class in the Final Classical School. He had taken up Art as his profession and had he lived would have specialised in portrait painting.

On the outbreak of war he was gazetted to the 14th Battalion Royal Scots, and was afterwards attached to the Ist Battalion King’s Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed at the Dardanelles on June 28th, 1915, while leading his men to the attack.

Source : Wykehamists Who Died In The War 1914-1918 Vol 2

Avery W E T Major Army Service Corps

Avery W E T Major Army Service Corps  

MAJOR SIR WILLIAM ERIC THOMAS AVERY, M.C.

ARMY SERVICE CORPS

MAJOR SIR WILLIAM ERIC THOMAS AVERY, Bart., M.C. (c, 1903-1908) was born on March 16th, 1890-son of Sir William Avery, Bart., of Oskley Court, Windsor and came to Winchester from Rev. J. H. Wilkinson’s school, Woodcote House, near Reading: he was a Commoner Prefect his last year. He went up to University College, Oxford, in 1908 and going down four years later, travelled in Canada and British East Africa, where he shot many head of big game. On his return to England he took up engineering and worked at Rugby, for part of the time as a mechanic.

At the outbreak of war he obtained a commission in the A.S.C. and for many months had charge of the Guards’ Divisional Supply Column in France, receiving the M.C. and being mentioned in Despatches. He was taken ill with influenza in October 1918: bronchial pneumonia developed and he died in hospital at Rouen on November 20th following.

Source : Wykehamists Who Died In The War 1914-1918 Vol 2

Acworth D H Major MC Indian Army

Acworth D H Major MC Indian Army

MAJOR DOUGLAS HARRY ACWORTH, M.C.

COKE’S RIFLES

MAJOR DOUGLAS HARRY ACWORTH, M.C. (D, 1899-1908) was born on October 27th, 1885. He was the son of H. A. Acworth Esq. C.I.E. of Great Malvern, and elder brother of Second Lieutenant J. A. Acworth (o, 1911-1916), Worcester Regiment, who died of wounds on October 18th, 1917. He entered Culver House from Mr. Douglas school at Malvem Link and his last year was a House Prefeet and ninth man on Wimbledon Roll. He passed into Sandhurst in 1904, where he again distinguished himself as a rifle-shot, and in the following year went out to India to join the Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment, In 1900 he was transferred to Coke’s Rifles, Frontier Force, and served with them through the Mohmand campaign of 1908, latterly as Adjutant.

In August 1914 he was home on leave and was detained in England to take part in the training of the New Army. A few months later he joined the Indian Corps in France and in November 1914 received the M.C. for a successful bombing exploit: his name appeared in Despatches about the same time. In 1915 he was promoted to the staff, and was severely wounded in April of that year while leading a column into action near Neuve Chapelle. On his recovery he joined the staff at Canterbury and subsequently went to Egypt. When the Armistice was concluded he was serving with great credit on the Headquarters Staff of General Sir Edmund (now Lord) Allenby in Palestine.

He died of influenza at Port Said on January 21st, 1919, a few days after returning from leave.

Major Acworth married in 1015 Miss Edith Knowles and left one son. He was a fine horseman and shot, and in 1914 won a silver cup as “the best man-at-arms in the Bannu Brigade.” The Order of the Nile was awarded him after his death.

Source : Wykehamists Who Died In The War 1914-1918 Vol 2

Wilson T W Lt 6th Kings Liverpool Regiment

Wilson T W Lt 6th Kings Liverpool Regiment

LIEUTENANT T. W. WILSON

6TH BATTALION THE KING’S (LIVERPOOL REGIMENT), T.F.

THOMAS WILSON WILSON was the third son of George Adshead Wilson (O.R., 1877), Merchant, of Aigburth, Liverpool, and Colonel of the Liverpool Rifles, T.F., and of Sarah Milne his wife.

He entered the School in 1905, and left in 1908.

After leaving Rugby he studied in Germany for nearly two years, and then returned to Liverpool to enter his father’s business. He took a keen interest in social work, and commanded a Company of the Church Lads’ Brigade. He was also an Officer in the Territorial Force for some years prior to the War.

In the spring of 1915 he went to the Front, in France, with his Regiment, and was killed on May 5th, at Zillebeke, near Hill 60, Ypres, under the following circumstances: After being twenty-four days in the trenches, the 6th Liverpools were relieved, and ordered to retire to a rest Camp. The enemy, by means of gas, gained possession of our trenches, and were on the point of piercing the line. The Liverpools were then ordered to return and recapture the trenches at all costs. Lieut. Wilson’s Company had to advance under a heavy machine gun and artillery fire, and in leading a rush he was shot dead. The Company went on and retook the trenches, and Lieut. Wilson’s Platoon was one of two which by their appearance caused the enemy to doubt what strength lay behind, and assisted materially in checking their forward movement. Age 23.

His Commanding Officer wrote:-

“He was one of my best Officers, and his place will be hard to fill.”

A Sergeant wrote that he was beloved by the men of his Company, and by his conduct and behaviour inspired them in all the dangerous work they had to do, and he was always with them, leading them every time.

Those who were best fitted to judge of his work with the Church Lads’ Brigade speak of his unbounded zeal and enthusiasm, of the value of the seed he had sown, and of the impossibility of supplying his place in a Company which he had raised to be the best in the Diocese.

Source : Memorials Of Rugbeians Who Fell In The Great War Vol 1

Wallace J R 2nd Lt 1st Royal Scots Fusiliers

Wallace J R 2nd Lt 1st Royal Scots Fusiliers

SECOND LIEUTENANT J. R. WALLACE

1ST BATTALION THE ROYAL SCOTS FUSILIERS

JOHN ROGER WALLACE was the younger son of Roger William Wallace, к.с., of 36, Campden Hill Gardens, London.

He entered the School in 1907, and left in 1912. He was a fine short-distance runner, and contributed largely to winning the Wrigley Cup for his House in 1912.

In 1913 he went up to Oriel College, Oxford. At the beginning of the War he joined the Artists’ Rifles and went with them to France, where he was given a Commission in the and Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers. In December, 1914, he was invalided home after an attack of pleurisy, caught in the trenches. Early in 1915, after taking out a draft of men from Ayr, he was transferred to the 1st Battalion of the Regiment.

He was struck in an advanced trench near Ypres by a mortar bomb, but refused to be carried off until he had handed over the trench to his Commanding Officer. He was taken to a dressing station about a mile in the rear, but died there shortly afterwards, on April 22nd, 1915. Age 20. The following is an extract from a letter written by his Commanding Officer:-

“His pluck and unselfishness will always be remembered in the Scots Fusiliers. His one idea was that the men wounded at the same moment as himself should be cared for first. Both in his life and in his death he was a splendid example.”

“A braver man and a truer friend,” writes a Private, “I have never known.”

Source : Memorials Of Rugbeians Who Fell In The Great War Vol 1

Walford G H Major Suffolk Regiment

Walford G H Major Suffolk Regiment

MAJOR G. H. WALFORD

THE SUFFOLK REGIMENT

GEORGE HENRY WALFORD was the eldest son of Lieut. Colonel Henry Alexander Walford, Jr., 20th Hussars, of Foxborough Hall, Suffolk.

He entered the School in 1892, and was in the XI in 1896. In the same year he passed 7th into the R.M.C., Sandhurst. He passed out ist with honours, winning Queen Victoria’s Gold Medal and the Anson Memorial Sword, and was posted to the Suffolk Regiment in 1898. He served in the Somaliland War in 1903, entered the Staff College in 1911, and was appointed to the Staff, and gazetted Major, in 1914.

On the outbreak of War he was appointed General Staff Officer, 3rd Grade, of the Second Army, was shortly promoted to the and Grade, and appointed Brigade Major to the 84th Infantry Brigade, 28th Division. He went to the Front with this Division in January, 1915.

He was mentioned in Despatches of May 31st, 1915, for “gallant and distinguished Service in the Field.”

He was killed in action at Zonnebeke, on April 19th, 1915, and was buried in the Ramparts Cemetery at Ypres. Age 36.

General Sir H. L. Smith-Dorrien, G.C.B., D.s.o., wrote:-

“His loss is a great one to the cause, for he was a splendid Staff Officer, and a gallant soldier.’

Two other Generals said of him

“I have never met a Staff Officer in whom I had greater confidence, and I am sure he would have risen very high if his life had been spared.”

“It was a real joy to serve with him, and he is a gallant example to us all of a good friend, a good soldier, and a good man in every sense.”

Two brother Officers wrote:-

“If ever a man died doing his duty, it was he. He was too fearless, and never thought of himself at all.”

“He had done magnificent work out here, and all who came in contact with him loved him. His loss is deplored, not only by the Brigade, but by the whole Division. He was a brave man and a good man.”

One of his men wrote:-

We all loved him he was like a father to us.”

He married, in 1910, Inez, only daughter of Dr. Oliver Fereira Naylor Treadwell, Assistant Medical Inspector of the Prison Commission, and left one infant son.

Source : Memorials Of Rugbeians Who Fell In The Great War Vol 1

Vincent J T C 2nd Lt Welsh Regiment

Vincent J T C 2nd Lt Welsh Regiment

SECOND LIEUTENANT J. T. C. VINCENT

3RD BATTALION THE WELSH REGIMENT

JAMES TREVOR CRAWLEY VINCENT Was the only son of Hugh Corbet Vincent, of Bronwydd, Bangor, N. Wales, and of Bronwen Adelaide his wife.

He entered the School in 1909, left in 1913, and joined the 2nd Battalion of the Welsh Regiment, then quartered at Bordon, in February, 1914, there remaining till the declaration of War. Being too young to go with his Regiment to the Front he was sent to the Depot at Cardiff, where he was employed in training recruits for Lord Kitchener’s Army, until January, 1915, when he rejoined his Regiment at the Front.

He was killed near Ypres on May 9th, 1915, when leading his Platoon against the German trenches. His body was subsequently buried in the English Cemetery at Richebourg-St. Vaast, beside that of Lieutenant Willis, a brother officer, killed in the same action. Age 19.

The Officer Commanding the Regiment wrote:-

“We shall all miss him, and the Service has lost a very promising young officer.”

Source : Memorials Of Rugbeians Who Fell In The Great War Vol 1

Blake C Lt Royal Army Medical Corps

BLAKE, CECIL, Lieut., Royal Army Medical Corps, elder s. of the late John Blake, of Burghersdorp, South Africa, by his wife, Susan Margaret Van Renen (East London, South Africa); b. Burghersdorp, Cape Province, South Africa, 7 Oct. 1888; educ. privately, and at Rhodes College; was a Medical Practitioner; gazetted Lieut. Royal Army Medical Corps 15 Aug. 1918, and sent to the Prisoners of War Camp, Rugeley, co. Stafford, and died at Cannock Chase Military Hospital 30 Oct. following, of septic pneumonia, contracted while on duty. Buried in Cannock Chase Military Cemetery. He m. at Edinburgh, 18 May, 1918, Aline Jean (69, Merchiston Crescent, Edinburgh), only dau. of the late Rev. W. J. Macdonald, of Kirkcaldy; s.p.

Source : De Ruvigny’s Roll Of Honour Vol 5

Blake C E N Major MC Royal Field Artillery

Blake C E N Major MC Royal Field Artillery

BLAKE, CHARLES EDWIN NORMAN, M.C., Major, Royal Field Artillery, уг. 8. of Charles Blake, of Kingswood, Beckenham, Sheffield Steel Manufacturer, by his wife, Elizabeth, dau. of William Cundy, of Newry, co. Down; b. Camberwell, London, S.E., 4 April, 1886; educ. Cranleigh School, where he was a Cadet in the School Corps; having left school, joined the Artists’ Rifles Territorials in 1906, and served five years with that regiment; retired in 1913, but at once, on the outbreak of war in Aug. 1914, rejoined his old corps, and volunteered for active service in its Transport Section, serving with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from Oct. 1914; obtained a commission in the Special Reserve, and was gazetted 2nd Lieut. R.F.A. 20 Aug, 1915, being promoted Lieut. May, 1917, Capt. Sept. 1917, and Major 18 June, 1918; during his four years in France he saw much fighting, and was killed in action near Soissons 30 July, 1918, when in command of his battery. Buried at Chazelle. His Commanding Officer, Col. G. B. Daubeny, wrote: “He was instantaneously killed by a shell, together with two other officers in the battery, which he has commanded with gallantry and distinction. In him I lose a good officer and a personal friend. He was one of the most popular officers in the brigade, all ranks of which will greatly feel his death.” He was awarded the Military Cross [London Gazette, 1 Jan. 1918], for an act of conspicuous bravery; unm.

Source : De Ruvigny’s Roll Of Honour Vol 5

Blackley J Pte R/423180 Army Service Corps

BLACKLEY, JOHN, Private, Remount Coy. Army Service Corps, eldest s. of the late William Blackley, of Patagonia, Argentine Republic, Rancher, by his wife, Frances, dau. of James Smith: b. Falkland Islands, 16 Jan. 1882; educ. Argentine; enlisted in the Army Service Corps 30 July, 1918, and died at Windyknowe Hospital, Blundellsands, 3 Jan. 1919, of pneumonia, contracted while on service. Buried at Carlaverock. He m. at Glasgow, 26 Sept. 1917, Mary Robson (20, Smith Street, Hillhead, Glasgow), dau. of George Miller, and had a son, William George, b. 13 June, 1918.

Source : De Ruvugny’s Roll Of Honour Vol 5