Bickford A L Lt Col Indian Army

Lieut. Col. ARTHUR LOUIS BICKFORD, C.I.E., 56th Punjab Rifles.

The Times for March 13th, 1916, contains the following notice of Major Bickford:-

“Major Arthur Louis Bickford, C.I.E., 56th Rifles, F.F., died on March 8th of wounds received in Mesopotamia. Born in October, 1870, he was the second son of Admiral A. Κ. Bickford, C.M.G., and the late Mrs. Bickford, of The Grange, Uckfield, and was educated at Stonyhurst. He received his first appointment in the Royal West Surrey Regt. in 1892, and in the following year joined the Indian Staff Corps. He was promoted Captain in the Indian Army in 1901 and Major in 1910. He served in the Tirah Expedition, 1897-8, and was awarded the medal with two clasps, and in 1906 commanded a detachment of the Khyber Rifles, who captured a raiding gang in the Kajuri Plain, north-west frontier of India, for which he received the thanks of the Government of India. He was in command of the Khyber Rifles in the Bazaar Valley Expedition, 1908, and for his services, which were mentioned in despatches, he was promoted Major by brevet and awarded the medal with clasp. From 1910 to 1913 he was commander of the Khyber Rifles, and in August, 1914, was appointed D.A.A.G., Ist (Peshawar) Division. He was created a C.I.E. in 1911.”

“Louis” Bickford, as he was known at Stonyhurst, came to the College in 1883 with his elder brother Andrew. He was just the right sort of British schoolboy-merry, active, and as hard as nails. His good-natured and buoyant disposition made him many friends among his school-mates, who were very sorry to lose him when he left us, before completing his College course, in order to take up special preparation for the Army entrance examination. The goal of his ambition was the Indian Army, in which he obtained a commission from the West Surrey Regt. in 1892. From that year till the outbreak of the Great War he had led the strenuous life of a soldier on the north-west frontier of India.

How well this career suited him might be gathered from his appearance when he re-visited Stonyhurst in 1909. He surprised all his old friends, who had not seen him since his schooldays, by his youthful, active mien and superabundant vitality. The bracing air of the Afghan frontier, and the physical and mental alertness bred of a life of continual border warfare against astute and treacherous frontier tribes, had helped to make him what he was a professional fighting man, who thoroughly knew and loved his business, and throve on it withal. His descriptions of his share in numerous border raids and punitive expeditions, light-heartedly alluded to, as if they were so many sporting excursions, were characteristic of the fine spirit of our Indian frontiersmen. That he was considered a capable officer, well versed in all the moves of the game, is evidenced by the important commands held by him.

In 1898 he served through the Tirah campaign with his regiment, the 56th Punjabis. As Major, he commanded the Khyber Rifles at their headquarters at Jamrud always a storm-centre when the border tribes are on the rove.

In the Bazaar Valley Expedition, 1908, he led this same corps to victory with conspicuous success, and was mentioned in despatches and promoted Major. The Khyber Rifles are recruited from the toughest elements among the Afghan border thieves. Such men require a strong hand on the curb in peace and a bold leader in the field. A stern disciplinarian and a stark fighter, Bickford was a Sahib after their own hearts, and his crew of half-tamed caterans worshipped him.

It was on the principle of “set a thief to catch a thief” that a detachment of his Khyber men was selected, in 1906, to deal with a particularly troublesome gang of Afridi marauders which had terrorised a portion of the north-west frontier for some months, and exhibited surprising resourcefulness in eluding capture. The command of the detachment was entrusted to Capt. Bickford, and he was given a free hand in conducting his arrangements. With great skill and secrecy, Bickford gathered his information and set a trap for the outlaws.

Ambushed when at rest in a jungle in the Kajuri Plain, the raiders were taken completely by surprise, and killed or captured to a man, after some very pretty hand-to-hand fighting, in which Bickford himself plied a bayonet and revolver, and enjoyed himself hugely, to the complete satisfaction of his admiring followers.

For this exploit he received the thanks of the Government of India.

On the occasion of his visit to Stonyhurst in 1909, the Editor of the Stonyhurst Magazine tried to extract from him a written description of the incident, but was put off with a promise that the account would be written later, when lapse of time should render such a description free from the imputation of boasting.

Meanwhile he sent to the Editor an interesting article describing a six weeks’ sojourn in Kashmir in pursuit of big game, which appeared in the Stonyhurst Magazine for October, 1909, under the title, “My First Snow Leopard.”

In the Lascha Khel expedition Major Bickford was again in command of the Khyber Rifles, and was mentioned in despatches.

In 1911 he was created a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (C.I.Ε.).

When, in 1914, his term of command of the Khyber Rifles was completed, he was immediately placed on the Divisional Staff of the Peshawar Division, receiving the important staff appointment of Deputy-Assistant-Adjutant-General, a post which he held until the welcome orders came for him to proceed with his regiment to join the army of General Townshend in Mesopotamia. The heavy fighting and unparalleled hardships endured by this gallant army, contending for so long against superior Turkish forces, is well known to all our readers. That Major Bickford’s regiment, the 56th Punjabis, had a large share in all the fighting is only too clear from their heavy list of casualties

in this, the second attempt to relieve Kut. He fell shot through the head while leading a charge on the Turkish lines, and lingered on for some hours; even his vigorous constitution succumbed to the effects of his wound, aggravated, probably, by unhealthy surroundings and the deficiency of medical supplies. His end came just at the very stage when the prospect of rapid promotion seemed to be opening out before him.

When he was brought in wounded, his brother Maurice, an officer of the 59th Rifles (Frontier Force) went to see him. “I found him lying on a stretcher. He was unconscious, and breathing heavily. He was shot through the head about 4 p.m. on the 8th, during the attack on the Dujaila Redoubt. Poor Arthur died about midnight on the 9th.”

His Brigadier added:-

“He was shot through the head while the 56th were leading a most gallant assault. He was in command of the 56th at the time. To me his loss is terrible. He was such an old friend with whom I have never had a disagreement. He was such a splendid soldier and absolutely invaluable to all of us.”

Father Peal, S.J., Chaplain of the 1st Connaught Rangers, buried him:

“I gave him Extreme Unction and his brother and I buried him in a field on the banks of the Tigris. No cross or mound marks the spot. This precaution is necessary, as the Arabs are wont to exhume bodies, and strip and mutilate them.”

In the title of this notice we have given him his “Brevet” rank of Licut.-Colonel. He had been in command of his battalion for some time before the date of the action in which he was fatally wounded. In him the Indian Army lost a most promising officer, whose rise to high command was regarded as certain, and Stonyhurst a very loyal alumnus, sincerely attached to his College and to the circle of old friends there, with whom he corresponded regularly.

An old friend wrote of him :-

“There was a certain manly simplicity about his character which everyone liked.”

His sense of duty was strong and clearly defined. For him, in the pithy formula of the Indian native soldier, “a hookum (command)  was a hookum,” whether the command came from his C.O. or his Church, and both were obeyed by him promptly, without talk or fuss.

Source : Stonyhurst Roll Of Honour 1914-1918

Bickford A L Major Indian Army

Source : The Great War Vol 8

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

ARNOTT, ROBERT LOUIS IRVING, 2nd Lieut., 1st Battn. Queen Victoria’s Own Corps of Guides (Lumsden’s) (F.F.), yst. s. of Brig.-Surg.-Lieut. Col. James Arnott, I.M.S. (retired), of Nyseby, Kirthbridge, co. Dumfries, by his wife, Isabella Louisa, dau. of Robert Taylor; b. Edinburgh, 10 March, 1899; educ. Edinburgh Academy, where he was a member of the O.T.C., and Military College, Wellington, India; gazetted 2nd Lieut. Queen Victoria’s Own Corps of Guides; served with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in Palestine, and was killed in action on 19 Sept. 1918, at Tabsor, near Jaffa, when attacking the enemy trenches in the victorious advance on that date. Buried behind the lines; unm.

Source : De Ruvigny’s Roll Of Honour Vol 5

Allan-Hay E J Lt Indian Army

ALLAN HAY, EDWARD JAMES, Lieut., 2 41st Dogras, Indian Army, s.of James Mess Allan Hay, of Glen Downe, Pietermaritzburg, Natal, Stock Broker, by his wife, Helen, daughter of William Kellock; b. Pietermaritzburg, Natal, South Africa, 31 Jan. 1899; educ. The College there, and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst; gazetted 2nd Lieut., Indian Army, 18 Dec. 1917; proceeded to India, and was posted to the 41st Dogras in March, 1918, and died at Ghatingri, Punjab, 5 Sept. following, of enteric, contracted while on recruiting service. Buried at Palumpur. His Commanding Officer wrote: “His death came as a great shock, as he was very popular with us all, both officers and men, and was doing well in his work; his death is a loss to the battalion in every way; ” and another: “He was one who would have gone far in his profession.” Unm.

Source : De Ruvigny’s Roll Of Honour Vol 5

Gatacre J K Major Indian Army

11TH KING EDWARD’S OWN LANCERS (PROBYN’S HORSE)

JOHN KIRWAN GATACRE was the younger son of Major-General Sir William Forbes Gatacre, K.C.B., D.S.O., and grandson of Edward Lloyd Gatacre (O.R., 1818), of Gatacre, Shropshire.

He entered the School in 1898 and passed into the R.M.C., Sandhurst, in 1901. He was gazetted to his Regiment, then called the Prince of Wales’ Own Bengal Lancers, in 1902, and was promoted Captain in 1911. Не served various periods as Squadron Officer, Quartermaster, and Adjutant in his Regiment, and in 1912 was appointed for Special Duty in attendance on His Majesty King George, at the Delhi Durbar. In 1913 he qualified for the Staff College at Camberley.

He won many Cups for tent pegging and swordsmanship, and in 1913, the Kaidir Cup for pig-sticking, the Blue Ribbon of India. In the same year he was one of the four representatives of England in the Fencing Tournament in Paris, in which the English team gained the third prize.

On the outbreak of War he was attached to the 4th Hussars, crossed over to France on August 14th, 1914, and took part in the Retreat from Mons and the Battles of the Marne and of the Aisne. On September 20th he was promoted Major “for distinguished service in the field.” While reconnoitring a position, held in great strength by the enemy at the Monastery of Mont des Cats, near Godewaersvelde, a few miles from Hazebrouck, he was killed, on October 12th, 1914. Age 31.

He was mentioned in Despatches of October 8th, 1914, and was awarded the Cross of the Legion of Honour (Croix de Chevalier).

The following are extracts from a notice in the “Indiaman,” of October 31st, 1914:

“All those who knew Captain Gatacre will mourn one of the bravest spirits in the British Expeditionary Force fighting for their country’s honour. He was a born soldier. Fighting seemed to him, as he said in one of his most recent letters, the most natural thing in the world. He was absolutely fearless and was possessed of one of those iron constitutions which seem to be immune from fatigue. He was a fine rider and sportsman. He had won the Kaidir Cup and, as an experienced swordsman, he was very near winning the prize for the best Man-at-Arms in the Army at the Delhi Durbar. He had a sword made from his own design just before the War, and took it with him to the Front. How well he wielded it is known by his gallant exploits. It is said that on one occasion he engaged three Uhlans single-handed and killed them all.

“Whatever John Gatacre did, he did well. He possessed considerable talent as an artist in Water Colour, and the vivid actuality of his sketches at the Simla Fine Art Exhibition, where he was a Prize Winner, will be remembered by all Simla residents of the time. His pictures were, like himself, full of individuality, and distinctive by reason of their rugged and rare simplicity; but there is no doubt that his métier lay in War. It was there that his splendid, soldierly qualities found their fit expression, and now that he is dead death has scarcely ever seemed so nearly an empty name.”

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

Gatacre J K Major Indian Army

Source : The Sphere 31st Oct 1914

Walker W A S Major Indian Army

MAJOR WILLIAM ARCHIBALD SMAIL WALKER (1885-9). 46th Punjabis, Indian Army.

Born 31st October, 1874. He was the second son of Major-General Alexander Walker, C.S.I., Royal Artillery, and brother of Lieut.- Colonel A. D. Walker, D.S.O. On passing through the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, he was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant, unattached, Indian Army, in October, 1894, being attached to the 1st Battalion Somerset Light Infantry for his first year in India. He was promoted Lieutenant, November, 1897; Captain, October, 1903; and Major, in October, 1912. He served with the 45th Sikhs and then with the 40th Pathans, being posted to the 46th Punjabis on the formation of the regiment. He took part in the operations on the North- West Frontier of India, 1897-8, including the defence of Malakand, action at Landakai, and operations in Bajaur, being awarded medal with two clasps, and in the Tirah Expedition, 1897-8 (clasp). He served with the King’s African Rifles from November, 1903, to May, 1906. After outbreak of war he was sent, in January, 1915, with a double company to British East Africa, being attached to the 130th Baluchis. He was commanding a section of the outpost line at Mziona on the Tsavo River, and while visiting sentry groups with an escort of seven men, he came on the spoor of a large party of Germans. He followed this up for some way in order to locate the enemy, and while returning was ambushed by a smaller party of Germans. In the scrap which followed he and two of his escort were killed on 12th April, 1915, and he was buried on the banks of the Tsavo River. He leaves a widow and one daughter.

Source : Dulwich College War Record 1914-1919

Walker W A S Major Indian Army

.WALKER, WILLIAM ARCHIBALD SMAIL, Major, 40th Punjabis, Indian Army, 2nd 8. of the late Major-Gen. Alexander Walker, C.S.I., R.A., Director-General of Ordnance in India, 1890-97, by his wife, Anne Yewdale Lambert, dau. of Commander William Archibald Smail, R.N.; b. Dum-Dum, India, 31 Oct. 1874; educ. Dulwich College and Sandhurst; gazetted 2nd Lieut. unattd. Indian Army, 10 Oct. 1894; was attd. to the 1st Somerset L.I. for his first year; entered the Indian S.C. 10 Jan. 1896, and was promoted Lieut. 27 Nov. 1897; Capt. 10 Oct. 1903, and Major 10 Oct. 1912; served. with the 45th Sikhs and then with the 40th Pathans, and was posted to the 46th Punjabis on their formation; took part in the operations on the N.W. Frontier of India, 1897-8, including the Defence of Malakand, action at Landakai, and operations in Bajaur (medal with two clasps), and in the Tirah Expedition 1897-8 (clasp), and was afterwards employed with the King’s African Rifles, 25 Nov. 1903 to 10 May, 1906. After the outbreak of the European War, he was sent in Jan. 1915, with a double coy. to British East Africa and attd. to the 130th Baluchis (King George’s Own). He was com- manding a section of the outpost line with head- quarters at Mzima on the Tsava River. While visiting sentry groups with an escort of seven men on 12 April, he came on the spoor of a large party of Germans. He followed this up for some way in order to locate the enemy. In returning he was ambushed by a smaller party of Germans who were following the main force, and he and two men were shot. He was buried on the banks of the Tsava River-the grave was marked by a cairn of stones; the two men who fell with him are buried by his side. A brother officer wrote: “I knew him for a fearless man. He was with my regt. in the Tirah Expedition, 1897-I have never met a braver soldier”; and another: “His escort, Dogras and Gurkhas, five of whom managed to get away, all bear great testimony to his fearlessness and gallantry. He gave the orders with his last breath for his men to scatter; such is necessary in the bush. He is a great loss to us and to our country-we can ill spare such men.” He m. at Peshawar, N.W.P., 30 April, 1913, Marion Balfour, yst. dau. of the Rev. Frederick William Crick, M.A.. Rector of Litton Cheney, Dorset, and had a dau., Anne Margaret, b. 21 Jan. 1914.

Source : De Ruvigny’s Roll Of Honour Vol 1

Vivian C A Lt Col Indian Army

LIEUT-COLONEL CHARLES AUGUSTUS VIVIAN

15th (LUDHIANA) SIKHS

There are certain families whose destinies seem fated to be inextricably interwoven with those of our Great Eastern Dependency; family’s which inevitably turned towards India, and among these are numbered the branch of the great clan Campbell of which Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Augustus Vivian was a distinguished member.

Lieutenant-Colonel father, Colonel Aylmer MacIver Campbell C.B., D.L., who took the name of Vivian on succession to the estate of Ashnish, Argyllshire,  in right of his wife, spent the major part of his active career “Somewhere East of Suez”, and served with distinction in the greatest campaigns India had known since Robert Clive broke the power of Suraj-ed-Dowlah at Plassey, and won Hindostan for the British Crown.

Colonel Campbell served throughout the Mutiny which for nearly three years convulsed all India from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin, and was present at the capture of Lucknow, which will forever rank among the greatest feats of arms in the annals of the British Army. Twenty years later he was one of the Gallant band who shared the hardships and perils of the march from Cabul to Kandahar, which set the seal upon the military fame of the late Earl Roberts. Colonel Campbell was one of the most able and trusted of Sir Frederick Roberts’ Lieutenants during that trying time, as he commanded one of the three cavalry regiments on march to Kandahar, and his services were rewarded with the military С.В.

Lieutenant-Colonel Vivian was not the first of his family to give up his life for the Empire, for his elder brother, Lieutenant Ayltner MacIver Campbell, of the 3rd Panjab Cavalry, died of wounds in the Tochi during the opening stages of the Tirah Campaign; while his brother-in-law, Major George Chrystie, was killed near the same place on May 2nd, 1913.

Lieutenant-Colonel Vivian was born at Dalhousie, on July 28th, 1874, and was educated at Clifton and Sandhurst. From Sandhurst he went to the Gordon Highlanders, joining his Battalion in India in 1894, rather less than a year from his first appointment. From that time the land of his kith claimed bim as it had done his father before him..

In 1895 he was appointed to the 15th (Ludhiana) Sikhs, joining this famous regiment just in time to serve with the Chitral Relief Force. During the last decade of the nineteenth century the North-West Frontier was more thoroughly disturbed than at any period since the pacification by Sir Frederick Roberts, and for three years Lieutenant-Colonel Vivian was almost constantly on active service.

He received the medal and clasp for Chitral, and in 1897 and 1898 won two clasps for his participation in the operations of the flying column in the Kurram, and one clasp for the Tirah Campaign. During the Tirah Expedition he came into prominence by reason of his courage and resource, as is shown by the following letter from Colonel Abbott, which appeared in the well-known Indian newspaper, “The Pioneer”:

“May I beg a sufficient portion of your space to enable me to correct a mistake in the otherwise admirable account of the fight at Tseri Kandas that appeared in your paper of the 1st instant. Your account, moreover, makes no mention of the very gallant and prompt manner in which, when Captain Lewarne’s party was rushed from the wood, the next one was brought up to his aid by Lieutenant Vivian. The second party also got to close quarters with the enemy, and to them must be accredited a large proportion of the Afridi losses on that occasion.”

During the twenty years he spent in India Lieutenant-Colond Vivian acquired a considerable reputation as a Shikari. The world can boast no finer hunting-ground than the Pamirs and Upper Kashmir, and in this sportsman’s Paradise he spent much of his long leave. Rarely did he return unaccompanied by fine heads and skins trophies of the rifle he could use so well.

To those who were aware of the high state of efficiency to which Lord Kitchener had brought our Indian Army during the years of his commandership- in-chief the news that Indian troops were to be sent to France came as no surprise. That the Indian Expeditionary Force justified the confidence reposed in it was even less a matter for wonder, When led by British Officers the Indian forces are equal to any troops in the world, and Lieutenant-Colonel Vivian was admitted upon all hands in the Indian Army, to be one of the best and bravest Officers

To state that his men worshipped him is to state no more than an actual fact. No quality appeals to a fierce fighting race such as the Sikhs as courage, and that quality Lieutenant-Colonel Vivian possessed to an altogether remarkable degree. His courage, indeed, upon occasion amounted almost to recklessness, as when, for instance, he only abandoned the idea of creeping through the German lines by night and reconnoitring their positions by day at the express command of his General, who regarded his services in our lines as infinitely more valuable than the benefits to be derived from so desperate a venture. His services were not unrewarded, for he was mentioned in Sir John French’s dispatches of February, 1915, and was promoted brevet Lieutenant-Colonel.

Subsequent to his death on April 27th, 1915, during the second Battle of Ypres, his Commanding Officer paid the following tribute to his valour:- “I have lost the bravest Officer that ever wore His Majesty’s uniform. There may be as brave, but I swear no braver.”

An extraordinary instance of Lieutenant-Colonel Vivian’s courage is related by a brother Officer in a letter home. Ile wrote:

“I think that Colonel Vivian was the bravest man I ever met. He seemed absolutely fearless of bullets, and his patrol work in front of our trenches at night was really wonderful. He inspired all the Sikh Officers and men of his Company with the greatest confidence, and made them nearly as fearless as himself, Once there was a house thirty yards in front of our trenches which obscured our field of fire. The Regiment who occupied the trenches before we did said that they had tried to pull down the house, but had been forced to give up the attempt because the enemy fired on them. Colonel Vivian called for volunteers to assist him to demolish the house. The whole Company to a man volunteered. He chose the requisite number, and in two days the house was flat. Although they worked in the daylight not a man was hit. I shall never forget the thrill of admiration I had for him when he volunteered to go behind the German lines for two or three nights and reconnoitre the German position at La Bassée; but I was very relieved when the General would not allow him to go. Each time he was wounded he insisted on going on with his work. Any ordinary man would have been very shaken. We have lost a very dear friend, and England one of her bravest soldiers.”

Lieutenant-Colonel Vivian married on August 30th, 1906, at St. Thomas’s Church, Portsmouth, Mary, elder daughter of the late Joseph Studholme, Esq., J.P., and of Mrs. Studholme, of Ballyeighan, Birr, Ireland, and leaves two sons, Aylmer Studholme, born August 17th, 1909, and John, born August 30th, 1913, and one daughter, Margaret Ruth, who was born on June 25th, 1907.

Source : The British Roll Of Honour Vol 1

Vivian C A Brevet Lt Col Indian Army

VIVIAN, CHARLES AUGUSTUS, Brevet Lieut.-Col., 15th (Ludhiana) Sikhs, Indian Army, 3rd and yst. s. of the late Col. Aylmer MacIver-Campbell, formerly Vivian, of Asknish, C.B., D.L., J.P., Bengal S.C., by his wife, Margaret Agnes (Asknish House, Lochgair, co. Argyle), elder dau and co. h. of Col. James Duff MacIver-Campbell, of Asknish; b. Dalhousie, India, 28 July, 1874; educ. Clifton College and Sandhurst; gazetted 2nd Lieut (unattd. list) Indian Army, 30 Aug. 1893; was attached to the Gordon Highlanders for his first year; joined the Indian Staff Corps, 27 Jan. 1895, and was promoted Lieut. 30 Nov. 1895, Capt. 30 Aug. 1902, and Major, 30 Aug. 1911; served (1) with the Chitral Relief Force, 1895 (medal with clasp); (2) on the N.W. Frontier of India, 1897-8, including operations on the Samana and in the Kurram Valley during Aug. and Sept. 1897, and those of the Flying Column in the Kurram Valley, under Col. Richardson, 20 Aug. to 1 Oct. 1897 (two clasps); (3) in the Tirah Expedition, 1897-8; including actions of Chagree Kotal and Dargai; the capture of the Sampagha and Arhanga Passes; reconnaissance of the Saran Sar and action of 9 Nov. 1897; and operations of the Waran Valley, and action of 16 Nov. 1897 (clasp); and (4) with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders, Oct. 1914 to 27 April, 1915. Delayed by illness in Egypt, he did not join his regt, at the front until Oct. and was wounded in Dec. He returned to duty in Jan. and was mentioned in Sir John (now Lord) French’s Despatch of 14 Jan. 1915, and promoted Brevet Lieut.-Col. 18 Feb. following, for service in the field. In the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, where his regt. took a leading part, he was again wounded, but refused to leave his men and remained in the trenches under very heavy fire. He was killed in action near St. Julien, during the 2nd Battle of Ypres, 27 April, 1915. About 5.30 p.m., under cover of a bombardment of the Sirhind Brigade, the 1st Highland Light Infantry, and the 15th Sikhs were ordered to advance, but were met with such a terrific fire that a check ensued. Col. Vivian had to rush with his company over a fire swept zone to join the remainder of his regt. Just as he arrived he was shot through the body.

An officer wrote: “I think that Col. Vivian was the bravest man I ever met-he seemed absolutely fearless of bullets, and his patrol work in front of our trenches at night was really wonderful. He inspired all the Sikh officers and men of his company with the greatest confidence, and made them nearly as fearless as himself. Once there was a house 30 yards in front of our trenches and it obscured our field of fire. The regt. who occupied the trenches before we did, said that they had tried to pull down the house, but had had to give up the attempt, because the enemy fired on them. Col. Vivian called for volunteers of his company to assist him to demolish the house. The whole company to a man volunteered-he chose the requisite number and in two days the house was flat; although they worked in daylight, not a single man was hit. I shall never forget the thrill of admiration I had for him when he volunteered to go behind the German line for two or three nights and reconnoitre the German position at La Bassée, but I was very relieved when the General would not allow him to go. Each time that he was wounded he insisted on going on with his work; any ordinary man would have been very shaken. We have lost a very dear friend, and England one of her bravest soldiers.” Col. Abbott, writing to The Pioneer about the Tirah Campaign, said: “Your report, moreover, makes no mention of the very gallant and prompt manner in which, when Capt. Lewarne’s party was rushed from the wood, the next one was brought up to his aid by Lieut. Vivian. The second party also got to close quarters with the enemy and to them must be accredited a large proportion of the Afridi losses on that occasion.”

He m. at Portsmouth, 30 Aug. 1906, Mary Hastings, eldest surviving dau. of the late Joseph Studholme, of Ballyeighan, King’s Co., J.P., and had three children: Aylmer Studholme, b. 17 Aug. 1909; John, b. 30 Aug. 1913; and Margaret Ruth, 25 June, 1907.

Source : De Ruvigny’s Roll Of Honour Vol

Ussher S Captain Indian Army

Source : The Sphere 9th Jan 1915

Ussher S Captain Indian Army

USSHER, STEPHEN, Capt., 129th Duke of Connaught’s Own Baluchis, 3rd s. of the Rev. Richard Ussher, Vicar of Westbury, Brackley; b. 52, Eaton Place, S.W., 4 Oct. 1882; educ. St. Edward’s School, Oxford, and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst (20 Sept. 1901 to 30 July, 1903); gazetted 2nd Lieut., unattd., Indian Army, 27 Aug. 1902; served with the 1st Battn. King’s Shropshire L.I. (with which he went to India), 27 Aug. 1902 to 25 Feb. 1903; The Buffs, 26 Feb. 1902 to 13 Oct. 1903, and the 2nd East Lancashires, 14 Oct. 1903 to 4 July, 1904; was posted to the 129th Baluchis, 5 July, 1904, and promoted Lieut. 5 Dec. following, and Capt. 27 Aug. 1911; was Double Coy. Officer, 7 July, 1904; Off. Adjutant, 11 Nov. 1908, to 27 June, 1909, and Adjutant, 28 June, 1909, to 15 Aug. 1913; 3; was present at the Delhi Coronation Durbar (medal, 24 June, Ju 1911); went to France with the Indian Expeditionary Force, Sept. 1914, and was killed in action at Givenchy, 16 Dec. 1914; unm.

The 129th Baluchis were ordered to make an attack on the German trenches at Givenchy near La Bassée on the early morning of the 16th. Capt, Ussher was in charge of the Machine-Gun Section of the Regt. The attack at first succeeded, but later the Germans brought up two machine-guns quite close, and by this means prevented any reinforcements coming forward to assist the first attacking party which had gained the Germans’ first line of trenches. Capt. Ussher, seeing what damage the German machine-guns were doing, tried to direct the fire from his guns on to theirs, and while looking over the parapet so that he could direct the fire effectively was hit by a bullet in the centre of his forehead. He died at once without recovering consciousness, and was buried the next day at Beuvry, near Bethune. His last words before he was killed were “Keep down, keep down,” to a brother officer who was with him. The 129th Baluchis were the first Indian Regt. to go into action, and one of the men received one of the two first V.C.’s ever granted to the native troops.

Source : De Ruvigny’s Roll Of Honour Vol 1

Tucker A R L 2nd Lt Indian Army

TUCKER, ALAN ROBERT LLOYD, 2nd Lieut., Indian Army (attd. 2nd Battn. Royal Warwickshire Regt.), only s. of Robert Edward Tucker, of Ashburton, co. Devon, Solicitor, Lt.-Col. Commanding 2/5th Battn. Devonshire Regt. (T.F.), by his wife, Annie Lloyd, dau. of the late Richard Williams, of Bodafon, Anglesey; b. Ashburton, 25 June, 1894; educ. Sherborne and Sandhurst; gazetted 2nd Lieut. Indian Army, 8 Aug. 1914, and was subsequently attd. 2nd Royal Warwicks; went to France, Nov. 1914, and was killed in action near Fleurbaix, 19 Dec. following; unm.

Source : De Ruvigny’s Roll Of Honour Vol 1

Topham H A C 2nd Lt Indian Army

TOPHAM, HENRY ANGRAVE CECIL, 2nd Lieut., Indian Army, attd. 1st Battn. The Welsh Regiment, elder s. of John Henry Topham, of Morley Hall, co. Derby, by his wife, Dorothy Marion, dau. of George Henry Angrave; b. Derby, 14 Oct. 1891; educ. Malvern and Clare College, Cambridge (graduated B.A., Dec. 1913), and was in both the school and college O.T.C. He obtained a university commission as 2nd Lieut. Indian Army, 21 Jan. 1913, and his rank was made substantive, 5 Aug. 1914. He was on the point of sailing for India when war was declared, but was posted to the 4th Sherwood Foresters at Backworth, Northumberland, where he remained until the end of Feb. 1915, when he was sent to France, being attached for the period of the war to the 1st Battn. Welsh Regt. He took part in the 2nd Battle of Ypres, and on 24 May, his regt. being ordered to join in a counter-attack, he was severely wounded in the head by a piece of high explosive shell, near Ypres, dying the next day, 25 May, 1915, at Bailleul Clearing Hospital, where he had been Henry A. C. Topham. taken, and was buried in the Military Cemetery there (No. 1125).

An officer wrote: “We were all so fond of him and he is indeed a great loss. He was of great assistance to me in the field, for I could rely on him, and in addition he had the happy knack of commanding men.”

Source : De Ruvigny’s Roll Of Honour Vol 1