Category Archives: Somerset Light Infantry

Daubeny C J O Captain 1st Somerset Light Infantry

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Daubeny C J O Captain 1st Somerset Light Infantry

CAPT. CHARLES JOHN ODINEL DAUBENY, 3RD BATTN. PRINCE ALBERT’S SOMERSET LIGHT INFANTRY (S.R.), ATTD. 1ST BATTN.

DIED JUNE 16TH, 1917, OF WOUNDS RECEIVED THE PREVIOUS DAY, AT MONCHY-LE-PREUX. AGED 21.

At the School 1909-14 (School House).

Capt. C. J. O. Daubeny was the only son of Captain Charles William and Mrs. Daubeny, of The Brow, Combe Down, Bath, who belong to an old and well-known Bath family. His father spent some years in the service of the late Rajah Brooke in Sarawak, and on leaving the Straits took a Commission in the Somerset Militia, and later transferred to the 3rd Somersets, the Special Reserve. He had retired in 1909, but volunteered for service on the outbreak of war and is now serving with a Training Reserve Battalion in the Midlands.

C. J. O. Daubeny was elected to a Foundation Scholarship from St. Christopher’s School, Bath, in June, 1909, and entering the School in the following September reached the Upper Sixth in September, 1912. He became a House Præpostor in May, 1913, and a School Præpostor in January, 1914. In the O.T.C. he attained his Corporal’s stripes in September, 1913, was promoted Sergeant in January and Colour-Sergeant in May, 1914, and had obtained Certificate A. He had gone over to the Army Class in January, 1914, and leaving in July, 1914, received a Commission in the Special Reserve of the Somerset Light Infantry, dated October 17th, 1914. Joining his Regiment in that month at Crown Hill, Plymouth, he went to the Front in May, 1915, attached to the 1st Battn., and saw a great deal of fighting, being promoted Temporary Lieutenant February 21st, 1916, and full Lieutenant on April 4th.

On the first day of the Battles of the Somme, July 1st, 1916, he was wounded in the thigh at Beaumont Hamel, and was for a time in hospital at Oxford.

After a period of light duty at Plymouth he returned to the Front in December, and was slightly wounded, again in the thigh, on April 12th, 1917, at “Hyderabad Redoubt,” Fampoux, in the Battles of Aarrs, which began on April 9th and lasted till May 4th, but he was back at duty in twelve days.

1915, ached to the 1st Battn., and saw a great deal of fighting, being pro-moted Temporary Lieutenant February 21st, 1916, and full Lieutenant on April 4th.

On the first day of the Battles of the Somme, July 1st, 1916, he was wounded in the thigh at Beaumont Hamel, and was for a time in hospital at Oxford.

After a period of light duty at Plymouth he returned to the Front in December, and was slightly wounded, again in the thigh, on April 12th, 1917, at “Hyderabad Redoubt,” “Fampoux, in the Battles of Aarrs, which began on April 9th and lasted till May 4th, but he was back at duty in twelve days.

He had been promoted to Acting Captaincy on June 7th, being in command of a Company. On June 15th, 1917, the Germans started sending over some small trench-mortar shells and one fell a short distance away in his trench. Captain Daubeny stood up to ascertain whether any of the men had been hit, and at that moment one dropped within five yards of him. He was wounded in the head by a splinter, which pierced his shrapnel helmet, and died next day without having recovered consciousness.

By a strange coincidence his death took place at a C.C.S. at Aubigny, in Normandy, from which place, originally D’Albini, the family took their name.

His former C.O. wrote expressing his sympathy in the loss of “a dear and gallant son,” and added: “He had done so well. He was a great favourite of mine, and I thought a great deal of him.”

The Officer in command of his Battalion at the time said :-

“He was such a good lad, always so cheery and full of the joy of life. He was a most thorough sportsman and a real good capable officer, always to be relied on to carry out his duty effectively. He never knew what fear meant. We have lost both a good friend and a good officer, loved by the officers and by the men of his Company.”

Source : Tonbridge School In The Great War 1914-11919

 

Bradshaw F S Captain Somerset Light Infantry

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Bradshaw F S Captain Somerset Light Infantry

CAPTAIN F. S. BRADSHAW Somerset Light Infantry
Aged 31
Dec. 19th, 1914
Son of the late Major Frank Boyd Bradshaw, 13th Somerset Light Infantry, and of Catharine Douglas Bradshaw, and great-grandson of General Laurence Bradshaw, also of the Somerset Light Infantry.
R.M.C., Sandhurst, 1902. Captain Bradshaw joined the Somerset Light Infantry, the Regiment in which he had been born and bred, in 1904, and was promoted Captain in 1914. For five years he served with his Regiment in India, where he was well known as a Polo player, and did much big game shooting and pig-sticking. In 1911 he went to the Depot at Taunton for three years, and rejoined his Regiment at Colchester, in March, 1914.
He went to the Front with the 11th Infantry Brigade, 4th Division, which, before leaving, was quartered at Harrow, in August, 1914. He took part in the Retreat from Mons, and was present at the Battles of Le Cateau, the Marne, the Aisne, Le-Gheer and the 1st Battle of Ypres. On November 2nd, 1914, he was wounded in the right hand, but refused, contrary to all advice, to be sent home. On November 22nd he returned to his Regiment, and was killed in the attack of December 19th, at Ploegsteert Wood. His Company was in reserve at the time, but seeing a brother-officer fall at the head of one of the attacking platoons, without a moment’s hesitation he jumped up and took command, being himself killed soon after.
A private in his Company writes:-
“His death is very much regretted by the whole Company, because they could always trust him. He would never send his men where he would not go himself. He was an exceptionally brave man, and knew his work, and it would be very difficult to find his equal.”

Source : Harrow Memorials Of The Great War 1914-1918 Vol 1

 

BRADSHAW, FRANK SEYMOUR, Capt., 1st Battn. Prince Albert’s Somerset L.I. (the old 13th), only s. of the late Major Frank Boyd Bradshaw (12th Somerset L.I.), by his wife, Catherine Douglas, dau. of Capt. Loftus Nunn, late 99th Regt., and great-grandson of Gen. Lawrence Bradshaw, some time commanding 13th L.I.; b. Weston-super-Mare, co. Somerset, 4 Dec. 1883; educ. East Sheen, Harrow and Sandhurst; gazetted 2nd Lieut. 23 Jan. 1904, and promoted Lieut. 12 June, 1906, and Capt. Nov. 1914. He was killed in action at Ploegsteert Wood, 19 Dec. 1914, and was buried near Somerset House there; unm. One of Capt. Bradshaw’s men wrote: “His death is much regretted by the whole company, because they could always trust him. He would never send his men where he would not go himself. He was an exceptionally brave man, and knew his work, and it will be very difficult to find his equal.”

Source : De Ruvigny’s Roll Of Honour Vol 1

Scott J W Lt Col Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars Attd 8th Somerset Light Infantry

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Scott J W Lt Col Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars Attd 5th Somerset Light Infantry

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL J. W. SCOTT, D.S.O.
OXFORDSHIRE YEOMANRY (QUEEN’S OWN OXFORDSHIRE HUSSARS) AND 8TH (SERVICE) BATTALION PRINCE ALBERT’S (SOMERSET LIGHT INFANTRY)
JOHN WILLOUGHBY SCOTT was the youngest son of Sir John Scott, K.C.M.G., D.C.L., Judge of the High Court, Bombay, and Deputy Judge-Advocate-General, and of Leonora, daughter of Frederick Hill, Secretary to the General Post Office.
He entered the School in 1893 and left in 1895, when he passed into the R.M.A., Woolwich, being gazetted to the Royal Artillery in 1897. He served in the Boer War in the 55th Battery, R.F.A., receiving the Queen’s Medal with three Clasps and the King’s with two and being mentioned in Despatches. In 1908 he retired from the Army as Captain, and was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1912.
When War broke out he was Captain in the Oxfordshire Hussars, and he went to the Front with that Regiment in September, 1914, being promoted Major in November. He was gazetted Lieutenant-Colonel in the Somerset Light Infantry in January, 1916, and in July of the same year he was wounded in the Battle of the Somme and invalided home. He returned to the Front in October, 1916, and was killed while leading an attack near Arras on April 23rd, 1917. Age 38.
He was three times mentioned in Despatches “for gallant and distinguished service in the Field,” and was awarded the D.S.O. on January 1st, 1917.

The following is taken from a letter from the Brigadier-General Commanding the 63rd Infantry Brigade :-
“For well over a year Colonel Scott and I were in practically daily contact. I formed a very high opinion of him in the early days of our acquaintance, and, as I got to know him better and saw more of his work, my admiration for him, both as a soldier and as a man, became great. I wrote to him on the day I left the Brigade, and told him I was certain no Brigadier had ever been better served by a Battalion Commander. A splendid soldier, he was most careful of the men under him, and they all knew it and were ready to do anything he told them.”
His Second in Command wrote:-
“It is with the deepest grief I write to tell you of Colonel Scott’s death. He died bravely leading the attack on the 23rd, shot through the head and killed instantaneously. I have been for nearly six months his Second in Command, and, although during the recent fighting I was commandin another Regiment in this Brigade, he fell near me leading his men like a gallant and devoted Officer. We all loved him in the Regiment, and looked forward to seeing him made a Brigadier, which he ought to have been made before this. I have seldom met a keener, more energetic and more capable man: a brave, gallant soldier, a good companion and true friend, we miss him frightfully; nothing so far has upset me so much during this war.”

The Adjutant of the Battalion, who was standing next to Colonel Scott when he was killed, described the circumstances of his death:-
“We took part in a big attack last Monday, the 23rd; we started at 4.45 a.m., and our Battalion was in support of the 4th Middlesex. At the start the attack went off fairly well, although the Germans had quite a lot of artillery opposite us, and the barrage was accurate. We were held up by machine-guns before reaching the road running between Roeux and Gavrelle, and we were in shell holes all the morning till about 1 p.m., by which time the strong point which had held us up was cleared of all the Germans in it. We then advanced about 300 yards and were preparing to push on to what is called Greenland Hill. We then used our glasses standing up in a shell hole, and the Colonel was killed instantaneously by a sniper.”
Another Officer wrote:-
“The Battalion has lost what it can never replace. Every Officer except one of those who went into action has been wounded or killed; of the men only 20 were marched out of action by me, though stragglers bring up the number to about 70. This April we have fought three actions, and the C.O. was covered with praise and congratulations. He would shortly have become a Brigadier-General, and a big honour was, I believe, on the way for him. He died in the high hour of success at the head of his men in the middle of the greatest battle the world has ever seen, and in him we have lost him, the best C.O. the Battalion has ever had.” The Sergeant-Major of the Oxfordshire Hussars, who had also been Sergeant-Major of the 55th Battery, R.F.A., wrote :-
“I met a boy of the 8th Somersets in hospital in France, who, when he saw my cap-badge, called out to me, ‘You belong to the same Regiment as my Colonel: do you know him?’ I said ‘ Yes, boy, do you ?’ His answer was ‘Yes, I know him to be one of the finest men that ever lived.”
That boy only told me what every man of the Oxford Hussars says to-day, whenever he is mentioned, and it is always a proud moment for me, when I think that I was that man’s Sergeant-Major, when he was a boy Officer.” He married on January 1oth, 1916, Madeline Ethel, eldest daughter of the Reverend Edward Worsley, Honorary Canon of Peterborough and Vicar of Evenley, Northamptonshire.

Source : Memorials of Rugbeians Who Fell in the Great War 1914-1918 Vol 4

Allsopp A L/Cpl DCM 14810 7th Somerset Light Infantry

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Allsopp A L/Cpl 14810 DCM

DCM Citation

14810 L/Cpl. A. ALLSOPP 7th Bn. (attached 181st Co. Royal Engineers)
For conspicuous gallantry on 2nd October 1915, near Laventie, when he entered a mine gallery which was in a highly dangerous condition, being full of gas introduced by the enemy, and rescuing one of a party of men who had all been rendered unconcious by the fumes. On previous occasions Lance-Corporal Allsopp has always been the first to volunteer for any dangerous underground work, although within the last month he had been severely shaken by a heavy hostile explosion, and on another occasion “gassed” by fumes. (16.11.15)

Orr R C Captain Somerset Light Infantry

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Orr R C Captain Somerset Light Infantry

CAPTAIN R. C. ORR

3RD BATTALION PRINCE ALBERT’S (SOMERSET LIGHT INFANTRY)

ROBERT CLIFFORD ORR was the second son of Robert Harrison Orr, of Belfast, Solicitor, and of Cassandra Marchaise his wife.

He entered the School in 1895, and left in 1897. He was admitted a Solicitor in 1903, and practised in Belfast and Ballymena. In 1910 he was gazetted to the 3rd Battalion (Special Reserve) of the Somerset Light Infantry, and was promoted Captain in October, 1914.

He was attached to the 1st Battalion in October, and was killed while leading his men in an attack on the German trenches outside Ploegsteert Wood, in Flanders, on December 19th, 1914. Age 34

The Adjutant of the Regiment wrote:- “There is no doubt that he must have very gallantly led his men practically into the German trenches, but we could not establish ourselves there, although we were able to advance our lines some distance as the result of the attack.”

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