Burdekin G E 2nd Lt 3rd Notts And Derby Regiment (Sherwood Foresters)

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Burdekin G E 2nd Lt 3rd Notts And Derby Regiment (Sherwood Foresters)

SECOND LIEUTENANT G. E. BURDEKIN

3rd BATTALION THE SHERWOOD FORESTERS (NOTTINGHAMSHIRE AND DERBYSHIRE REGIMENT)

GEOFFREY ERIC BURDEKIN was the youngest son of Benjamin Thomas Burdekin, Solicitor, Sheffield, and of Emily his wife. He entered the School in 1906. He left in 1908 and from Sandhurst was gazetted to the Second Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment, and served two years in India. Failing health compelled him to resign his Commission, and on his return to England he was articled to his father as a Solicitor, in Sheffield. At the outbreak of War he applied for, and received a Commission in the Sherwood Foresters. He was killed on January 26th, 1915, at Beuvry, by a shell, while attending Orderly Room at a farm three miles behind the firing line. Age 22.

A brother Officer wrote to his father :-“If he had not been such a good Officer we might have had him with us now. It happened that on that very morning the C.Q, came to me and said that he was not satisfied with the way in which a certain Company was being run, and could I spare an Officer from mine to take it over? I told him that he could not do better than send your son to that Company, as he would soon be able to pull it together. So Geoffrey went. We were having Orderly Room and I had just left when a shell pitched in the yard, killing your son instantaneously.”

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

BURDEKIN, GEOFFREY ERIC, 2nd Lieut., 3rd Battn. Notts and Derby Regt. (Sherwood Foresters), attd. 1st Loyal North Lancashires ; yst s. of Benjamin Thomas Burdekin, of Sheffield and Baslow, co. Derby, Solicitor, by his wife, Emily Jane, dau. of the Rev. Jeremiah Stockdale, Vicar of Baslow ; b. Sheffield, 29 March, 1893 ; educ. Bramcotc, Scarborough, Rugby and Woolwich.

He was gazetted to the 2nd Battn. Dorsetshire Regt. 20 Sept. 1911, and served with it in India for two years. In 1913 he resigned his commission owing to ill-health, and was articled to his father as a solicitor. At the outbreak of the European War he applied for a commission, and was given one in the 3rd Reserve Battn. of the Sherwood Foresters, and was afterwards attached to the 1st Loyal North Lancashire Regt. with which he was serving when he was killed in action at Beuvry, 26 Jan. 1915. He was buried at a farm near Beuvry ; unm.

His Capt. wrote : ” The circumstances under which your boy and many other valuable men lost their lives were perhaps the most unfortunate that can be imagined. We were some four Geoffrey E. Burdekin. miles distant from the firing line at the time, and it was one of three shells that happened to strike us when the battn. orderly room was being held in the morning. Being in temporary command, I was taking orderly room myself and was only some six or seven yards distant from the spot where the shell burst, and how I and the Adjutant, who was standing beside me, escaped I really don’t know, for men within a couple of yards of us were killed instantaneously. What I remember was a deafening crash, a blackness, and the noise of broken glass falling. As soon as the air had cleared of debris we saw the fearful havoc that had been caused. You have one great consolation, however. Your son was spared all pain and suffering, for death was absolutely instantaneous ; also that he was buried. The inability to bury one’s dead owing to their having been killed on the ground between the opposing trenches has, I think, been one of the most horrible features of the war. It is, I think, unnecessary for me to assure you that your son maintained to the end the high traditions of a British officer and gentleman. We were together during the night attack on 31 Dec., and his coolness under a heavy fire was very marked. Although he did not belong to the Loyal North Lancashires but to his own county regt., yet he always took an interest in his men and was a zealous officer. On the very morning that he was killed, I had picked him out to take command of a company because I had the greatest confidence in him. He was always cheerful, and had endeared himself to us all. feel the loss greatly.”

Source : De Ruvigny’s Roll Of Honour Vol 1

Brown J C D 2nd Lt 5th Durham Light Infantry

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Brown J C D 2nd Lt 5th Durham Light Infantry

SECOND LIEUTENANT J. C. D. BROWN

5th BATTALION THE DURHAM LIGHT INFANTRY, T.F.

JAMES CARTMELL DENNISON BROWN was the younger son of Sir Frank Brown, D.L., of Norton Priory, Stockton-on-Tees. He entered the School in 1907, and left in 1912 to enter Pembroke College, Cambridge.

On the outbreak of War he received his Commission and went to France on April 18th for Divisional Training, but owing to the German attack with asphyxiating gas his Division was at once pushed to the Front and engaged from the 23rd to the 29th in the second Battle of Ypres. On Sunday, April 25th, he was wounded twice. He was first treated at Poperinghe Hospital, but as it was shelled by the enemy he was removed to Hazebrouck, where he died on April 27th, 1915. Age 21.

His Colonel wrote:- “He was one of the best Officers we had, and did his duty to the last. On the day he was hit he had done valuable reconnaissance work in the morning, and, when hit, had taken part in a very good little attack. Although wounded in two places, he showed his pluck by returning unhelped to our lines. It is only by such examples as his that we may hope to conquer the enemy and keep up the tradition of the country.”

Another Officer wrote:- “We all liked him very much; he was such a cheerful fellow, and so conscientious that I knew that anything entrusted to him, however slight and wearisome, would be properly carried out.”

The Medical Officer said:- “He was a tremendous favourite with us all, and I can say I never had to attend to a pluckier lad.”

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

Bradley E J Pte 140 5th London Regiment (London Rifle Brigade)

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PRIVATE E. J. BRADLEY 5th (CITY OF LONDON) BATTALION, THE LONDON REGIMENT (LONDON RIFLE BRIGADE), T.F.

ERIC JATINGA BRADLEY was the only child of James Bradley, Tea Planter, and of Matilda Louisa his wife.

He entered the School in 1906, and left in 1910, proceeded to Pembroke College, Cambridge, took his degree, with Honours, in 1914, and entered the Inner Temple. On the outbreak of War he enlisted, and, refusing to wait for a Com-mission, crossed over to France with his Battalion in November, 1914. In the early morning of December 5th, 1914, a shell burst on the parapet of his trench, wounding him and four others, and he died the same day in the Clearing Hospital at Bailleul. Age 22.

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

BRADLEY, ERIC JATINGA, Private, No. 140, 5th Battn. (London Rifle Brigade) The London Regt., eldest s. of James Bradley, of Grovehill, Suckley, co. Worcester, Tea Planter; b. London, 28 June, 1892; educ. Rottingdean, Rugby and Pembroke College Cambridge (Honours); entered at the Inner Temple, but on the outbreak of war at once enlisted; he proceeded with his battn. to France 4 Nov., and was mortally wounded with four others in the early morning of 5 Dec. by shrapnel, which burst on the parapet of the trench. He died the same day at No. 2 Clearing Hospital, Bailleul, being buried in the cemetery there (No. 149); unm.

Source : De Ruvigngy’s Roll Of Honour Vol 1

Brooke R Sub Lt Hood Btn RN Div Hood Battalion Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve

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Brooke R Sub Lt Hood Btn RN Div Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve

Brooke R Sub Lt Hood Btn RN Div Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve

SUB-LIEUTENANT R. C. BROOKE HOOD BATTALION, ROYAL NAVAL DIVISION

RUPERT CHAWNER BROOKE was the second son of William Parker Brooke, Assistant Master and House Master at Rugby School, and formerly Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge, and of Mary Ruth his wife.

He entered the School with a Scholarship in 1901. In 1905 he was in the XV, and in 1906 in the XI. He won the School Prize for an English Poem on the “Bastille,” and the King’s Medal. In 1906 he went up to King’s College, Cambridge, as Senior Classical Scholar. His University distinctions included a Second Class in the Classical Tripos, the Harness Prize won by an Essay on “Puritanism and the Drama,” the Charles Oldham Shakespeare Scholarship, won by a dissertation on John Webster (afterwards published), and, like his father, he gained a Fellowship at his own College. Besides visiting Germany and Italy, he made a journey to America and the Pacific Islands. He was deeply interested in social questions. He was the author of two books of verse, “Poems,” published in 1911, and “1914,” published in 1915, and of “Letters from America,” published, after his death, in 1915.

Soon after the outbreak of War he joined the Royal Naval Division, and was sent, in October, with the Expedition to Antwerp. In February he sailed for the Dardanelles and died on a French Hospital Ship from blood poisoning on April 23rd, 1915. He was buried at Skyros. Age 27. Two accounts of him were given in the “Meteor,” May 28th, 1915  (No. 585).

General Sir Ian Hamilton, G.C.B., D.S.O., General Officer Commanding the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, wrote, on hearing of his illness:- “The wording of the message terrifies me. What a misfortune! I have kept his A.D.C.-ship open for him all the time, and as soon as the Dardanelles affair was over, he was, supposing us both alive, to have come on to my Staff. But he was bound, he said, to see this first fight through with his own fellows. I have his last poems on my table, and you know how deep was my admiration for his intellect, an admiration which lost nothing, as so many admirations do, by contact with his personality. I pray fervently he may yet pull through.”

His Colonel wrote:–

“I feel his loss immensely, for, since he came to my Battalion, I have had one long opportunity of observing him and getting to know his character and its charm and many fine points. His men were devoted to him and he had all the makings of a first-class officer. His country and his friends could ill spare him.”

The Right Honourable Winston Churchill wrote :- “During the last few months of his life, months of preparation in gallant comradeship and open air, the poet soldier told with all the force of genius the sorrow of youth about to die and the sure triumphant consolation of a sincere and valiant spirit. He expected to die, he was willing to die for the dear England whose beauty and majesty he knew; and he advanced towards the brink in perfect serenity, with absolute conviction of the righteousness of his country’s cause and a heart devoid of hate for fellow men. The thoughts to which he gave expression in the very few in- comparable War sonnets, which he has left behind, will be shared by many thousands of young men, moving resolutely and blithely forward into this, the hardest, the cruellest, and the least rewarded of all the wars that men have fought. They are a whole history and revelation of Rupert Brooke himself. Joyous, fearless, versatile, deeply instructed, with classic symmetry of mind and body, ruled by high undoubting purpose, he was all that one would wish England’s noblest sons to be in days when no sacrifice but the most precious is acceptable, and the most precious is that which is most freely offered.”

His brother Officer, Sub-Lieutenant W. C. Denis-Browne (O.R.), subsequently killed, wrote of his funeral:- “We found a most lovely place for his grave, about a mile up a valley from the sea, an olive grove above a watercourse, dry now, but torrential in winter. Two mountains flank it on either side, and Mount Khokilas is at its head. We chose a place in the most lovely grove I have ever seen, or imagined, a little glade of about a dozen trees, carpeted with mauve-flowering sage. Over his head droops an olive tree, and round it is a little space clear of all undergrowth.”

“About a quarter-past nine the funeral party arrived and made their way up the steep, narrow and rocky path that leads to the grove. was so rough and uncertain that we had to have men with lamps every twenty yards to guide the bearers. He was borne by Petty Officers of his own Company, and so slowly did they go that it was not till nearly eleven that they reached the grave.”

“We buried him by cloudy moonlight. He wore his uniform and on the coffin were his helmet, belt, and pistol (he had no sword). We lined the grave with flowers and olive, and Colonel Quilter laid an olive wreath on the coffin. The Chaplain who saw him in the afternoon read the service very simply. The firing party fired three volleys and the bugles sounded the Last Post. And so we laid him to rest in that lovely valley, his head towards those mountains that he would have loved to know, and his feet towards the sea. He once said in chance talk that he would like to be buried in a Greek island. He could have no lovelier one than Skyros, and no quieter resting place.  On the grave we heaped great blocks of white marble ; the men of his Company made a great wooden cross for his head, with his name upon it, and his Platoon put a smaller one at his feet. On the back of the large cross our interpreter wrote in Greek : ‘Here lies the servant of God, Sub-Lieutenant in the English Navy, who died for the deliverance of Constantinople from the Turks.’  The next morning we sailed, and had no chance of revisiting his grave.”

His only surviving brother, Second Lieut. W. A. C. Brooke (O.R.), was killed on June i4th, 1915.

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

Boyd H A 2nd Lt 2nd Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers

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Boyd H A 2nd Lt 2nd R Inniskilling Fusiliers

2nd Lt H A Boyd 2nd Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers

2ND BATTALION THE ROYAL INNISKILLING FUSILIERS

HAROLD ALEXANDER BOYD was the only son of Alexander James Boyd, M.D., The Manor House, Ware, Herts, by his marriage with Constance Mary, elder daughter of B. C. Berkeley, of Collett Hall, Ware.

He entered the School in 1908, and left in 1912. He was a member of the Swimming VI in 1910, ’11, ’12, winning Dr. Dukes’s Cup and the Royal Humane Society’s Medal. He was in the Shooting VIII in 1911, ’12, and in the Running VIII in 1912.

In April, 1913, he joined the Second Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers on the Special Reserve of Officers, and did his training at Alder-shot. In October of the same year he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, joining the Medical School, and passed his first M.B. Examination at the end of his first year, June, 1914.

He went out to France with the First Expeditionary Force. During the forward movement in the Battle of the Marne River, on September 7th, 1914, the Battalion was moving out at Crécy to take up outpost duty when they were suddenly attacked by artillery at long range. He was killed instantly by shrapnel. Age 19.

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

BOYD, HAROLD ALEXANDER, 2nd Lieut., 2nd Battn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, only s. of Dr. Alexander James Boyd, of The Manor House, Ware, co. Herts (who served for 13 years in the 1st (Herts) Vol. Battn. Bedfordshire Regt., and retired as Capt. in 1902), by his wife, Constance Mary, dau. of Brackenbury Comyns Berkeley, of Collett Hall, Ware, and grandson of the late Samuel Boyd, of Merton, Killiney b. at The Manor House, Ware, 19 Jan. 1895 ; educ. at the Preparatory School, Castle Park, Dalkey (co. Dublin), Rugby, and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was studying medicine at the time of mobilisation and had passed his first M.B. examination at the end of his first year.

He had joined the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in April, 1913, as a Special Reserve officer, and was called up for service and at first put on Coast Defence duty at Lough Swilly, co. Donegal, being afterwards sent to France on 31 Aug. He was killed in action at Crecy, 7 Sept. 1914, during the Battle of the Marne ; unm.

Corpl. W. Poots wrote : ” On the morning of Monday, 7 Sept., we were reinforced by a draft of a hundred men from the depot in Ireland under Lieut. Boyd, and continued the advance all day. In the evening the Inniskillings had to find the outposts at a village to which we had come—on the right being an open road with a row of apple trees, and on the left a clear open plain. In the distance, about 1,000 or 1,200 yards, was a broad belt of woods and shrubs, from which came rifle and big gun fire. This took us by surprise. We lined out and retaliated, but their shelling was terrific, and we had no artillery with us. Our officers were trying to find the range and had no cover from the shells, thus exposing themselves, notably Mr. Boyd, who was standing by an apple tree by the right of the road. He was struck on the body by shrapnel and killed instantly ; also Private Cousins, and 14 wounded. We continued all night in this position. In the morning the enemy had retired.” 2nd Lieut. Boyd was a fine athlete, gaining his colours at Rugby in football, swimming, shooting and cross-country running ; and he also won the Royal Humane Society’s medal and Dr. Duke’s cup or life-saving competition. At Cambridge he was a member of the First Trinity Boat Club, and in 1915 he won the swimming championship of his regt. at Aldershot.

Source : De Ruvigny’s Roll Of Honour Vol 1

 

 

Boyd E F 2nd Lt 1st Northumberland Fusiliers

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Boyd E F 2nd Lt 1st Northumberland Fusiliers

2nd Lt E F Boyd 1st Northumberland Fusiliers

SECOND LIEUTENANT E. F. BOYD

IST BATTALION THE NORTHUMBERLAND FUSILIERS

EDWARD FENWICK BOYD was the only son of Robert Fenwick Boyd (O.R., 1864-69), a Mining Engineer, and of Annie his wife. He entered the School in 1904, and was in the XV in 1908. He went to University College, Oxford, in 1909, obtained his Football Blue in 1912, and played for the Army v. Navy in 1914. He was gazetted to the Northumberland Fusiliers in February, 1912, and went out to France with the First Expeditionary Force in August, 1914, took part in the Retreat from Mons, and the Battles of the Marne and of the Aisne, and fell in action at Vailly-sur-Aisne, on September 20th, 1914. He was mentioned in Despatches of October 8th, 1914. Age 24.

His Colonel wrote:-

“I don’t know what you used to call your splendid son, but everyone in the Battalion always called him Edward, and by that name he will always be remembered as long as any of his comrades live. Edward’s is indeed a character to remember and to endeavour to copy; his splendid courage and coolness under fire, without the smallest touch of bravado or undue recklessness, marked him out as a born leader of men. Before this last action I had already recommended him for some recognition on account of his extremely courageous leading and devotion to duty in the field, and only a day or two before he was killed I personally saw him steadying his men in the trenches, under a terrific shell fire, as calmly as if he was on peace manoeuvres. It was a magnificent example of cool and dauntless courage, and I am thankful that I was privileged to see it and to thank him for the glorious example he set to all ranks. He is buried in a little cemetery in the N.W. corner of the town of Vailly, about a mile from where he fell.”

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

Bowden-Smith W A C Captain 4th Royal Fusiliers

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Bowden-Smith W A C Captain 4th London Regiment

Captain W A C Bowden-Smith 4th London Regiment

CAPTAIN W, A. C. BOWDEN-SMITH 4TH BATTALION THE ROYAL FUSILIERS

(CITY OF LONDON REGIMENT)

WALTER ADRIAN CARNEGIE BOWDEN-SMITH was the only son of Walter Baird Bowden-Smith, of Vernalls, Lyndhurst, Hants, and of his wife, Julia Wiggett, daughter of W. C. Humphrys, J.P., High Sheriff of the County of Hants.

He entered the School in 1894. He was in the Shooting VIII in 1899, and, the same year, passed into the R.M.C., Sandhurst. He was gazetted to the Royal Fusiliers in 1900, and obtained his Com-pany in 1909. He took part in the Tibet Expedition of 1903-04, when he was wounded at Gyantse, and received the Medal with Clasp.

He was wounded on August 23rd, 1914, at the Battle of Mons, so severely that he was left as a prisoner in the hands of the Germans, and died of his wounds, on August 27th, or 28th, at the Convent of St. Joseph, Maisières, Belgium. Age 32.

Letters from brother Officers stated that “Captain Bowden-Smith was, very gallantly, bringing up reinforcements at Mons, under a fierce fire, when he was wounded in the right arm and abdomen. Out of the fifty men he brought up, all but three were shot down.”

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

 

Blake E A C Major 2nd Durham Light Infantry

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Blake E A C Major 2nd Durham Light Infantry

Major E A C Blake 2nd Durham Light Infantry

MAJOR E. A. C. BLAKE

2ND BATTALION THE DURHAM LIGHT INFANTRY

EDWARD ALGERNON CLEADER BLAKE was the younger son of Edward Frederick Blake, of Shanklin, Isle of Wight.

He entered the School in 1886 and left in 1887. He received his Commission in the 1st Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry in 1893, was promoted Lieutenant in 1896, and Captain in 1900. He served through the South African War, from 1899 to 1902, as Adjutant of the 1st Battalion, and was present at the Relief of Ladysmith as well as in the actions of Colenso and Spion Kop. He was severely wounded at Vaal Krantz, was mentioned in Despatches and received the rank of Brevet- Major. He held the Queen’s Medal with two Clasps and the King’s Medal with two.

He went to France with the First Expeditionary Force, and took part in the Retreat from Mons and the Battles of the Marne and of the Aisne. Later, in the defence of the village of Ennetières, near Lille, the Colonel of the Sherwood Foresters asked for the help of two Platoons of the Durhams, as his Regiment was being heavily shelled. Major Blake gallantly took them and arrived in time to drive back a strong attack. The trenches being full, he took up his position in, and defended, a sugar factory, on which a shell burst, killing him and many men. He fell on October 20th, 1914. Age 43.

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

Benham J R 2nd Lt Royal Field Artillery

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2nd Lt J R Benham Royal Field Artillery

SECOND LIEUTENANT J. R. BENHAM

ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY

JOHN RUSSELL BENHAM was the only son of Edwin Arthur Russell Benham (O.R., 1867-69), Tea Planter, Ceylon, and his wife Grizzel Hamilton, elder daughter of John Leveson Douglas Stewart, of Glenogil, Forfarshire.

He entered the School in 1909, and passed on to the R.M.A., Woolwich, in 1913. He received his Commission, at the age of 19, in November, 1914, and went to the Front in the following January. His Section had just completed a difficult piece of work near Ypres when he was mortally wounded. He was taken to the Field Hospital at Brabant. “Perfectly calm and collected, he had a cheery smile and reply to all.” He died on the evening of the same day, May 4th, 1915. Age 19. The men of his Section spoke of his great courage, and his Commanding Officer wrote:- “During the all too short time he served with us I always found him brave, honourable, and zealous. Throughout the trying time at Zonnebeke he showed himself a soldier for all his youth.”

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

Beausire C E 2nd Lt 12th London Regiment

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Beausire C E 2nd Lt 12th London Regiment

2nd Lt C E Beausire 12th London Regiment

SECOND LIEUTENANT C. E. BEAUSIRE

12th (COUNTY OF LONDON) BATTALION, THE LONDON REGIMENT (THE RANGERS), T.F.

CHARLES EDWARD BEAUSIRE was the third son of Robert L. Beausire, Banker, and of Letitia his wife. He entered the School in 1908 and left in 1911. After leaving School he spent a year abroad, attending the École de Commerce in Geneva, and was afterwards in Manchester, on the Cotton Exchange.

On the outbreak of War he enlisted as a Private in the 23rd Battalion, The London Regiment, obtained his Commission in the Rangers on November 1st, and left with his Regiment for France in December, 1914. He was in action, in a very exposed and difficult trench in the first line of defence, near Ypres, and was killed, with two of his men, by shell fire, on February 14th, 1915. Age 20.

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