Great War Lives Lost

We died 100 years ago in the War to end all War

Category: Royal Marines

February 23, 2019

24 February 1919 We Lost 331

Major Wilfred Thomas De Lacey Clark (Royal Marine Light Infantry) dies at age 34.  He is the son the Reverend Henry Clark.

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November 8, 2018

Saturday 9 November 1918 We Lost 1,015

The last day of the Great War with over a thousand fatalities.

Second Lieutenant John Carlos Deremo (Royal Air Force) engages a large body of troops and transports from the air, and while doing this is heavily engaged by machine gun fire.  His rudder control is shot away and tanks pierced.  He lands about two miles on the enemy side of the lines and hides in a wooded area until dusk when he makes his way to our lines.  He brings in a most valuable report as to the enemy’s movements and intentions, part of which information has been gleaned from civilians in the vicinity of his hiding place.

Captain Frank Clifton Gorringe (Royal Air Force) locates enemy troops dug in and attacks them from fifty feet, causing numerous casualties.  He then lands close behind our infantry and informs them of the enemy’s position.

The battleship HMS Britannia is torpedoed off Cape Trafalgar by the German U boat UB-50 while on her approach to Gibraltar.  UB-50 fires three torpedoes, two of which strike the battleship causing her to sink in just over three hours after attempts by the destroyer HMS Rocksand and the sloop HMS Coreopsis to tow her to Gibraltar.  There are over fifty killed including

  • Surgeon Lieutenant Dundas Simpson Macknight (Royal Navy) killed at age 43. He is the son of the Reverend John Macknight.
  • Bugler James Peel (Royal Marine Artillery) is killed at age 15.

Today’s losses include:

  • A 15-year old Royal Marine bugler
  • The 5th Marquis of Conyngham
  • The son of a Baronet
  • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
  • Multiple families that will lose two and three sons in the Great War

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Lieutenant Victor George Henry Francis Conyngham (Irish Regiment) dies on service at home at age 35. He is the 5th Marquis of Conyngham.
  • Lance Corporal Horace Hills (Suffolk Regiment) dies of complication from wounds as a prisoner of war that he received at the Somme. He is the last of three brothers who die in service in the Great War.
  • Rifleman William Kelland Le Fleming (New Zealand Rifle Brigade) is killed at age 31. He is the son of ‘Sir’ William Hudleston Le Fleming the 9th Baronet.
  • Private John Duroe (Norfolk Yeomanry) is killed in action at age 26. His brother was killed in September 1917.
  • Private William James Ellis (Durham Light Infantry) dies of wounds received in action at age 22. His brother was killed in action in May 1915.
  • Private E W Thackray (Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry) is killed at age 29. He is the son of Reverend W W Thackray.
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October 23, 2018

Thursday 24 October 1918 We Lost 1,823

son of Colin Archibald Mungo Park

40th squadron moves from Bryas to Aniche on the Douai-Denain road.

Lance Corporal Colin Archibald Mungo Park (Royal Sussex Regiment) is killed in action at age 31. He is the son of the Reverend Mungo Park. In June 1941 his son, a World War II Royal Air Force ace will be shot down and killed by German Lufwaffe ace Wilhelm Balthasar who will die in combat less than one week later. Both of the younger men lost their fathers serving in their respective armies in the Great War.

Today’s losses include:

  • A man whose son an RAF ace will be shot down and killed by German ace who will be killed within a week in June 1941 who also lost his father in the Great War
  • Multiple families that will lose two, three and four sons in the Great War
  • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
  • The son of a Justice of the Peace
  • A member of the Penarth Rugby Football Club
  • Two Military Chaplains
  • A man who son will be killed in December 1940
  • A man whose brother was killed in the Great War and his son will be killed in the Second World War

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Captain Gordon Gordon-Smith (Royal West Kent Regiment) is killed. His brother was killed in December 1915.
  • Captain Victor Hubert Thornton (Northumberland Fusiliers) is killed in action at age 31. He is the son of the Reverend Edward Thornton, late Vicar of Ancroft.
  • Lieutenant William Bannister Augustus Pickop (Royal Fusiliers) dies of wounds at age 22. His brother died of wounds in June 1917 and they are sons of the Reverend Canon Pickop Vicar of Hatcliffe.
  • Second Lieutenant Rowland Hurst Bourne (Sussex Regiment) is killed in action at age 19. He is the son of Rowland Manlove Bourne JP.
  • Second Lieutenant Cyril de Clare Yeld (Indian Army Reserve of Officers attached Supply and Transport Corps) dies on service in India. He is a member of the Penarth Rugby Club.
  • Second Lieutenant Horace Burnaby Cooper (Wiltshire Regiment) is killed at age 19. He is the son of the Reverend Horace Rowsell Cooper Vicar of Thornton.
  • Chaplains William Edgar Jones (attached Yorkshire Regiment) age 30 and Richard William Dugdale MC (Norfolk Regiment) die on active service He is the son of the Reverend Sydney Dugdale Rector of Whitchurch.
  • Lance Corporal Ben Mingay (Suffolk Regiment) is killed at age 33. His son will be killed in December 1940.
  • Private George Arthur Ginns (Bedfordshire Regiment) is killed at age 35. His brother was killed in December 1916 and his son will be killed on 28th May 1943 while serving with the Norfolk Regiment.
  • Pioneer Hubert William Duncan Brewster (Royal Engineers) dies of illness at age 42. His brother died of wounds in January 1917.
  • Private Harry Desborough (Machine Gun Company) is killed at age 29. His brother was killed in October 1916.
  • Private John William Lance Slee (Warwickshire Regiment) dies of illness at age 18. His brother died of illness in November 1914.
  • Private Frederick Arthur (Hampshire Regiment) dies of malaria on Salonika having been released after three years as a prisoner of war in Bulgaria.
  • Private Bertie Atkiss (West Surrey Regiment) is killed in action at age 20. His brother was killed in July 1916.
  • Private Aubrey Henry Simmonds (Warwickshire Regiment) is killed near Haussy, Cambrai at age 19. He is the son of the Reverend Charles S Simmonds Vicar of Exhall.
  • Gunner Thomas Lang (Royal Field Artillery) is killed at age 33. His brother will die on service in the Royal Navy next July.
  • Private Wilfred Simpson (Royal Marines HMS Hussar) dies in Italy. He is the third of four brothers who lose their lives in the Great War.
  • Private Joseph Robert Calder-Smith (Army Pay Corps) dies on service at age 42. His brother was killed on the first day of the battle of the Somme.
  • Private Charles Horace Dunkley (Sherwood Foresters) is killed. His brother was killed in November 1915 on Gallipoli.
  • Private Thomas Wortley Raitt (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders) is killed at age 23. His twin brother was killed last May.
  • Private William Ernest Haynes (Somerset Light Infantry) is killed at age 25. His is one of three brothers who lose their lives in the Great War.
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October 11, 2018

Saturday 12 October 1918 We Lost 1,416

Frank Lester VC

In driving rain and sleet 22-year old Private Frank Lester (Lancashire Fusiliers) performs a deed for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. During clearing operations in the village of Neuvilly with a party of about seven men under an officer, he is the first to enter a house from the back door. He shoots two Germans as they attempted to get out by the front door. A minute later a fall of masonry blocks the door by which the party has entered. The only exit into the street is under fire at point-blank range. The street is also swept by fire of machine guns at close range. Observing that an enemy sniper is causing heavy casualties to a party in a house across the street Lester exclaims, “I’ll settle him” and dashing out into the street, shoots the sniper at close quarters, falling mortally wounded at the same time.

Today’s losses include:

  • A Victoria Cross winner
  • A Military Chaplain
  • The son of a member of the clergy
  • The son of a General
  • Multiple families that will lose two sons in the Great War

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Major Ernest Frederick Powys Sketchley DSO (Royal Marines Light Infantry) is killed at age 35. He is the son of the Reverend Ernest Powys Sketchley.
  • Second Lieutenant Robert Hugh Alban Cotton (Army Service Corps) dies in Italy at age 29. He is a Clerk in Holy Orders and Assistant Priest at Holy Innocents Church. His brother was killed in June 1916 and they are sons of the late Major General W H Cotton.
  • Chaplain Archibald Owen Carwithen Longridge dies of wounds at age 38. His brother was killed in August 1916.
  • Corporal John Henry Courtier (Machine Gun Corps) is killed at age 23. His brother was killed in September 1915.
  • Corporal Thomas Black MM (Royal Engineers) dies as a prisoner of war at age 26. His brother died of wounds at home in 1916.
  • Private Thomas Maxwell Stevenson (British Columbia Regiment) died of wounds received on 20th September. His brother was killed in January of this year. He was drafted under the Military Act of 1917.
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September 26, 2018

Friday 27 September 1918 We Lost 3,297

Captain William Henry Hubbard (Royal Air Force) while flying at altitudes between two and fifteen hundred feet engages and silences many anti-tank guns, thereby rendering valuable service.  He at the same time completes a detailed and accurate reconnaissance of the area, locating the position of our troops. Lieutenant Gerald Anderson and Second Lieutenant Thomas Sydney Chiltern (Royal Air Force) bring down a Fokker D VII at Lambersart.

Lieutenant James Edward Maddox MM (Cheshire Regiment) is instructing a class in throwing live bombs.  One of the men after withdrawing the pin from a Mills No V Mark 1 Grenade accidentally drops the grenade in the trench and then apparently through fright falls on it.  Lieutenant Maddox with great presence of mind immediately pulls the man off the grenade seizes it and throws it over the parapet where it explodes almost immediately saving the man’s life.  For his actions Lieutenant Maddox will be awarded the Albert Medal.

  • The highest scoring ace of 22 Royal Air Force is killed in action east of Cambrai along with observer who is also an ace. Captain Samuel Frederick Henry ‘Siffy’ Thompson MC DFC (Royal Air Force) is a thirty-victory ace while his observer
  • Lieutenant Thomas Clifford John Tolman is also killed at age 21. He is an eight-victory observer ace.
  • Lieutenant Gavin Black Motherwell McMurdo (Royal Air Force) is killed at home at age 19. His two brothers will both die on service in 1919.
  • Sergeant Thomas Proctor (Royal Air Force) an observer ace with five victories is killed in action when his BF2b is shot down near Abancourt by German ace Fritz Classen.

“Sanders Keep” is a German fortification two kilometers south west of Graincourt-Les-Havrincourt between the Hermies and Havrincourt roads. Today it is stormed by the Guards regiments. Among those killed in the battle is

  • Captain William Herbert Gladstone MC (Coldstream Guards) he is the son of the Reverend Stephen Edward Gladstone Rector of Barrowby and the grandson of the late Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone.
  • Second Lieutenant Alexander Grant (Grenadier Guards) is killed at age 19. He is the son of Alexander Grant KC.

During this operation (part of Battle of Canal du Nord) Captain Cyril Hubert Frisby (Coldstream Guards) is detailed to capture a canal crossing but when the canal is reading the leading platoon comes under annihilating fire from a strong enemy post under the bridge on the far side of the canal. Captain Frisby with Lance Corporal Thomas Norman Jackson and two others climb down into the canal under intense fire and succeed in capturing the post with two machines and twelve men. They then give timely support to a company which has lost all its officers and sergeants, organizing the defences and beating off a heavy counter attack. Both men will be awarded the Victoria Cross, though Lance Corporal Jackson will be killed at age 21 during the operation.

At Flesquières, France, when his company is held up during the advance by heavy machine-gun fire, Corporal Thomas Patrick Neely VC (Lancaster Regiment) realising the seriousness of the situation, at once under point-blank fire, dashes out with two men and rushes the gun positions, disposing of the garrisons and capturing three machine-guns. Subsequently, on two occasions, he rushes concrete strong-points, killing or capturing the occupants. His actions enabled his company to advance 3,000 yards along the Hindenburg support line. For his actions today he will be awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross as he is killed three days later in action at Rumilly-en-Cambrésis, just south of Cambrai, France.

Today’s losses include:

  • Royal Air Force ace
    • 30-victory ace
    • 8-victory ace
    • 5-victory ace
  • A grandson of the late Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone
  • Multiple families that will lose two and three sons in the Great War
  • A family that will lose five sons in the Great War
  • A Victoria Cross winner
  • A General
  • A battalion commander
  • A man son will be born next year
  • The son of the Assistant Master of Eton College
  • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
  • The grandson of a member of the clergy
  • The son of His Majesties Consul Athens
  • A England International and Olympic footballer
  • The son of a Justice of the Peace
  • A man whose son will be killed in May 1940

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Brigadier General Gilbert Burrell Spencer Follett DSO MVO General Officer Commanding 3rd Guards Brigade Guards Division is killed in action at age 40.
  • Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Alexander Ross DSO (commanding 2nd Gordon Highlanders) is killed at age 38 by a shell while crossing the Piave in Italy.
  • Captain James Philip Crawford (Central Ontario Regiment) dies of wounds at age 33. He is the son of “the Honorable” Thomas Crawford.
  • Captain James Shuckburgh Carter (Grenadier Guards) is killed at age 37. His son will be born next year while his younger brother will be killed next month. They are sons of the Assistant Master of Eton College and grandsons of the Reverend Thomas Thelluson Carter.
  • Captain Francis Geoffrey Eliot MC (Royal Marines Light Infantry) is killed at age 28. He is the last of three brothers who have been killed in the war.
  • Lieutenant Francis Rowlands Harker-Thomas (Central Ontario Regiment) is killed at age 32. His brother was killed in January 1917.
  • Lieutenant Percy Baglietto Cottrell MC (Royal Fusiliers attached General Staff) dies of wounds at Salonika at age 25. He is the son of His Majesties Consul Athens.
  • Lieutenant Joseph Dines (Liverpool Regiment) is killed by machine gun fire. He is well known as the “smiling footballer” who made his international debut for England versus Wales in 1910.  He also played international matches in the Olympics and for Millwall.
  • Lieutenant Arnold Oughtres Vick (Yorkshire Regiment) is killed at Epinoy at age 29. He is the son of Richard William Vick JP.
  • Lieutenant John Cecil Butler Prince (London Regiment) is killed at age 21. He is the son of the Reverend John Henry Prince Vicar of Braunton.
  • Lieutenant Charles Wilfred Eales (Devonshire Regiment) is killed at age 25. He is the son of the Reverend Henry William Eales Vicar of Lewannick. Second Lieutenant Arthur Saunders Jones (Royal Air Force) is killed at age 18. His brother was killed last April and they are sons of the Reverend William Jones.
  • Second Lieutenant Howard Cross (London Regiment) is killed in action. His son will be killed in May 1940.
  • Second Lieutenant Archibald Hugh O’Farrell (Irish Guards) is killed at age 19. He is the only son of ‘Sir’ Edward O’Farrell KCB.
  • Corporal Arthur Norfield MM (Saskatchewan Regiment) is killed at age 22. His brother will die on service in January 1919.
  • Corporal A George Hercock (Bedfordshire Regiment) is killed in action at age 21. His brother was killed in March of this year.
  • Gunner Andrew Walsh (Royal Field Artillery) is killed in action one day before his brother is killed. The two official forms (B.104.82) containing the news of their deaths arrive at their parent’s home within one hour of each other.
  • Private William Munns (Sussex Regiment) dies of wounds received in action at age 24. His brother was killed in action in April 1915.
  • Rifleman Frank Woodhead Pogson (London Regiment) is killed in action at age 22. His brother was killed on the last day of March 1918.
  • Private Thomas Herbert Ingrey (Bedfordshire Regiment) is killed at age 23. His older brother was killed in October 1916.
  • Private Reginald Cecil Stephen Rogers (Royal Army Medical Corps) is killed by a shell explosion at age 27.
  • Private Arthur Henry Hammond (Warwickshire Regiment) is killed at age 19. His brother died of wounds in April of this year.
  • Private Walter Halverson (Northumberland Fusiliers) is killed at age 19. His brother was killed on the first day of the battle of the Somme.
  • Private Sydney Strike (Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry) is killed on Salonika at age 23. His brother died on service with the Royal Naval Division in February 1915.
  • Private Lewis Wyndham Jarvis (British Columbia Regiment) is killed at age 38. He is a veteran of the South African War and is one of five brothers who are killed in the war.
  • Driver George Fred Wheeler (Royal Field Artillery) is killed at age 20. His brother was killed in October 1915.
  • Private Arthur Oakley (Shropshire Light Infantry) is killed. His brother was killed last November.
  • Private Arthur Wyman (Alberta Regiment) is killed at age 26. His brother was killed in June 1916.
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June 3, 2018

Tuesday 4 June 1918 We Lost 370

John Ernest Vivian Rathbone (middle & below)

At 02:30 the 10th Lancashire Fusiliers position in Beaumont Trench near the village Beaumont Hamel is subjected to a heavy artillery barrage under the cover of which the Germans launch a trench raid.  Eventually the attackers are driven off.

A group of five flying boats from Felixstowe and Yarmouth set off in the afternoon to investage wireless activity possibly coming from enemy airships. One is forced to land with a broken feed pipe and about this time the patrol is attacked by a small group of enemy airplanes.  These are driven off by a Curtiss H12 which is forced down in Dutch waters and the crew interned.

 Today’s losses include:

  • A Victoria Cross winner
  • A General
  • The son of the 3rd Earl Cawdor
  • The brother of the actor Basil Rathbone
  • An Australian Rules footballer
  • The great grandson of a sailor at the Battle of Trafalgar
  • Multiple families that will lose two sons in the Great War

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Brigadier General Frederick William Lumsden VC DSO CB (General Officer Commanding 14th Brigade 32nd Division) is killed in action at Blairvill, near Arras, when he is shot through the head at age 41. Lumsden was born into a military family in Frizabad, India on 14th December 1872. At a young age he returned to Britain and attended Bristol Grammar School until he joined the Royal Marine Artillery as a junior officer. Serving in the Marine Service until 1907 he entered the Staff College in 1910. He then became the second staff officer at Singapore, not returning home until called home for war service in the months leading up to the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914. Between 3rd April and 4th April 1917 at Francilly, France, Major Lumsden undertook to bring in six captured enemy field-guns which had been left in dug-in positions 300 yards in front of the British troops. The enemy is keeping these guns under very heavy fire. Major Lumsden led four artillery teams and a party of infantry through the hostile barrage, and despite casualties they eventually got all the guns away. He himself made three journeys to the guns and then stayed there directing operations until the last gun had been taken back. This is the action for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross.
  • Lieutenant Colonel Eric Octavius Campbell DSO (Seaforth Highlanders) dies of cerebral hemorrhage at home while undergoing treatment for an illness contracted on active service at age 32. He is the son of the 3rd Earl Cawdor.
  • Captain Claude Frank Lethbridge Templer (Gloucestershire Regiment) is killed in action at age 22. He was on a raid to any enemy trench in December 1914 when he was captured. He made thirteen attempts at escape before finally succeeding and after returning to England received a private audience with His Majesty the King. He is now killed while returning from a successful raid on another enemy trench.
  • Captain John Ernest Vivian Rathbone (Dorsetshire Regiment) is killed in action at age 20. He is the brother of the actor Basil Rathbone.
  • Lieutenant Leslie John Primrose (Australian Flying Corps) is accidentally killed at age 28. He is a former Australian rules footballer who played with University.
  • Lieutenant Brian Wilton Meadway (Northamptonshire Regiment attached Royal Air Force) is accidentally killed at home while flying at age 22. His great grandfather George Wilton was on board HMS Agamemnon at the Battle of Trafalgar.
  • Private John W Cartmell (Lancaster Regiment) is killed at age 33. His brother was killed on Christmas Eve 1915.
  • Private Ronald Adamson (Lincolnshire Regiment) is killed at age 18. His brother died on service in Baghdad in October 1917.
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May 28, 2018

Wednesday 29 May 1918 We Lost 788

Edward SetonChance

Captain George Ritchie Hodgson, Flight Lieutenant James Lindsay Gordon, Leading Mechanic Sydney Francis Anderson and Wireless Telegraphist Bertram Harley Millichamp rescue two men from an upturned float in the North Sea.

Today’s losses include:

  • Multiple battalion commanders
  • The son of a former Member of Parliament
  • Families that will lose two and three sons in the Great War
  • First Class Cricketer for the Hampshire County CC
  • The son of a General
  • A Civilian Chaplain
  • A Red Cross Society Commander

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Lieutenant Colonel Lancelot Colin William Deane DSO MC (commanding 6th South Wales Borderers) is killed in action at age 26. He was a head student at George Watson’s College Edinburgh and winner of the Gold Watch given by Watsonians of North America for the best football players of the year.
  • Captain (Brevet Major) (Acting Lieutenant Colonel) Edward Seton Chance (Dragoon Guards commanding 6th Leicestershire Regiment) is killed in action at age 36. He is the son of the former Member of Parliament for Morton, Carlisle, ‘Sir’ Frederick Chance and his younger brother has been killed in 1915.
  • Major Harold Thomas Forsert DSO MC (Royal Marines Light Infantry commanding 2nd Northamptonshire Regiment) is killed at age 39. He played first class cricket for Hampshire County Cricket Club in 1911.
  • Captain (Acting Lieutenant Colonel) Colin Robert Hoste Stirling DSO MC (Cameronians commanding 2nd Berkshire Regiment) dies of wounds received in action five days earlier at Chaulnes at age 24. He is the third son of Brigadier General J W Stirling CB CMG DL to be killed in the Great War. The General lost all his sons in the war.
  • Captain Terence Petty Muspratt MC (Worcestershire Regiment) is killed at age 22. His brother was killed in March of this year.
  • Captain Frank Copeland Worster MC (Worcestershire Regiment) dies of wounds received in action at age 29. He is the Classical Master at St Paul’s School, and had been 1st in Class in Classical Moderations and “Greats” at St John’s College, Oxford.
  • Civilian Chaplain “the Reverend” W H Spinks (Young Men’s Christian Association) dies of injuries at Etaples received while rescuing a chinaman during an air raid at age 45. He was a Baptist Minister.
  • Second Lieutenant Alfred Bence-Trower (Scots Guards) is killed in action at age 37 one day before his younger brother is killed.
  • Commander Ralph Bonfoy Rooper (French Red Cross Society attached British Red Cross Committee) is killed at Gueux near Rheims at age 23. In April 1915 he joined the Friends Ambulance Unit and served as a motor ambulance driver.  He was rejected for Army service due to health issues and served for some time in the Ministry of Munitions and the Admiralty.  His brother was killed in October of last year.
  • Private Albert Sullivan Gee (West Yorkshire Regiment) is killed at age 24. His brother was killed last October in Salonika.
  • Private Richard J Finney (Lancashire Fusiliers) is killed at age 20. His brother was killed in July 1916.
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May 18, 2018

Sunday 19 May 1918 We Lost 636

Edmund William Furse

Three Gothas are shot down during a raid on England and a fourth crashes through bad flying.

S S Snowden (Master John Lewis Owen) is sunk eighty-four miles from Malta carrying coal to England. Her master is killed at age 29 along with one other crew member.

Today’s losses include:

  • A battalion commander
  • An Artillery brigade commander
  • Multiple families that will lose two sons in the Great War
  • The grandson of a general
  • A man whose brother will die on service in the Second World War
  • The son of a member of the clergy

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Lieutenant Colonel Michael Frederic Beauchamp Dennis DSO (commanding 7th/8th King’s Own Scottish Borderers) is killed at age 37. Grandson of General ‘Sir’ John Dennis
  • Lieutenant Colonel Edmund William Furse Chevalier of the Legion of Honor (commanding 88th Brigade Royal Field Artillery) is killed in action at age 41. His younger brother was killed in 1914.
  • Surgeon Lieutenant Alfred Leslie Pearce-Gould (Royal Navy attached Royal Marines) is killed in action at age 31. He is the son of ‘Sir’ Alfred Pearce-Gould and a brother will die during World War II as a Surgeon Rear-Admiral.
  • Sub Lieutenant Mervyn Henry Wollaston Trendell (Royal Air Force) dies of injuries at age 18. He is the son of the Reverend G J W Trendell.
  • Trooper T de Renzy (Life Guards) dies of wounds received in action at age 24. His brother was killed in action in September 1917.
  • Private Henry Gorey (Labour Corps) dies of gassing 8 days prior at age 39. His brother will die of gassing received in the same battle in September 1918.
  • Private John James Dawson (1st Canadian General Hospital, Canadian Army Medical Corps) is killed at Etaples during an enemy air raid at age 18. On 2nd January 1913, his thirteenth birthday, he saved two other boys from drowning in the St Lawrence River near Montreal.
  • Private John Robert Parker (Northamptonshire Regiment) dies of wounds at age 32. His brother died of wounds in April 1917 at Gaza.
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April 22, 2018

Tuesday 23 April 1918 We Lost 2,461

At Zeebrugge, Sergeant Norman Augustus Finch (Royal Marine Artillery) is second in command of the pom-poms and Lewis gun in the foretop of HMS Vindictive.  At one period Vindictive is being hit every few seconds, but Sergeant Finch and the officer in command keep up a continuous fire, until two heavy shells make direct hits on the foretop killing or disabling everyone except Sergeant Finch who is, however, severely wounded.  Nevertheless he remains in his battered and exposed position, harassing the enemy on the Mole until the foretop receives another direct hit, putting the remainder of the armament completely out of action.  Captain Edward Bamford (Royal Marines) lands on the Mole from HMS Vindictive with three platoons of the Royal Marines storming force in the face of great difficulties.  When on the Mole and under heavy fire, he commands his company with total disregard of personal danger and shows a magnificent example to his men.  He first establishes a strong point on the right of the disembarkation and when satisfied that it is safe, leads an assault on a battery to the left.  Both men will be awarded the Victoria Cross for their efforts on this day.

Lieutenant Commander Arthur Leyland Harrison VC (HMS Lion, serving HMS Vindictive, Royal Navy) is killed while in the immediate command of the Naval Storming Parties embarked in HMS Vindictive.  Immediately before coming alongside the Mole Lieutenant Commander Harrison is struck on the head by a fragment of a shell which breaks his jaw and knocks him senseless.  Recovering consciousness he proceeds on the Mole and takes over command of his party, who are attacking the seaward end of the Mole.  Though in a position fully exposed to the enemy’s machine gun he gathers his men together and leads them to the attack.  His is killed at the head of his men all of whom are either killed or wounded.  For his actions he is awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously. He had been a member of the England Rugby Football Team in 1914 and dies at the age of 32.

Lieutenant Commander George Nicholson Bradford (Royal Navy) becomes the third brother in his family to be killed in action. He is in command of the naval storming parties embarked on HMS Iris II and they find there is great difficulty in placing the parapet anchors when the ship comes along the Mole.  Although securing the ship is not part of his duties he climbs a derrick which is projecting out over the Mole and under heavy fire with the derrick crashing against the Mole because of the violent tossing of the ship he picks a moment and jumps with the anchor.  Just as he places it in position he is killed at age 30. For his actions he will be awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross; the second won by his family, his brother Roland Boys Bradford who was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1916 was killed in action last November.

  • Major Charles Edward Campbell Eagles DSO (Royal Marine Light Infantry) is killed at Zeebrugge at age 34. He is the only son of the Reverend Canon C F Eagles Vicar of Coughton and a nephew of General Eagles.
  • Captain Henry Crosby Halahan DSO (Royal Navy) is killed on HMS Vindictive at age 34. His brother was lost in the Baltic in submarine E18 in June 1916.
  • Lieutenant Charles Theodore Paynter (HMS North Star) is killed at age 22 when his ship gets lost in the smoke during the Zeebrugge raid and is sunk by shore batteries. He is the son of Canon Francis Samuel Paynter Rector of Springfield.
  • Lieutenant George Spencer DSC (HMS Iris, Royal Naval Reserve) dies of wounds received at Zeebrugge. He is the son of the late Reverend A Eagles, the vicar of Accrington and was an officer of the White Star Line when war broke out and he immediately transferred to the Royal Naval Reserve.
  • Wing Commander Frank Arthur Brock OBE (Royal Navy) is killed on the Mole at Zeebrugge. He was the inventor of the Brock anti-Zeppelin bullet, color filter, Dover flare, and the smoke apparatus used to cover the ships in the raid.
  • Able Seaman Frederick William Bowlt (HMS Vindictive) is killed at age 19. His brother died on service in September 1915.
  • Private Frederick Thomas Swan (Royal Marines Light Infantry) is killed at age 19. His brother was killed last July.

Today’s losses include:

  • Multiple Victoria Cross winners
  • A member of the England Rugby football team in 1914
  • Multiple families that will lose two and three sons in the Great War
  • The brother of a Victoria Cross winner
  • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
  • The nephew of a General
  • The Inventor of the Brock Anti-Zeppelin bullet, color filter, Dover flare and smoke laying apparatus
  • An 8-victory ace
  • The son of a Justice of the Peace and stepson of a General
  • A medical student
  • A son of the 8th Duke of Grafton
  • A man whose son will be killed in the Second World War

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Major Edric C O Ross (Merwara Infantry) dies of wounds received in action in the Middle East at age 36. He is the son the late Reverend George Gould Ross, the Rector of Michaelstow, St Teath, Cornwall.
  • Captain Kenneth William Junor MC (Canadian Machine Gun Corps) an 8-victory ace is killed at age 24.
  • Lieutenant Christopher Lancelot Usher (Wiltshire Regiment) is killed at age 20. He is the son of the Reverend Robert Usher Rector of Fovant.
  • Lieutenant James Cairnes (Army Service Corps) is killed at age 28. His brother was killed in September 1917.
  • Second Lieutenant Charles John Dawson-Greene (Grenadier Guards) dies of wounds received in action at age 20. He is the son of Henry Dawson-Greene JP and stepson of Brigadier General Cecil Monck.
  • Second Lieutenant Archibald Mitchell Woodside (Highland Light Infantry) is killed in action at age 20. He was a medical student at Glasgow University, a son of the Reverend David Woodside DD and had two brothers killed in 1916.
  • Second Lieutenant ‘Viscount Ipswich’ William Henry Alfred Fitzroy (Coldstream Guards attached Royal Air Force) is accidentally killed in Wiltshire at age 33. He is a son of the 8th Duke of Grafton.
  • Second Lieutenant Charles Leslie Symons (Royal Engineers) is killed at age 19. His only brother will die on service in February 1919.
  • Corporal Ivan Cecil Whtielaw MM (Australian Infantry) is killed at age 23. He is the third of three brothers to be killed in the Great War.
  • Lance Corporal Frederick James Whitehead (Durham Light Infantry) is killed in action at age 21. His brother will be gassed to death in October of this year.
  • Private John Shields (King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry) is killed. His brother was killed on Gallipoli in August 1915.
  • Private Alexander Plummer (Durham Light Infantry) is killed at age 30. His two brothers were killed in 1916.
  • Gunner D G Gilbert (Royal Garrison Artillery) is killed at age 21. His brother was killed in August 1915 on Gallipoli.
  • Private Frederick Charles Metcalfe (Yorkshire Regiment) is killed in action. His son will be lose his life in the Second World War.
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March 26, 2018

Wednesday 27 March 1918 We Lost 2,526

Basil Arthur Horsfall VC

Second Lieutenant Alan Arnett McLeod, while flying with his observer, Lieutenant Arthur W Hammond MC, attacks hostile formations with bombs and machine gun fire.  He is assailed at a height of 5,000 feet by eight enemy triplanes which dive at him from all directions, firing from their front guns.  By skilful maneuvering he enables his observer to fire bursts at each machine in turn, shooting three of them down out of control.  By this time Second Lieutenant McLeod has received five wounds, and while continuing the engagement a bullet penetrates his petrol tank and sets the machine afire. He then climbs out on to the left bottom plane, controlling his machine from the side of the fuselage, and by side slipping steeply keeps the flames to one side, thus enabling the observer to continue firing until the ground is reached.  The observer is wounded six times when the machine crashes in “No Man’s Land” and Second Lieutenant McLeod, notwithstanding his own wounds, drags him away from the burning wreckage at great personal risk from heavy machine gun fire from the enemy’s lines.  This very gallant pilot is again wounded by a bomb while engaged in the act of rescue, but he perseveres until he has placed Lieutenant Hammond in comparative safety, before falling himself from exhaustion and loss of blood.  For this action Lieutenant McLeod will be awarded the Victoria Cross.

Lieutenant Colonel John Stanhope Collings-Wells (Bedfordshire Regiment) VC DSO is killed in action at age 37 performing the acts that will win him the Victoria Cross.  Beginning on 22nd March during the fighting from Marcoing to Albert when the rearguard was in great danger of being captured, Lieutenant Colonel Collings-Wells calls for volunteers to remain behind and hold up the enemy for 1½ hours while the remainder of the rearguard withdraws.  During the time the colonel moved amongst his men guiding and encouraging them and even when twice wounded continues to encourage them until he is killed.

Second Lieutenant Basil Arthur Horsfall (East Lancashire Regiment) dies of wounds at Ayette at age 30 received 21st March between Moyenneville and Ablainzevelle, France performing acts for which he will be awarded the Victoria Cross. When the enemy attacked Second Lieutenant Horsfall’s center platoon, his three forward sections are driven back and he is wounded in the head by enemy fire. Ignoring the wound, he immediately reorganizes what remains of his troops and counter-attacks to regain his original position. Despite the severity of his head wound, he refuses to go to the dressing station, as the three other officers in his company have been killed. Later, he makes another counterattack, but is ordered to withdraw. The last to leave his position, he was shot soon afterwards.

Two old destroyers are mined in company off the east coast of England in the North Sea. HMS Kale (Commander Harold E Dennison) sinks while the Exe is damage losing five of her crew.

Flight Lieutenant Lea Ewart Barnes Wimbush (Royal Naval Air Service) is performing aerobatics over the assembled crowd at Berkhampstead Grammar School’s speech day when the wings of his Sopwith Triplane tear off while attempting three consecutive loops. He will die of his injuries tomorrow at age 19. His cousin will be killed in the Royal Air Force next May and due to their parents both being John and Maud Wimbush they are sometimes believed to be brothers.

Today’s losses include:

  • A Welsh Rugby International
  • A man who is both the son and father of Baronets
  • Multiple Victoria Cross Winners
  • Multiple battalion commanders
  • Multiple families that will lose two and the sons in the Great War
  • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
  • Multiple men whose sons will be killed in the Second World War
  • A medical student
  • The grandson of a member of the clergy
  • A man whose father will die on service next September
  • A Police Officer
  • The Captain of the East Grimstead Football Club

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Lieutenant Colonel Harry Fearnley Kirkpatrick DSO (East Kent Regiment commanding Anson Battalion Royal Naval Division) dies of wounds at age 42. He is the son of ‘Sir’ James Kirkpatrick 8th Baronet of Closeburn and the father of the 10th His brother was killed in May 1917.
  • Lieutenant Colonel Skinner Raymond Sebastian MC (commanding 5th Oxford & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry) dies of wounds received in action at Cugny on 23rd March at age 31.
  • Major Austin Hanbury Brown DSO MC (Royal Engineers) is killed at age 31. He is the son of ‘Sir’ Robert Hanbury Brown KCMG.
  • Major George Paterson Nunneley MC (Bedfordshire Regiment) is killed at age 36. He is the son of the Reverend Frederick Barham Nunneley Vicar of Rennington whose younger son was killed in October 1914.
  • Captain Percival St George Findlater (Army Service Corps) is killed at age 36. He is the son of ‘Sir’ William Findlater.
  • Captain Noel Forbes Humphreys MC (Tank Corps) dies of wounds at age 27. He is a Welsh Rugby International and member of the 1910 British Tour of South Africa Rugby team. He is the son of the Reverend Henry James Humphreys Vicar of Thornley who has previously lost two other sons in the war.
  • Captain Charles Frederick Wybrow Nash MC (Norfolk Regiment) is killed at age 20. He is the son of the Reverend Charles Barnett Nash Vicar of Watton.
  • Lieutenant Edward Treloar Smart (Royal Garrison Artillery attached Royal Flying Corps) is killed in action. He is the son of the Reverend John Raester Smart Chaplain of Tonbridge School.
  • Lieutenant Edmund Sydney Howells (Royal Flying Corps) is accidentally killed while instructing at age 19. He is the son of Canon Edmund Howells vicar of Milford Haven.
  • Lieutenant Michael William Doyle (General List attached Royal Flying Corps) is accidentally killed at age 24. His brother died of wounds in February 1916.
  • Lieutenant Lionel Raymond Whately (South Wales Borderers attached Machine Gun Corps) is killed at age 21. His brother was killed in November 1916.
  • Lieutenant Dudley Walter Rowland Hall (Royal Marine Light Infantry) dies of wounds received in action at age 26. He is the son of the Reverend Thomas Rowland Hall of Kirstead Rectory.
  • Flight Sub Lieutenant Edward Cuthbert Stocker (Royal Naval Air Service) is killed at age 18. His brother was killed in May 1915.
  • Second Lieutenant Edward White Irvine (Royal Field Artillery) is killed at age 20 at Morcourt. He is a medical student at Aberdeen University and the son of the Reverend John A Irvine of the South United Free Church.
  • Second Lieutenant Robert Mather (Liverpool Regiment) is killed in action at Folies. His two brothers have been killed previously in the war.
  • Second Lieutenant David Macklin (Bedfordshire Regiment) is killed at age 20. He is the son of the Reverend Herbert Walter Macklin Rector of Houghton.
  • Sergeant George Henry Caton (King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry) is killed at age 22. His father will die of pneumonia on service next September.
  • Sergeant Lionel William Loveband (Australian Light Horse) is killed in the Middle East at age 29. His brother was killed in December 1914 and they are sons of the Reverend Matthew Loveband Vicar of Burrington.
  • Corporal William Henry Warren (Machine Gun Corps) is killed. His son will be killed in the Second World War in April 1942.
  • Corporal Ashley Hatchard (South African Infantry) dies of wounds as a prisoner of war. He is the son of the late Reverend Alfred Hatchard (Resident Commissioner, Mafeking) and grandson of the late Right Reverend T G Hatchard, Bishop of Mauritius.
  • Lance Corporal Thomas Woodcock VC (Irish Guards) is killed at age 29. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions last September.
  • Lance Corporal Albert Edward Joseph (Sussex Regiment) is killed in action. He is the third son of Reverend F Joseph to die in the Great War and had been the Captain of the East Grinstead football club.
  • Rifleman Frank Godfrey (King’s Royal Rifle Corps) is killed at age 28. His brother was killed last June.
  • Private Thomas Daniel Richard Carter (Bedfordshire Regiment) is killed in action at age 19. His brother was killed in July 1916.
  • Private Don W MacBeath (Seaforth Highlanders) dies of wounds. His two brothers have already lost their lives in the Great War.
  • Private Harold Crossley (King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry) is killed at age 26. His brother was killed on Christmas Eve December 1914.
  • Private William George Elliott (Royal Fusiliers) is killed in action. His brother was killed on Gallipoli in August 1915.
  • Private George Edward Astley (Welsh Guards) is killed at age 26. He was a police officer for the London and North Western Railway Police.
  • Private Thomas Beaumont (Machine Gun Corps) is killed in action at age 19. His only son will die in 1943 as a prisoner of the Japanese while serving in the West Yorkshire Regiment.
  • Gunner Arthur George Freeman (Royal Garrison Artillery) dies of wounds at age 33. His brother was killed in August 1916.
  • Private John Williams Bailey (Cheshire Regiment) is killed at age19. His brother was killed in August 1916.
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