Great War Lives Lost

We died 100 years ago in the War to end all War
April 10, 2018

Thursday 11 April 1918 We Lost 2,173

Ebenezer Maclay

Captain William Henry Hubbard (Royal Air Force) drives down an enemy machine out of control.

The Turks attack the bridgehead at El Ghoraniyeh and are severely repulsed.

Today’s losses include:

  • The father of 1984 Academy Award winning actress Dame Peggy Ashcroft
  • Multiple sons of member of the clergy
  • A 5-victory ace
  • Multiple families that will lose two and three sons in the Great War
  • Brothers killed togeher
  • The son of a Member of Parliament
  • The son of a Baronet
  • The son of a General
  • A South African cricket International
  • The son of a Councillor
  • A former goalkeeper for Hemel Hempstead FC

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Major William Worsley Ashcroft (Machine Gun Corps) is killed at age 39. He is the father of the actress Dame Peggy Ashcroft. She won a 1984 Academy Award as best supporting actress for the film; the New York Film Critics Circle voted her best actress. She played a saintly, enigmatic Englishwoman in David Lean’s film of E. M. Forster’s novel “A Passage to India” and then was cast as a doubting former missionary in a television mini-series, “The Jewel in the Crown” based on Paul Scott’s “Raj Quartet.” The two performances brought her Britain’s top film and television awards. She had previously won a string of awards as the finest actress on the British stage, and she won a special Laurence Olivier Award, London’s major theatrical prize, for lifetime achievement in the theater.
  • Captain Patrick Lyon Playfair (Black Watch) is killed at age 24. He is the son of the late Reverend Patrick M Playfair DD.
  • Captain Kelvin Crawford (Royal Air Force) a five-victory ace is killed in action at age 22.
  • Captain William Askham (Army Cyclist Corps) is killed at age 23. His brother was killed in August 1916.
  • Captain Arthur Walsh MC (South Lancashire Regiment) is killed at age 26 at Locon. He is the son of Stephen Walsh MP.
  • Lieutenant Ebenezer Maclay (Scots Guards) is killed at age 27. He is the son of the Baronet ‘Sir’ Joseph Paton Maclay who lost two sons in June 1915 within three days of each other on Gallipoli.
  • Lieutenant E Gilderthorp (Machine Gun Corps) is killed at age 26 the day before he brother met the same fate.
  • Lieutenant Dennistoun Hamilton Yatman (Northumberland Fusiliers) is killed at age 19. He is the son of Brigadier General Clement Yatman CMG DSO.
  • Second Lieutenant George J Stranger (Guernsey Light Infantry) is killed in action at age 23. His older brother Harry received a wound during the same engagement that will prove fatal one month later and their younger brother has been killed in action three weeks earlier.
  • Second Lieutenant Charles R Shaw (Duke of Wellington’s Regiment) is killed in action at age 29. His brother will be killed in October.
  • Second Lieutenant John Ormonde Butler (General List attached Royal Air Force) dies of wounds as a prisoner of war received 24th March at age 19. He is the only son of the Reverend Robert Moore Peile Butler Rector of Priston.
  • Corporal Arthur Edward Ochse (South African Infantry) is killed in action at age 48. He appeared in two test cricket matches in 1888 for South Africa becoming the youngest South African test debutant.
  • Corporal Albert Harrison MM (South Lancashire Regiment) is killed at age 31. He is the son of Councillor Walter Harrison.
  • Trooper Robert James Crozier (Australian Light Horse) is killed in action in Palestine at age 21. His brother died of wounds in January 1917.
  • Brothers and Gunner Malcolm, 20, and William McIsaac, 26, are killed together serving with the Royal Garrison Artillery and are buried in adjacent graves in Arras Faubourg d’Amiens Cemetery.
  • Private George Thomas Perry (Essex Regiment) is killed in action. He is a former goalkeeper for Hemel Hempstead Football Club.
  • Private Cuthbert William Nesbit (Lincolnshire Regiment) is killed at age 22. He is the son of the Reverend John William Nesbit Rector of Loudborough.
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April 9, 2018

Wednesday 10 April 1918 We Lost 2,074

Arthur Meredydd Jones

Lieutenant Colonel Egerton Fairclough (commanding 1st/4th South Lancashire Regiment) is killed near Givenchy at age 33.  He was educated at Aston Hall and Harrow, was the Secretary and Director of Chas. Moore and Co., Ltd., Chemical Manufacturers, Lymm, Cheshire.  Lieutenant-Colonel Fairclough had been a member of the South Lancashire Regiment Territorial Force since 1905, being promoted Captain in 1912. He was mobilized with his Regiment on the outbreak of the War and went to France with the in February 1915. He was severely wounded in the jaw at the Battle of Hooge in June 1915, rejoining his Regiment in April 1916, and was again wounded and shell-shocked in the Battle of the Somme in August 1916. He rejoined his Regiment in France as Second-in-Command in July 1917 and given full command three months later.

Today’s losses include:

  • Multiple battalion commanders
  • Multiple families that will lose two and three sons in the Great War
  • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
  • The former secretary of the Old Harrovian FC
  • A man whose daughter will be born next July
  • The son of the Headmaster of the National School
  • A Military Chaplain
  • A New South Wales Rugby League footballer
  • A man whose son will be killed in Italy in February 1944
  • A man whose son will be killed in August 1941

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Lieutenant Colonel Ambrose Robin Innes-Browne DSO (King’s Own Scottish Borderers) is killed in action at age 35. His brother Private Bernard Christopher Innes-Browne (Quebec Regiment) was killed in June 1916 at age 35.
  • Captain Llewellyn Alfred Henry Bulkeley (Royal Army Medical Corps attached Cheshire Regiment) is killed at age 38. He is the son of Canon H T Bulkeley of Coddington.
  • Lieutenant Arthur Meredydd Jones MC (Machine Gun Corps, formerly Durham Light Infantry) is killed in action at age 24. He is the son of ‘Sir’ Henry and Lady Jones and was educated at Glasgow High School, Glasgow Academy and Glasgow University.
  • Lieutenant Edward Trevor Bolton (Suffolk Regiment) is killed at age 34 at La Rolanderie Farm near Erquinghem west of Armentiers. He is the former Secretary of the Old Harrovian Football Club. His brother will die of pneumonia contracted on service in February 1919.
  • Lieutenant William Edgar Jones (Warwickshire Regiment) is killed in action at age 28. He is the son of the Reverend Thomas Jones.
  • Lieutenant John Isabel Adam (Royal Field Artillery) is killed in action at age 29. His brother was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
  • Lieutenant Stanley Alexander Hall (Royal Engineers) is killed in action at age 34. His daughter will be born on 4th
  • Lieutenant Kinglsey Vale Weston (Machine Gun Corps) dies of wounds at home. His brother was killed in action the previous April.
  • Lieutenant Greville Wynn Thomas (Gurkha Rifles) is killed in Palestine at age 21. His brother was killed last December and they are sons of the Reverend Llewellyn Wynn Thomas Vicar of Newland and he was awarded the sword of Honor at Cadet College Quetta for the best all round cadet at work and sports in 1915.
  • Lieutenant David Arthur Carmichael (Royal Fusiliers attached Machine Gun Corps) is killed in action at Croix du Bac (Armentieres) at age 27. His younger brother as killed in July 1915.
  • Second Lieutenant Ivor Dryhurst Jones (South Wales Borderers) is killed at age 18. He is the son of the Reverend William Jones who will have another son killed next September.
  • Second Lieutenant E J C Kidd (West Yorkshire Regiment attached Royal Air Force) is accidentally killed at age 21. He is the son of the Headmaster of the National School.
  • Second Lieutenant Thomas Ramsay Stoney (King’s Own Scottish Borderers) is killed in action at age 35. His brother was killed in October 1915 on Gallipoli.
  • Chaplain John Edmund Malone Watson (attached Middlesex Regiment) dies on active service at age 31. He is the son of the Reverend John Malone Watson.
  • Second Lieutenant Ernest Stanley Gowenlock (Australian Infantry) dies of wounds at age 27. He is a Rugby League footballer in the New South Wales Rugby League.
  • Sergeant Robert Rymer MM (Machine Gun Corps) is killed at age 24. His brother was killed in July 1916.
  • Lance Sergeant Ronald David Wheeler (South Wales Borderers) is killed at age 25. His brother was killed in July 1916.
  • Private William Gow (Seaforth Highlanders) is killed. His brother died of wounds in November 1916.
  • Private Joseph George Brown (South Staffordshire Regiment) is killed in action at age 19. His brother will be killed in October 1918.
  • Private Benjamin Taylor (Black Watch) is killed in action at age 21. His brother was killed in September 1915.
  • Private Harry Veasey (Northumberland Fusiliers) is killed at age 18. His brother died on service last December.
  • Gunner Cecil St Leger Lousada DCM MSM (Australian Field Artillery) is killed. His brother was killed in August 1916.
  • Private Andrew Dick (Black Watch) is killed at age 19. His brother was killed when his trawler was lost off Owers Light Vessel in February 1917.
  • Private Edwin Evans (Border Regiment) is killed. His son will be killed serving in the Royal Fusiliers in February 1944 in Italy.
  • Private Archibald William Adie (Western Ontario Regiment) is killed at age 26. He is the middle of three brothers who are killed in the war.
  • Gunner Winson Tallent (Royal Field Artillery) is killed at age 29. His brother was killed yesterday.
  • Private Walter Bailey Hopwood (Lancashire Fusiliers) dies of illness at age 20. His brother was killed last July.
  • Private Hubert Norman Mitchell (Duke of Wellington’s Regiment) is killed. His son will be killed in August 1941.
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April 8, 2018

Tuesday 9 April 1918 We Lost 2,207

Joseph Henry Collin VC

The Coldstream Guards are in the front line at Boiry St Martin when a German artillery shell lands in the trenches killing Lieutenant Horatio Spencer Walpole at age 36.  His brother the heir presumptive to the Baronies of Walpole was killed in September 1915.

All the Camels of 208th Squadron are burned at La Gorgue aerodrome to avoid capture by the advancing enemy when they are caught in a fog bank before the area is evacuated.

Second Lieutenant Joseph Henry Collin (King’s Own Lancaster Regiment) is killed one day short of this 25th birthday. At Givenchy, France, after offering a gallant resistance against heavy odds in the Keep held by his platoon, Second Lieutenant Collin, with only five of his men remaining, slowly withdraws, contesting every inch of ground. Single-handed, he then attacks a machine-gun and after firing his revolver into the enemy, he seizes a Mills grenade and throws it into the hostile gun team, putting the gun out of action, killing four of the team and wounding two others. He then takes a Lewis gun and engages a second hostile machine-gun, keeping the enemy at bay until he is mortally wounded. Lieutenant Collin will be awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for his actions on this day.

At Givenchy, France, Second Lieutenant John Schofield (Lancashire Fusiliers) leads a party of nine men against a strong-point and is attacked by about 100 of the enemy, but his skillful use of men and weapons results in the taking of 20 prisoners. Having made his party up to ten he then proceeds towards the front line, where he meets large numbers of the enemy, on whom his party opens fire. He climbs on the parapet under point-blank machine-gun fire and by his fearless demeanor forces the enemy to surrender. As a result 123 of them, including several officers, are captured. He himself is killed a few minutes later. For his actions he will be awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.

Today’s losses include:

  • Multiple Victoria Cross winners
  • Multiple sons of Aldermen and Justices of the Peace
  • The son of Baron Walpole
  • Multiple families that will lose two and three sons in the Great War
  • Brothers killed today while serving in different regimetns
  • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
  • The Master of the East Sussex Foxhounds
  • A Scout Master
  • The son of a Counsellor and Justice of the Peace
  • The son of a Justice of the Peace
  • A open exhibitioner at Cambrdige
  • A Military Chaplain
  • A player for the All Blacks Rugby team against Australia
  • A man whose son will be killed in North Africa in 1941
  • A man whose son will be killed serving in the RAFVR in December 1944

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Major William Ellis MC (Royal Field Artillery) is killed in action at age 31. He is the son of Alderman John Ellis JP.
  • Major James Wightman (East Surrey Regiment) dies of wounds received in action five days earlier. His brother was killed in action on that day serving in a different regiment.
  • Captain E F S Mather (Manitoba Regiment) is killed in action at age 29. He passed the Cambridge Staff College course with honors.
  • Captain Wilfred Roderick Powell (Dorset Regiment) is killed in action at the Battle of Berukin, twenty miles east of Jaffa. He is the son of the Reverend Morgan Powell Vicar of Aberaman.
  • Captain Ralph Hopton Baskerville (Glamorgan Yeomanry attached Welsh Regiment) is killed in action at age 35. He is the Master of the East Sussex Foxhounds.
  • Captain Percival Warburton Hawkes (Liverpool Regiment) is killed at age 34. He was a scout master.
  • Captain Michael Meade MC (Liverpool Regiment) is killed at age 22. He is the son of the Right Honorable Joseph Meade.
  • Captain George Beaumont MC (East Surrey Regiment) is killed in action at age 29. His brother was killed in April 1915.
  • Lieutenant Ronald Grahame Henderson MC (Australian Infantry) is killed at age 25 at Gentelles while extricating his platoon from their billets, during an artillery bombardment. His brother was killed five days ago.
  • Lieutenant Walter Haliburton Routledge Crick (Dorsetshire Regiment) is killed at age 21. He is the only son of the Reverend Walter Crick Vicar of Oving Deir.
  • Lieutenant George Crompton Owen (South Lancashire Regiment) is killed in action at age 25. He is the son of Councellor C Crompton JP.
  • Lieutenant Alex Clarkson MacLean (Royal Engineers) is killed in action at age 34. He is the son of General H J MacLean (Rifle Brigade) who lost his elder son five days earlier.
  • Lieutenant Mark Christopher Ball (Royal Engineers) is killed at age 20. His brother was killed in July 1916.
  • Lieutenant Noel Goodricke Addison MC (King Edward’s Horse) is killed in action at age 25. He had two brothers who have been previously killed in the Great War.
  • Lieutenant Bernard Cecil Blake (Royal Field Artillery) is killed in action at age 35. His is the son of J W Blake JP.
  • Second Lieutenant Alexander Campbell Connal (Royal Garrison Artillery) dies of wounds as a prisoner at age 19. His older brother was killed in October 1916.
  • Second Lieutenant Robert Proelss Perry (Middlesex Regiment) killed in action at Neuville Vitasse at age 21. He was an Open Exhibitioner (Mathmatics) at Christ College, Cambridge.
  • Second Lieutenant Richard Arnold Bothamley (West Kent Yeomanry attached Machine Gun Corps) is killed at age 26. His brother was killed in September 1916. Chaplain the Reverend John J McDonnell is killed at age 41.
  • Sergeant Hubert Sydney Turtill (Royal Engineers) is killed at age 38. He played one test for the All Blacks Rugby Club versus Australian. His son will be killed in November 1941 serving in North Africa.
  • Corporal Albert Sidney Rasmus (Middlesex Regiment) is killed at age 27 at Ploegstreert. His brother was killed in October 1916.
  • Lance Corporal Sidney James Pratt (Norfolk Regiment) is killed at age 25. His brother died of diphtheria in November 1915 at home at age 16.
  • Lance Corporal Duncan McLennan (Royal Scots) is killed in action at age 21. His brother died of wounds in October 1917.
  • Lance Corporal John A Johnson (King Edward’s Horse) is killed. His brother was killed in July 1916.
  • Able Seaman Edward John Price (Anson Battalion Royal Naval Division) is killed at age 22. His brother was killed in May 1917.
  • Private Arthur Waller MM (Alberta Regiment) is killed in action at age 22. He dies eight days short of the one-year anniversary of the death in action of his brother.
  • Private Ronald Victor Ralli Robertson (Royal Army Medical Corps) is killed at age 30. He is the son of the late John Robertson DD the former Vicar of Bradford and the Honorable Canon of Ripon.
  • Driver Edward Hadaway (Army Service Corps) is killed in action at age 30. His brother died of wounds in January 1917.
  • Private Harold Cain (Liverpool Regiment) is killed at age 33. He is the son of Alderman Benjamin Cain JP and his brother was killed in May 1915.
  • Private George Henry Godfrey (East Surrey Regiment) is killed at age 31. His brother was killed in October 1916.
  • Private Frank Hodge (Lancaster Regiment) is killed at age 19. His brother will be killed in ten days.
  • Private Thomas William Hamlyn (Suffolk Regiment) is killed at age 18 becoming the last and youngest of three brothers who are killed in the Great War.
  • Private Noel Griffith Williams (Liverpool Regiment) is killed at age 19. His brother was killed in January 1917 and they are sons of the Reverend Griffith Williams Rector of Corwen.
  • Private George Tallent (South Lancashire Regiment) is killed at age 24. His brother will be killed tomorrow.
  • Gunner Joseph Charles Trull (Royal Garrison Artillery) is killed at age 34. His son will lose his life in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in December 1944.
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April 7, 2018

Monday 8 April 1918 We Lost 472

David Nelson VC

Lieutenant Colonel Walter Robert Stewart DSO MC (commanding 13th Rifle Brigade) is killed by a sniper near Gommecourt in action at age 30.  He is the only son of the late Major-General the Honorable Alexander Stewart the Baronet. Lieutenant Colonel Stewart on passing out of Sandhurst entered the Rifle Brigade. He went to France in May 1915 as Adjutant of the 7th Battalion and took part in the Battle of Hooge. In February 1916 he became Brigade-Major of the 41st Brigade and the following June was awarded the Military Cross. In June 1916, he was given command of the 8th Battalion, but was wounded almost immediately afterwards in the Battle of the Somme. He was mentioned in Despatches in January 1917. On returning to France after an interval of six months he was given command of the 13th Battalion and after taking part in the Battle of Arras, he was again mentioned in Despatches and awarded the DSO.

Today’s losses include:

  • Multiple battalion commanders
  • The son of a Baronet and General
  • A Victoria Cross winner from the first month of the Great War
  • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
  • The son of the proprietor of the Manchester Evening News and High Sheriff and Deputy Lieutenant for Anglesey
  • Multiple families that will lose two sons in the Great War
  • The Choir Master at Thornfield United Methodist Church

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Lieutenant Colonel Philip Laurence Kington Blair-Oliphant (commanding 11th/13th Irish Rifles) is killed at age 50.
  • Major David Nelson VC (Royal Field Artillery) is killed in action at age 32. He was awarded the Victoria Cross as a sergeant in the Royal Horse Artillery in the first month of the war.
  • Captain Archibald Henry Douglas (East Surrey Regiment) at age 30. He is the son of the Reverend Henry Charles Douglas.
  • Captain Charles Edgar Andrew Wilson (Royal Army Medical Corps attached Rifle Brigade) dies of wounds at age 41. He is the son of the late Reverend Andrew Wilson Rector of Bedford Park Chiswick.
  • Captain John Edric Russell Allen (Lancers) dies of wounds at age 27 received in the cavalry action at Moreuil Wood 30th He is the son of the proprietor of the Manchester Evening News and High Sheriff and Deputy Lieutenant for Anglesey.
  • Second Lieutenant Sidney Heathcote Habershon (Suffolk Regiment) is killed. His brother was killed in September 1915 while another brother survived the war while serving as a Chaplain.
  • Private Arthur Garfield Walsh (Duke of Wellington’s Regiment) is killed in action at age 36. He was the Choirmaster of Thornfield United Methodist Church following in the footsteps of his father.
  • Private Sidney Charles Cleaver (Bedfordshire Regiment) is killed in Palestine at age 23. His brother will be killed later this month.
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April 6, 2018

Sunday 7 April 1918 We Lost 597

Edward Borgfeldt Booth

Captain Guy Borgfeldt Moore (Royal Air Force) a 10-victory ace is killed in action when his aircraft takes a direct hit from an anti-aircraft shell and explodes at a height of 2,000 feet above Hollebeke. At the University of British Columbia he was on the school’s rugby team and a member of the Vancouver Rowing Club.

Today’s losses include:

  • A 10 victory ace
  • A 5 victory ace
  • A son of the member of the clergy
  • A membe3r of the University of British Columbia rugby team and the Vancouver Rowling Club
  • A pilot performing stunts

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Major Richard Dunn Warren (Leicestershire Regiment) is killed at age 39. He is the son of the Reverend Charles Warren Vicar of St Michael’s Lincoln.
  • Lieutenant Edward Borgfeldt Booth (Royal Air Force) is killed as an instructor in a flying accident while performing stunts. He is a five-victory ace.
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April 5, 2018

Saturday 6 April 1918 We Lost 782

Sydney Philip Smith

Captain Sydney Philip Smith (Royal Air Force) is killed in action at age 22 near Villers Bretonneux when his Sopwith Camel is shot down by Manfred von Richthofen.  He is the 76th victim of the Red Baron.  In his novel, “Winged Victory” Victor Yeates will base the character of “Beal” on Sydney Smith. He is a five victory ace.

Today’s losses include:

  • A victim of the Red Baron
  • A man who Victor Yeates portrayed in his novel Winged Victory
  • A 5-victory ace
  • Multiple sons of member of the clergy
  • A man whose father was killed as a battalion commander at Gallipoli and has a brother who will be killed in Italy in December 1943
  • Multiple families that will lose two and three sons in the Great Wara
  • The son of the Mayor of Cambridge Waikato, New Zealand
  • A man who has two cousins who will die of wounds in the Great War

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Lieutenant Thomas Esmore Jones (Welsh Fusiliers) is killed at age 21. He is the son of the Reverend Evan T Jones.
  • Lieutenant Edmond Leo Malone MC (New Zealand Rifle Brigade) is killed in action. His father was killed commanding the Wellington Regiment on Gallipoli in August 1915 and a younger brother will be killed in Italy in December 1943.
  • Lieutenant Colin Hally MC (Auckland Regiment, Machine Gun Battalion) is killed at age 25. His brother was killed in July 1915 on Gallipoli and they are the sons of the former Mayor of Cambridge, Waikato, New Zealand.
  • Second Lieutenant Benedict Godfrey Allen Bell (Royal Air Force) is killed in action at age 27. He is the son of Canon Benedict Godfrey Allen Bell Vicar of Wimbledon.
  • Second Lieutenant Reginald George Field (Hussars) is killed in action at age 22. He is the son of the Honorable Mrs. Field.
  • Sergeant James Cheyne (Fort Garry Horse) dies of wounds. He is the last of three brothers who are killed in the war.
  • Sergeant Walter Foster (Bedfordshire Regiment) is killed. His brother was killed last month.
  • Private Frederick George Cole (Royal Welsh Fusiliers) dies of wounds at age 27. His brother was killed in August 1917.
  • Private Robert Joseph Backhouse (Australian Infantry) dies of wounds at age 23. He has two cousins who have died of wounds earlier in the Great War.
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April 4, 2018

Friday 5 April 1918 We Lost 1,836

Harold Flinders Mitchell

Today’s losses include:

  • The father of author Dame Roma Mitchell who will become the first Australian woman to be a judge, a Queen’s Council, the Chancellor of an Australian University and Governor of an Australian State
  • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
  • Multiple families that will lose to and three sons in the Great War
  • A Military Chaplain
  • The son of a Justice of the Peace
  • A player for both the Napier FC and the Civil Service Cricket Club
  • A seriously wounded may from two years previous who will commit suicide

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Lieutenant John Stratford Collins (Sussex Regiment) is killed in action. He is the son of the Reverend J S Collins.
  • Lieutenant Wade Gerard Fischer (Australian Infantry) is killed at age 23. He is the son of the Reverend Carl Hermann Fischer Vicar of Redcliffe Queensland.
  • Lieutenant Ernest Penrose (Machine Gun Corps) is killed at age 23. His brother was killed in March 1917.
  • Second Lieutenant Cecil Henry Leonard Askey (Lincolnshire Regiment) is killed at age 19. He is the son of the Reverend Arthur Henry Askew Rector of Swallow.
  • Second Lieutenant Harold Flinders Mitchell (Australian Infantry) is killed at age 32 at Dernancourt. He is the father of the author Dame Roma Mitchell. She is the first Australian woman to be a judge, a Queen’s Counsel, a chancellor of an Australian university and the Governor of an Australian state.
  • Second Lieutenant Harold Rolleston Brittan (New Zealand Rifle Brigade) is killed in action. His brothers were killed together on Gallipoli in August 1915.
  • Second Lieutenant Walter Parr-Dudley (Royal Fusiliers) is killed at age 19. His brother was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
  • Chaplain William Henry Kay MC (attached Dorsetshire Regiment) is killed by a bursting shell at age 29.
  • Sergeant Eric Nathaniel Davis (Otago Regiment) is killed at age 23. His brother was killed last October.
  • Lance Bombardier Arthur G Munning (Royal Garrison Artillery) is killed in action. His brother died of wounds last June received as a result of the sinking of HMPMS Redcar.
  • Private Harry Skinner (Suffolk Regiment) is killed in action at age 20. His older brothers were both killed within a two-month period beginning on the 1st July 1916.
  • Private Bert A Hadaway (East Kent Regiment) is killed in action at age 20. He is the son of R A Hadaway JP.
  • Private Frederick Charles Miller (Essex Regiment) is killed in action at age 19. His brother was killed the previous day.
  • Private G H Chilton (Leicestershire Regiment attached Labour Corps) dies on service at home. His two brothers were killed in July 1916.
  • Private Eugene Leo Courtney (Wellington Infantry) dies of wounds at age 22. He played football for the Napier Football Club and cricket for the Civil Service Club.
  • Private Cecil Cobley (Northamptonshire Regiment) is killed at age 27. His brother was killed in September 1915.
  • Gunner William James Gaston (Royal Garrison Artillery) is killed at age 36. His brother was killed in May 1915.
  • Private George H Chilton (Leicestershire Regiment attached Labour Corps) commits suicide. His two brothers were killed in July 1916 and he was severely wounded the same day his second brother was killed.
  • Private Charles Corder (Sussex Regiment) is killed at age 35. His brother was killed on HMS Hawke in October 1914.
  • Private Arthur Trevor Lewis (Gloucestershire Regiment) dies wounds at home at age 27. He is the son of the late Canon J S Lewis.
  • Private William Graham Fairley (Royal Scots) dies of wounds received 30th His brother will die of wounds in August.
  • Stoker George Twidell (HMS Bluebell) dies of wounds at age 20. His brother was killed in April 1917.
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April 3, 2018

Thursday 4 April 1918 We Lost 1,098

The destroyer HMS Bittern (Lieutenant Ernest K Loring RNR) is sunk after a collision in the fog off Portland Bill with the SS Kenilworth. Seventy-five members of the crew are killed.

Brigadier General George Norman Bowes Forster CMG DSO General Officer Commanding 42nd Brigade 14th Division is killed in action at age 45.

Lieutenant Colonel Percy Archer Clive DSO (Grenadier Guards commanding 1st/5th Lancashire Fusiliers) is killed in action at age 35. He is the son of Lady Catherine Clive and the Member of Parliament for South Herefordshire except for 2 years since 1900. His eldest son Major Meysey George Dallas Clive will be killed serving in the Grenadier Guards on 1st May 1943. Another son Lewis Clive will win a rowing gold medal in the 1932 Olympics and was a member of the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War being killed in action in 1938.

Today’s losses include:

  • A Member or Parliament who will have one son killed in the Second World War and another who will win an Olympic Gold Medal in 1932 be killed as a member of the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War
  • A General
  • The son of a General
  • Multiple battalion commanders
  • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
  • The son-in-law of a member of the clergy
  • The grandson of a member of the cleryg
  • Multiple families that will lose two, three and four sons in the Great War
  • The winner of the 1913 Public Schools Middleweight Boxing Competition
  • The son of the 1st Baron Avebury and the father of the 3rd

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Lieutenant Colonel Robert Edward Dewing DSO (Royal Engineers commanding 8th Berkshire Regiment) is killed in action at age 27. He is the son of the Reverend Richard Stanley Dewing Vicar of Badwell Ash.
  • Captain Ivan Clarkson MacLean DSO MC (Royal Army Medical Corps attached Rifle Brigade) dies of wounds as a prisoner of war at age 36. He is the son of Major General H I MacLean and has a brother who will be killed in action in five days with the Royal Engineers.
  • Captain William Arthur Crebbin (Rifle Brigade) is killed in action at age 23. He was the winner of the Public Schools Middleweight Boxing Competition in 1913.
  • Lieutenant James Mudie Couper (Royal Field Artillery) is killed at age 21. His brother was killed in September 1915.
  • Lieutenant ‘the Honorable’ Harold Fox Pitt Lubbock (Grenadier Guards) is killed in action at age 29. He is the son of the 1st Baron and father of the 3rd Baron Avebury. His younger brother was killed in action in March 1917.
  • Second Lieutenant Cecil Harold Sowerby Ruston (East Kent Regiment) is killed in action at age 31. He is the son-in-law of the late Reverend Frederick Charles Marshall, the former rector of Doddington and grandson of the Reverend Michael Augustus Gathercole vicar of Chatteris.
  • Second Lieutenant Victor Walker (Gloucestershire Regiment attached Royal West Kent Regiment) is killed in action at age 24. He is one of six brothers who served, three of which fell. Second Lieutenant Frederick George Norris (Cheshire Regiment) is killed in action at age 20.  He was an exhibitioner Elect of Jesus College, Oxford. Second Lieutenant Lewis Charles Bagot Chester (Lancashire Fusiliers) is killed at age 20. He is the son of the Reverend John Greville Chester Vicar of Gilling who lost another son in October 1914.
  • Lance Corporal Sidney George Crane (Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry) is killed. He is the last of three brothers who are killed in the war.
  • Lance Corporal Bert Miller (Essex Regiment) is killed in action one day before his brother meets the same fate.
  • Private John Wightman (Machine Gun Corps) is killed in action at age 23. His brother Major James Wightman (East Surrey Regiment) is mortally wounded the same day and will die in five days.
  • Private Shepley Vickers Smith (King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry attached the Rifle Brigade) is killed in action at age 20. His brother also fell.
  • Private Fred Joseph Budgett MM (Gloucestershire Regiment) is killed at age 26. His brother will die on service in May 1919.
  • Private Thomas Barlow (Suffolk Regiment) is killed. He has two brothers who will also be killed in the Great War and another brother who will die as a result of his service in 1919.
  • Private Hugh Grahame Henderson (Australian Infantry) dies of wounds at age 18. His brother will be killed in five days.
  • Private Edward Alton Buckley (Australian Infantry) is killed at age 20. His brother will be killed in twelve days.
  • Driver Sidney John Hill (Royal Horse Artillery) is killed at age 24. His brother was killed last December.
  • Private Ernest Stanley Lewis Eddy (Welsh Fusiliers) is killed at age 25. His brother will be killed in the sinking of RMS Leinster in October of this year.
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April 2, 2018

Wednesday 3 April 1918 We Lost 704

Cyprian Henry Benson Slocock

Captain Harold Harrison Gonyon and Lieutenant Brown on an anti-submarine patrol of D.H.4s, observe at 16:10 an enemy submarine with conning tower awash at a position ten miles north of Dunkirk.  Captain Gonyon releases one 230-pound bomb from seven hundred feet that hits just ahead of the conning tower.  The submarine disappears and quantities of bubbles and oil are observed.  He then drops another 230-pound bomb and Lieutenant Brown his 230-pound bombs on the same position.  Having re-supplied their machines with more bombs, they return; where they had bombed and observe two large patches of oil and floating spar.  Four 230-pound bombs are dropped on the position by other machines.

Captain Francis Newton Allan Cromie (Royal Navy) senior naval officer in the Baltic orders all remaining British Baltic submarines, (E1, E8, E9, E19, C26, C27 and C35) to be towed out of Helsingfors (modern Helsinki) to sea. Explosives are placed against their pressure hulls and they are scuttled. All the crews return home to England, while Cromie proceeds to Petrograd where he will become the Naval Attaché. He will be murdered by Bolsheviks as he stands on the embassy steps denying entry to a mob intent on storming the embassy in August.

Today’s losses include:

  • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
  • The brother of an England International Rugby footballer
  • Multiple families that will lose two sons in the Great War
  • A man whose son will be killed at El Alamein

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Captain Cyprian Henry Benson Slocock (Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry) dies of wounds received in action on 25th March at age 21. He is the son of the late Reverend F H Slocock, Rector of Mottisfont and his brother, an English International Rugby football player was killed in August 1916.
  • Private William Biggart (Royal Irish Fusiliers) is killed in action at age 23. His brother was killed in August 1917.
  • Private Arthur Richard Coppard (Sussex Regiment) dies of wounds as a prisoner of war at age 21. His brother died on a hospital ship off Gallipoli in October 1915.
  • Private Fred Davis (Lancers) dies of wounds at age 23. His brother was killed last October.
  • Private Charles Broderick Hugh Vivian (Lord Strathcona’s Horse) is killed. He is the son of the Reverend Charles Henry Gerald Vivian Rector of Grade.
  • Private J E Azevedo (Middlesex Regiment) is killed at age 33. His son will be killed at El Alamein in August 1942.
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April 1, 2018

Tuesday 2 April 1918 We Lost 999

On the Scarpe River the British repulse an attack near Fampoux and further south capture Ayette.

Today’s losses include:

  • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
  • Multiple families that will lose two sons in the Great War
  • Brothers killed together
  • The son of a Baronet
  • A Military Chaplain
  • The Head Master of Benfieldside Boys School
  • A Guinness Brewery employee

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Major Charles Leslie Sommerville (Wellington Mounted Rifles) dies of wounds at Jerico received the previous day at at age 44. His brother was killed in August 1915 on Gallipoli.
  • Captain Charles Augustus Fry (Essex Regiment attached Suffolk Regiment) is killed at age 58. He is the son of Canon Charles Fry.
  • Lieutenant Leslie McKenzie (Black Watch) dies of wounds at age 24. He is the son of the Reverend Alexander McKenzie.
  • Lieutenant Evan Davies Jones (Royal Air Force) is killed in action at age 25. He is the son of ‘Sir’ Evan Davies Jones the Baronet.
  • Chaplain the Reverend Georges Crochetiere (attached Quebec Regiment) is killed at age 39.
  • Lieutenant Alfred Lewis Noon (Devonshire Regiment) dies of wounds at age 20. He is the son of the Reverend Alfred Knight Noon Vicar of West Hanney.
  • Private Haworth Gregory MM (East Lancashire Regiment) is killed in action. His brother died of wounds received in Mesopotamia in December 1916.
  • Private Francis Allen (Royal Fusiliers) is killed in action at age 39. He is the Head Master at Benfieldside Senior Boys’ School.
  • Brothers serving in the King’s Royal Rifle Corps as riflemen are killed together on this day. Frederick Edward Bay and William Bay have consecutive enlistment numbers.
  • Private Robert Gibson Latta (Australian Infantry) dies of wounds. His brother died of wounds in September 1915.
  • Sapper William Halkerston (Royal Engineers) dies of wounds at age 24. His brother was killed in April 1917.
  • Private Arthur Eldridge (Coldstream Guards) is killed at age 19. His brother will be killed in September 1918 at age 22. Both were previously emloyeed by Guinness Brewery.
  • Private Herbert Benjamin White (Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry) dies of wounds at age 26. His brother was killed last September.
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