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Officers
who died serving in the 7th Battalion
By
using the volumes of “Soldiers Died in the Great War”
as a foundation and amending the roll according to information
found in the battalion War Diary, Regimental history, CWGC,
London Times entries or newspaper clippings I have come across,
this roll of honour is as accurate as I can achieve at the moment.
Any additions or amendments will be added as I come across them
but please contact me if you are aware of a discrepancy in the
details shown.
This
roll of honour is in chronological order of the date the Officer
in question died.
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 2/Lt
Donald Gurney WHATMOOR
Killed
in action 17th January 1916, aged 23
Donald
was gazetted as an Officer on the 8th February 1915 and arrived
to join the battalion in France
on the 1st August 1915. He spent his entire period of service
on the front around Fricourt and Carnoy at the southern end of
the British line and was killed during a lively day of exchanges
with the opposing Germans in their trenches. His death was announced
in the London Times on the 26th January 1916. Donald was the son
of Herbert Wade and E. Mary Whatmoor of "Briarfield", The Drive
in Northwood, Middx. He is buried in the Meaulte military cemetery.
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 2/Lt
Reginald BADEN
Killed
in action 26th June 1916, aged 23.
Reginald
arrived with the battalion in 1916 and was posted to C Company.
On the 26th June Reginald and his fellow Company Officers were
settled into their mess to the rear of the front lines. The week
long bombardment on enemy positions before the Battle
of the Somme was still going
on and German artillery retaliated, with one shell smashing through
the roof of their Company mess. Reginald was one of two Officers
killed outright by the shell, the second being listed below. He
is buried in the Carnoy military cemetery and was the son of Herbert
Edwin and Blanche Ada Baden of 5 Grange Road in Ealing, London.
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2/Lt
Gordon Beverley HASLER
Killed
in action 26th June 1916, aged 19
Gordon
joined the battalion in France on
the 27th May 1916 and was the second man killed during the shelling
that day as he rested in the Company Mess. Curiously, the War
Diary, London Times obituary and Regimental Medal Rolls record
his death in June yet the CWGC and SDGW record it in July, although
this error is in the process of being corrected. He was the second
son of John and Jessie Hasler of 68
Lonsdale Road in Barnes and was in
the 9th battalion attached to the 7th when he died.
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On
the opening day of the Battle of
the Somme – 1st
July 1916 – was to become the bloodiest day in British military
history. The 7th battalion was in the front waves of the assault
that would see little gains made and 57,000 British casualties
that day alone. However, the Bedfords were one of the few to not
only make it into the German lines but to take their second line
positions as well as storming and holding the formidable Pommiers
Redoubt. That day would see them in action for the first time
and by the end of their assault 2 Officers were killed and 13
more wounded with around 320 men killed, wounded or missing. The
next two Officers are those who lost their lives that fateful
day.
Lt Joscelyn
Hugh Russell RAWES
Killed
in action 1st July 1916, aged 20
Joscelyn
was educated at the Grammar School in Bury St. Edmunds and Perso
School of Cambridge, where he was Captain of the Rugby Team, the
Head Boy between 1913 and 1914 as well as being the Colour Sergeant
in the O.T.C. He won an exhibition at St. Catherine’s College,
Cambridge
and had just left school when war was declared. He enlisted in
September 1914, becoming an Officer and went to France
with the 7th battalion in July 1915. Lt Rawes was in the very
front wave of the assault, leading D Company out into no-man’s
land and left the trench at 7.28am, immediately coming under machine
gun fire and falling before the men arrived at the first line
of German trenches. He was recovered and is buried in the Carnoy
Military Cemetery.
He was the youngest son of the Reverend and Mrs F. Russell Rawes
from Cambridge
and his brother served in the South African Wars of 1899-1902
and flew in the R.F.C. during the Great War. Lieutenant Rawes’
photograph and gravestone can be seen below.
2/Lt
James CUNNINGHAM
Killed
in action 1st July 1916, aged 35.
James
was in the 9th battalion, attached to the 7th when he was killed
and arrived in the battalion on the 25th May 1916. He had been
on the line for 6 weeks and fell during the opening day of the
Somme offensives of 1916 as the
battalion went into action for the first time. He was formerly
a Lieutenant with Transport and Remount Department of the West
African Forces and was the son of James Cunningham of Ashfield
in Craigmore, Rothesay. James has no grave but is remembered on
the Thiepval memorial to the missing, shown below.
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2/Lt
Evelyn Walter James JOHNSON.
Died
of wounds 20th July 1916, aged 19
Evelyn
Johnson received his commission as an Officer on the 21st January
1915, and arrived with the battalion early in 1916. He was wounded
on the 26th June when a shell fell through the roof of C Company’s
Officers Mess, having only been with the battalion a few months.
Having struggled against his wounds for several weeks he finally
died whilst in the General
Hospital in Rouen.
He was the son of Anthony Charles and Helen Johnson of 79
Huron Road in Balham, London. He is buried
in the St. Sever cemetery, Rouen.
2/Lt
David Arnold
ROEBER
Killed
in action 14th August 1916, aged 18
David
was commissioned with his brother Oscar Dunsford Roeber as a 2/Lt
on the 7th May 1915 and David arrived in C Company on the 15th/16th
July 1916, where he served until his death a month later. On the
night of the 14th/15th August 1916 the battalion launched a dummy
raid on the German trenches to keep them on edge. The German artillery
barrage sent in response was “feeble” but still killed
David and 3 of the men who were manning the British trenches.
He was serving in the 3rd Reserve battalion but attached to the
7th battalion when he died. David was the son of A.O. and M.I.
Roeber of 21 Honor
Oak Road in Forest Hill, London
and is buried in the Ration Farm Military cemetery, La Chappelle
D’Armentieres, near Armentieres.
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On the 28th September 1916,
the battalion assaulted the impregnable Schwaben Redoubt, on the
Thiepval Ridge that had stood against several attempts to take it
since the opening day of the battle of the Somme. See here
for the battle story. The 54th Brigade had taken half the village
of Thiepval on the 26th, leaving
the Bedfords
the northern half, which
they took the following day. The 28th saw them storm and successfully
take over half of the redoubt, with the final sections being taken
on the 14th October by the 1st/1st Cambridgeshires. Fifteen Officers
were killed or wounded in the assault as well as over 100 men during
the single battalion action. 7 Officers were recommended for gallantry
medals including Thomas ADLAM who would become the battalions first
Victoria Cross winner and 8 DCM’s and 21 Military Medals would
be awarded between the “Other Ranks” after their assault.
Below are those five Officers who lost their lives fighting for
the Schwaben Redoubt.
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The 7th battalion
Officers on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing
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2/Lt
Ian Henry Munro ROSS-TAYLOR
Killed
in action 27th September 1916 (SDGW incorrectly records it as
June)
Ian
was commissioned as a trainee Officer on the 23rd February 1915
and arrived with A Company of the 7th battalion in France
early in 1916. His death was recorded in the London Times on October
4th. Ian was the only son of Mr and Mrs Ross-Taylor of Daws Hall,
Lamarsh in Essex. He has no known
grave but is remembered on the Thiepval memorial to the missing,
shown above.
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 2/Lt
Cedric Stewart HOWARD
Killed
in action 28th September 1916, aged 22.
He
was the son of Albert and Helen Alice Howard of 10 Cutcliff Place
in Bedford and is buried
in the Mill
Road Cemetery
in Thiepval.
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2/Lt
Robert Donald HUNSTON
Killed
in action 28th September 1916, aged 21.
Robert
and his younger brother (John
Norman Hunston) were gazetted together as trainee
Officers on the 13th June 1915 and both served in the Bedfordshire
Regiment. John was a 2/Lt who fell in the 6th battalion
as they assaulted Pozieres on the 15th July 1916, aged 20
and Robert served in the 7th battalion, arriving with them
on the 20th July 1916, five days after his brother had died.
On his arrival, Robert was posted to A Company where he
served until his death in combat two months later. Both
men were the sons of Robert George Laskey and Helen Hunston
of 32 Hallewell Road in Edgbaston, Birmingham. Robert is
buried in the Mill Road Cemetery in Thiepval.
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2/Lt
Thomas Percy WILSON
Killed
in action 28th September 1916
Thomas
was gazetted a trainee Officer on the 30th April 1915 but
did not arrived in B Company of the 7th battalion until
the 15th/16th July 1916. He is buried in the Mill Road Cemetery
in Thiepval.
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2/Lt
Herbert George MERCHANT
Killed
in action 28th September 1916, aged 22.
Herbert
was gazetted as a 2/Lt on the 5th August 1916 and had only been
with the battalion in the field a matter of days before his death.
He arrived on the 17th September in a draft of three new Officers,
only one of which survived. Herbert fell eleven days later during
the assault. Herbert was in the 9th battalion attached to the
7th upon his death. He was the son of James H. and Maude Merchant
of 134 Castle Street in Luton. Herbert has no known grave but
is remembered on the Thiepval memorial, shown above.
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On
the 3rd May 1917 the battalion attacked
German lines south of Cherisy during the Third Battle of the Scarpe,
during the Battle of Arras. They had experienced no Officer deaths
since Schwaben last September despite being in the Ancre operations
that February and March when Christopher Cox had won a Victoria
Cross. However, uncut German wire trapped the battalion in no-man’s
land in front of Fontaine Wood and 13 of the 22 Officers who went
into action were killed or wounded, as well as almost 250 men
that day. The following six Officers were killed and died of their
wounds received at Cherisy that day, 4 of which were not recovered
and are remembered on the Arras Memorial to the missing. Sadly,
the section of the memorial showing them is very faded and I have
not been able to get a good photograph so far, hence they are
not whown below.
Captain
Wilfred Herbert BULL
Killed
in action 3rd May 1917, aged 31.
Wilfred
joined the battalion when war broke out and trained with the newly
formed unit until they landed in France
on the 26th July 1915. The 11th October 1915 saw him
take over command of B Company and between the 1st and 9th November
1915 he enjoyed a spell of leave to England.
Captain Bull sat with Captain Keep in a Field
General Court Marshall
on the 2nd May 1916 and led the right side of the assault on the
opening day of the Somme offensives
of 1916. He was severely wounded by shrapnel at around 8.30am
on the 1st July 1916 as he led his Company to the outskirts of
the Pommiers Redoubt and wrote the subsequent report on the battle
which can be seen here
in the 1916 Appendices. After nine months convalescing, Wilfred
rejoined the battalion on the 3rd April 1917, exactly a month
before he fell at Cherisy. He was described as "One of the finest
officers we ever had" by his men and fell amongst the front ranks
as they tried in vain to force a way through the wire that was
swept by machine gun fire that day. He was the only son of C.H.
Bull from The Homestead in Elstree and partner in the firm Hibberd,
Bull & Co. at 6a Devonshire
Square in London.
His death was recorded in the Times on the 15th May 1917 and he
is buried in the Cerisy-Gailly
French National
Cemetery, 10km south-west
of Albert on the Somme. Captain
Bull and Lieutenant Sherwell can be seen below before a football
match in 1915.
2/Lt
Edward St. Hilary LINGWOOD
Killed
in action 3rd May 1917, aged 24
Edward
had not been with the battalion long before his death, which was
announced in the London Times of the 18th May 1917. He was the
eldest son of Alice Mary Lingwood of Westleton, Saxmundham in
Suffolk,
and the late Edward Thomas Lingwood. Edward had no known grave
but is remembered on the Arras Memorial to the missing.
2/Lt
Gridland John LUSCOMBE
Killed
in action 3rd May 1917, aged 19. [SDGW incorrectly records 1919]
Gridland
arrived with the battalion on the 25th May 1916 and came through
both the opening day of the Somme
offensives as well as the Scwaben Redoubt assault in September.
On the 10th December 1916, he was appointed as battalion Sniping
Officer but was killed opposite Fontaine Wood along with many
of his men. He was the son of J. and I.E. Luscombe of Marridge,
Ugborough in Devon and is remembered
on the Arras Memorial.
2/Lt
Lionel George ANGAS
Killed
in action 3rd May 1917, aged 27
Before
the war Lionel earned a B.A. (Lond.) and worked as a Civil Servant.
The London Gazette records Lionel was moved to the battalion whilst
training on the 14th January 1915 and was gazetted as a 2/Lt on
the 25th October 1916. However, he did not arrive in the battalion
until the 12th November 1916 and was killed several months later,
during the Arras Offensives. He was the son of George Sample Angas
and Charlotte Gertrude Angas of 11
Winchester Road, Highgate in London
and is remembered on the Arras Memorial.
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 2/Lt
Chester Bishop KYDD
Killed
in action 3rd May 1917, aged 19
Chester
Bishop Kydd was born on 31st May 1897, the only son of Dr.
John G A Kydd and his wife Jessie de Mott Bishop. The family
lived at Shantallagh in Coleraine, Co Londonderry. He was
gazetted a 2/Lt on the 18th June 1915 and arrived in the
7th battalion on the 15th/16th July 1916, along with several
other Officers who formed replacements for the losses sustained
on the 1st July. He was killed in action leading B Company
in the attack. The Company was trapped around Fontaine trench
in a deep belt of uncut wire and were being badly mauled
by MG & sniper fire. Of the company officers who started
out that day, only two came out of the action unwounded.
His batman, Private H.H. Gladwish, was with him when he
was shot in the chest and tried to carry his wounded charge
to the British line, but he was forced to shelter in a shell-hole.
It was there that 2/Lt Kydd died. Private Gladwish, isolated
and trapped by the constant shelling, spent almost seventy-two
hours in no-man’s land trying to make it back to British
lines by night and hiding in shell holes during the day,
without food, water or contact with anyone alive. When he
ultimately got back to his own lines “looking like
a hunted creature”, he was too exhausted with hunger
and grief to tell a coherent story but was to be awarded
the D.C.M. for his gallantry. Chester Kydd had no known
grave but is remembered on the Arras Memorial to the Missing.
Chester’s
photograph can be seen below and his biography is here..
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2/Lt
Sidney
Charles TREMEER
Died
of wounds 17th May 1917, aged 28
Cadet
Sidney Tremeer was promoted to a 2/Lt on the 5th August 1916 and
arrived with the battalion on the 17th September 1916, along with
his fellow Officer cadet Herbert Merchant who was killed just
ten days later (see above). Sidney
was wounded at Cherisy on the 3rd May and died from his wounds
two whole weeks later whilst in Le Treport general hospital on
the coast. He was the son of Charles George and Eleanor Agnes
Tremeer of Chiswick in London and
is buried in the Mont
Huon Military
Cemetery,
Le Treport.
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Lieutenant
Ferdinand Nigel SHERWELL
Killed
in action 13th June 1917, aged 21 years 11 months
The
former O.T.C. Cadet was commissioned as a 2/Lt on the 14th September
1914 and spent the entire training period in England
with the 7th Battalion. He landed in France
with them on the 26th July 1915 and survived the Somme
battles of 1916 as well as the Ancre operations of February and
March 1917 and the Cherisy assault, only to be killed by a shell
whilst holding the lines. His death was announced in the Times
on 20th June 1917. Fredinand was the ninth son of Mr. and Mrs.
T. Yeo Sherwell of 174 Willesden Lane
in London and is buried in the
Rookery British
Cemetery, Heninel, 10km
south-east of Arras.
He is shown in the photograph below with Captain Bull in 1915
before a football match, alongside his final resting place.
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 Captain
Douglas Scrivener Howard KEEP,
MC
Killed
in action 14th July 1917, aged 24
Before
the war Douglas Keep earned a B.A. degree at Oxford
as well as the Royal Humane Society's Medal for life-saving. He
joined the battalion a the outbreak of war and was gazetted a
2/Lt 16th September 1914. Douglas’ brother was Leslie Howard
Keep, a Captain in the 1916 battles who won the D.S.O. for his
part in the 28th September 1916 assault on the Schwaben Redoubt,
the same battle that Douglas won his Military Cross in. Sadly,
Leslie survived the war only to be killed in an avalanche not
long afterwards.
Douglas’ MC citation (issue 29837
of the London Gazette, dated 24th November 1916) reads:
“For
conspicuous gallantry in action. He organised and led repeated
bombing attacks on the enemy strong points. On one occasion, with
only three men and no bombs, he remained in close proximity to
the enemy for one and a half hours.”
Douglas
became the acting Captain of A Company on the 4th November 1916
and was later confirmed as full Captain from 28th October. Having
survived the 1st July 1916 and the Scwaben Redoubt assaults as
well as the Ancre operations and the Arras battles Captain Keep
was killed by a shell whilst his party of men buried cables on
the West edge of Zillebeke Lake near Ypres. His body was recovered
and he was buried on the 16th July with full military honours,
which is even recorded in the war diary. Douglas was the son of
the late John Howard Keep and Mrs. Keep, of Abbots Langley in
Herts. He is buried in the Reninghelst New Military cemetery,
10k south-west of Ypres centre.
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On
the 10th August 1917
the battalion assaulted fortified German positions in Glencourse
Wood near Inverness Copse in the Ypres
sector. The war diary records; “The battalion famous for
its fighting spirit in the past eclipsed all former deeds of gallantry,
when heavy wire held up the foremost men, those behind stood on
lumps of earth and rubbish and fired over the heads of those cutting
the wire, seldom have any troops shown such brilliant dash and
utter contempt for the Bosch”. Nevertheless, seen Officers
and around 260 of the battalion became casualties fighting for
what remained of the wood, including the following two Officers
who lost their lives that day.
2/Lt
Frederick
HALSEY
Killed
in action 10th August 1917, aged 37.
Frederick
Halsey arrived with the battalion sometime in 1917 and was
in B Company on the left during the assault on Glencourse
Wood where he fell. He was posted missing 10th August but
later found and buried in the Hooge
Crater Cemetery, 4km east
of Ypres centre; a picture
of the cemetery from the war can be seen below. Frederick
was the son of David Daniel and Mary Ann Halsey of 3 Frithesden,
near Hemel Hempstead in Herts., and the husband of Esther
Halsey of 7
Wellington Street in Bedford.
Opposite is the Hooge Crater cemetery in 1915, where he
lies today.
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2/Lt
Samuel Maurice CONNOR
Killed in
action 10th August 1917, aged 19.
Samuel arrived
in the battalion during 1917 and fell whilst in D Company,
who were initially the Reserve Company of the assault. He
was the son of Emily C. Connor, of Ockbrook, Derby,
and the late Rev. James Connor and is remembered on the
Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.
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2/Lt
Robert Cyril Starling RANSOM
Died of wounds
19th October 1917.
Robert was gazetted
as an Officer on the 27th June 1917 and arrived with the battalion
28th September 1917, on the evening the battalion celebrated the
Schwaben Redoubt victory from a year before. Within three weeks
he was mortally wounded and is buried in the Minty Farm cemetery,
Langemarck.
2/Lt
Graham Sydney
GILBERTSON
Killed
in action 28th November 1917, aged 19
Graham
was educated at Hitchin
Grammar School
and was the champion swimmer on the H.M.S. Worcester before the
war. Although he passed his RNR exams in 1915 he was found to
be colour blind so was subsequently rejected and pursued a position
in the Infantry instead. He joined the Inns Court OTC and was
commissioned into the Bedfordshire regiment in April 1917, joining
the 7th battalion in August 1917. Three months later he was killed
whilst the battalion held the lines near Boezinghe, possibly during
a relief. Graham was the second son of Dr. James H. and Beatrice
M. Gilbertson of Hitchin in Herts. He has no known grave but is
remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the missing.
2/Lt
Arthur PRATT
Died
of wounds 11th February 1918, aged 21.
Arthur
joined the 8th Battalion on the 3rd February 1918, only to find
the battalion about to be disbanded in line with the major reorganizations
of the time. He was transferred into the 7th on the 9th February
1918, only to be mortally wounded when a German airplane bombed
one of C Companies Billets that day, demolishing it and killing
12 and wounding another 6 men. Although Arthur was moved back
to the larger casualty stations, he died later that day from his
wounds, having been in the field for eight days and never having
fired a shot. He was the son of Joseph Robert and Sophia Lydia
Pratt and is buried in the Noyon
New British
Cemetery.
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Between
the 21st March and mid April 1918
(see here
for a more detailed story) the battalion were involved in the
desperate defence against a series of overwhelming German Offensives
that almost broke the British Fifth Army and saw Haig’s
famous order telling the army to stand to the last. In what would
be their final engagements of the war before they were disbanded,
the battalion lost their last six Officer fatalities, as listed
below.
2/Lt
Westropp Orbell Peyton WINMILL
Killed
in action 22nd or 23rd March 1918, aged 23.
Westropp
was educated at Bedford
Grammar school before
the war and later joined the Sandhurst Royal
Military College.
He was commissioned into the regiment 12th May 1915, having completed
his training as a Gentleman Cadet at Sandhurst, and landed in
France
with the battalion on the 26th July 1915. He seems to disappear
from the battalion sometime in 1915 or 1916 but is back with them
in time for the massive Spring Offensives in March 1918. Remarkably
he was the only Officer killed during the battalions determined
defence along the Crozat
Canal on
the 22nd and 23rd March 1918 when 4 Officers and around 250 of
the battalion became casualties. His death was announced in the
Times on the 26th April 1918 and commented that he had been attached
to the RFC for 20 months, which may explain his absence from the
battalions diaries and activities. Westropp was the eldest son
of Frances Ada Macnab (formerly Winmill, Nee Peyton), and the
late George Winmill. He was married to Myfaneny Winmill (nee Clarke)
of Reading.
He, along with all who fell along the canal over those two days,
has no known grave but is remembered on the Pozieres Memorial
to the missing which can be seen below.
Lt
Martin [Marten] Cave DUPLOCK
Killed
in action 2nd April 1918
Martin
was gazetted as a 2/Lt on the 1st July 1917 and joined the 8th
battalion in France
soon afterwards. He transferred from 8th to the 7th Battalion
on 9th February 1918, along with another 7 Officers and 170 men
when the 8th battalion disbanded and served less than two months
with them before his death. Both Duplock and Craig (below) were
casualties in a localized counter attack on the evening of the
2nd April when the remnants of the battle weary battalion, alongside
the Royal Fusiliers, attacked a German held village near Cachy,
west of Albert. In a superb manouevre, the tiny band of exhausted
British troops who had been fighting and retiring for almost two
weeks, attacked a dug in, German held village and routed the entire
garrison, killing around 100 and capturing 2-300 more in the process.
However, the battalion lost a further 5 Officers and almost 50
men killed, wounded or missing and were forced to retire again
overnight for fear of being overwhelmed by the superior German
forces in the area. Martin was killed during the assault and was
not recovered. He is remembered on the Pozieres Memorial to the
missing which can be seen below.
2/Lt
Gordon Robert CRAIG
Died
of wounds 3rd April 1918
Gordon
was gazetted as a Temporary 2/Lt on the 25th February 1917 and
arrived with the battalion that summer, when he was posted to
C Company. He was wounded on the 8th August 1917 but remained
at duty and fought at Glencourse Wood on the 10th but finally
fell mortally wounded on the 2nd April 1918, in the same action
that Martin Duplock (above) was killed. Gordon died the following
day at a Casualty Clearing Station and is buried in the Namps-au-Val
British cemetery, 16km south-west of Amiens.
Captain
Oliver KINGDON, M.C.
Killed
in action 24th April 1918, aged 31
Oliver
was gazetted in the Times as a Temporary 2/Lt on the 26th January
1915 and served in the battalion until his death in April 1918.
His Military Cross (gazetted on the 13th September 1918) was earned
on the day of his death and was for leading his Company in a counter
attack during the battle at Villers-Bretonneux. He was the son
of Oliver and Maud Matilda Kingdon of 84 Brownlow Road,
New Southgate in London.
He has no known grave but is remembered on the Pozieres Memorial
to the missing which can be seen below.
Captain
Andrew Best McBRIDE, M.C.
Killed
in action 24th April 1918, aged 22.
Andrew
was born 16th June 1895 and educated at Berkhampsted Grammar
school, where he was a Corporal in
the cadets. He passed the senior Oxford
local exams with honours as well as his first professional medical
exam at the University
of London.
Andrew was gazetted as a Lieutenant in the Bedfordshire regiment
in September 1914 and promoted to Captain in 1st June 1915. He
was the Brigade’s Musketry Instructor for a period and transferred
in from the 8th battalion to the 7th when it was disbanded. His
Colonel wrote to Andrew’s parents “I cannot speak
too highly of your son as an Officer in the recent fighting. He
has done the most splendid work, showing great coolness under
fire and his sound judgement on several occasions got his company
out of difficult situations.” Captain McBride M.C., was
killed at Villers Bretonneux along with Captain Kingdon (above)
during the famous counter attack launched by British and Australian
forces that almost cut of and wiped out an entire German regiment.
He was the son of John Best McBride R.A.M.C.T. and Mary Constance
McBride of Falkland House, Berkhamsted in Herts. Andrew is buried
in the Longueau British
Cemetery on the Somme.
See here
for more information and photographs, and here
to see him in a group photo.
Lt
(Acting Captain) Charles Alfred LAWRENCE, M.C.
Killed
in action 24th April 1918, aged 24
Charles
was commissioned into the Bedfordshire Regiment on the 10th September
1915, trained with the Inns of Court OTC and arrived with the
battalion the following year. He survived the Somme
serving in C Company and is shown on the list of Officers going
into action during the Ancre Operations in February 1917, when
Stretcher Bearer Christopher Cox won his VC as well as at Glencourse
Wood on 10th August 1917. His Military Cross was gazetted on page
40 of the London Times, 28th December 1917 and was probably for
gallantry at Glencourse Wood the previous August. Charles fell
at Villers Brettoneux along with the two veteran Officers above
and is remembered on the Pozieres memorial to the missing, which
can be seen below. He was the son of Mr. A.H. Lawrence of "Palmhurst",
Gundulph Road
in Chatham.
The 7th Battalion
Officers on the Pozieres Memorial to the missing
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