Captain

Commemorating the Fallen of WW1

The grave of Claud Heygate at Gordon Dump Cemetery. Photographed for ‘Marching in Memory’ for Combat Stress, July 2015

Today we remember …

First Battle of the Somme

2nd July 1916. Claud Heygate, C Social, 1900. Capt, 10th Bn, Yorkshire Light Infantry. Killed in action at Fricourt, Battle of the Somme.

Claude Heygate went to Sandhurst in 1904 and received his commission in the 1st Yorkshire L.I. in August, 1906.

‘At the outbreak of the war he was at the depot of the regiment, and went out with a draft from Hull in August, 1914. He was present at the battles of Marne, the Aisne, and the first battle of Ypres, when he was wounded at Lorgues. He returned to the front last month.’

Aged 30

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Lawrence Westmore, D Social, 1908. 2nd Lt, 1st Bn, Hampshire Regt. Killed in action at Beaumont Hamel, Battle of the Somme.

Lawrence Westmore was one of the best scholars of his year at school. He was a Junior Scholar who won The Richards Gold Medal, The James & Heathcote Scholarships, the Historical Essay Prize, the Worsley Prize and the Morgan Verse Prize. He left school in 1913 to take up a place at Wadham College, Oxford, for which he won an Exhibition. He achieved 1st Class in Classical Mods in 1915.

Aged 21

Claud Heygate, Captain, 10th bn Yorkshire LI. kia 2 July 1916

Lawrence Westmore, 2nd Lt, 1st bn, Hampshire Regt. kia 2 July 1916

The grave of Lawrence Westmore at Colincamps Cemetery. Photographed for ‘Marching in Memory’ for Combat Stress, July 2015

Commemorating the Fallen of WW1

The grave of Charles Ellerton at Ecoivres Cemetery. Photographed for ‘Marching in Memory’ for Combat Stress, July 2015

Today we remember …

19th May 1916. Charles Ellerton. Don. Capt, 10th Bn, Cheshire Regt. Killed in action during preparations for the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
Charles Ellerton was born in Cheshire in 1884. He was a Scholar of Jesus College, Oxford, who came to teach at Radley early in 1914. He signed up almost immediately war broke out in 1914.Extract from a letter received from an Officer at the Front re Captain C. F. Ellerton: ‘He died at the head of a party of his company charging the enemy. It was an act of unnecessary bravery, as it was only a small party and he might have detailed it to a subaltern. I was told by a witness that he saved the life of one boy who was going to be bayoneted, by rushing in front and throwing a bomb at the Germans. He was at first badly wounded and refused to be carried away, ordering the stretcher bearers to save themselves. Immediately afterwards he was killed.’‘I saw his grave this afternoon. He is buried in the little cemetery in the wood at Mount St. Eloi. He was just reported missing, because it was not until the next night that it was possible to recover his body.’

The schoolboys he taught at Radley remembered him as ‘Though only here for a comparatively short time he made his influence felt in many ways here – on the “Rugger-field,” in “school,” and with the “recruits,” and there are many to whom the news of his death came as a real grief.’

Aged 32

Commemorating the Fallen of WW1

The grave of Mervyn Richardson at Point 110 Cemetery. Photographed for ‘Marching in Memory’ for Combat Stress, July 2015

Today we remember …

19th March 1916. Mervyn Richardson, D Social, 1908. Capt, 1st Bn, Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Died of wounds received in an unknown engagement.‘Tracker’ Richardson was one of the young officers mentioned in Siegfried Sassoon’s diary, which became his fictional Memoirs of a fox-hunting man. At Radley he was Captain of the Boats, and rowed twice at Henley in the Ladies’ Plate, rowing No. 6 in the winning heat v. University College, Oxford, in 1912. He was a member of the Leander Club. After leaving school, he attended Sandhurst, then went straight out to the Western Front in 1915. He was Mentioned in Despatches. A letter from the Regimental Chaplain to his parents describes the scene of his funeral:CHAPLAIN’S LETTER, March 22 (Wed.).

DEAR SIR,-You might care I think to know the details of your son’s burial and last resting place from the Chaplain of the Regiment?… Your son was the most gallant and best loved of a gallant band of young officers… I have been with the battalion a year, and through more than one action, yet I do not remember so solemn a funeral or such real quiet grief. It took place on Tuesday night at 9.45. The little burial ground lies in a slight hollow only 100 yards behind the front lines. The nearest village is Reanite, near Albert, but from there it is a walk of two miles over rolling chalk downs to the line. The little plot is reverently tended, and a cross already in position on the grave. At the end of the war you will find no difficulty in finding it and tending it as you like.

As we left the dug-outs for the cemetery, two canisters burst quite near with a deafening roar. There in the darkness I took the service. All the officers were present and many men. The moon came out in the middle, and shone on the grey steel helmets of the group, and made the colours of the Union Jack that lay on the body gleam. The service ended, to the roar of another German canister, more suitable perhaps to the occasion than any organ.

Eric Milner-White

Aged 22

Mervyn Richardson, Captain, 1st Bn, Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Died of wounds 19 March 1916

Commemorating the Fallen of WW1

The grave of Roland Logan at Birr Road Cemetery. Photographed for ‘Marching in Memory’ for Combat Stress, July 2015

Today we remember …

16th October 1915. Roland Logan, E Social 1896. Captain, 5th Bn, Ox & Bucks Light Infantry. Killed in action, Battle of Loos.

He was a career soldier who had served in the Second South African War in 1900.

Aged 33

Roland Logan, Captain, 5th Bn, Ox & Bucks LI. kia 16 October 1915

Commemorating the Fallen of WW1

The name of Richard Coote on the Loos Memorial. Photographed for ‘Marching in Memory’ for Combat Stress, July 2015

Today we remember …

13th October 1915. Richard Coote, A Social 1906. Captain, 8th Bn, Royal Berkshire Regt. Killed in action at Hulluch, Battle of Loos.

After school he trained as a lawyer at Lincoln’s Inn. Whilst living in London he was a very active supporter of the Radley Mission at St Peter’s, Wapping.

Aged 23. He was one of three brothers who all served in WW1. His brother, George, fell in 1918