Middle East Campaign / Mesopotamia Campaign / Iraq / Egypt / Palestine

Commemorating the Fallen of WW1

Today we remember …

1st November 1918

Robert Browne, DSO, F Social 1895, Major,  1st Bn, Manchester Regt. Died of pneumonia contracted on active service in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq)

At school he was a Prefect and played for the Cricket and Soccer teams. He became a soldier, serving in the South African War. He was married to Gladys Hopwood in 1907.

He was returning to England on leave when he died of pneumonia contracted in Mesopotamia. He is buried in France.

Obituary. 18.12.1918 R. G. Browne (Croome’s, 1895-1899) was in the cricket and football elevens. From the Militia he joined the Manchester Regiment, and served in the South African War (medal, with 3 clasps). Only a short time ago he was mentioned in despatches (Mesopotamia), and was awarded the D.S.O. He was returning to England on leave, when he died of pneumonia on the way.’

The date of his death was amended to 11 November 1918 in the Archivist’s copy of the Radley Register. However, the evidence for this is unknown and all other sources, including the Radleian magazine, give 1 November.

Aged 37

Robert Browne in the Radley College Cricket XI 1898

Commemorating the Fallen of WW1

Today we remember …

16th October 1918Thomas Babington, G Social 1903, Lt, Indian Army. Died of pneumonia on active service in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq)

Thomas Babington was a Junior Scholar. He played for the Cricket XI and was Captain of the Soccer team. After school, he attended Magdalen College, Oxford.  He went out to India in 1913 as Professor of English Literature at the Government College, Rangoon, Burma. He joined up in 1916 as a Lieutenant in the Indian Army Reserve of Officers; promoted to Acting Captain 108th Infantry in 1917.

Aged 29

His story from Magdalen College

Radley College prefects, 1908

Commemorating the Fallen of WW1

Today we remember …

10th August 1918

Henry Utterson, DSO. E Social 1892. Lt-Col, 15th Bn, Lancashire Fusiliers. Killed in action, Battle of Amiens

After leaving Radley he went to Sandhurst, serving with the Dorsetshire Regt. In the South African War 1899-1902 he fought at the Relief of Ladysmith and at Spion Kop

He served through the South African War (Queen’s Medal, 5 clasps, and King’s Medal, 2 clasps) and with the West African Frontier Force, 1904-1907. He served in Mesopotamia, 1914-1915,where he gained the D.S.O. and was 3 times mentioned in dispatches. He was invalided to England after being wounded at Ctesiphon. From 1917 onwards he commanded a battalion of the Lancaster Fusiliers on another front.

Citation for the DSO DISTINCTIONS. D.S,O. Major Henry Kelso Utterson, 2nd Bn. Dorsetshire Regt., for conspicuous gallantry and ability. He led his men with marked coolness and skill when assaulting a strong redoubt. He behaved very gallantly in several engagements, during one of whIch he took command of his battalion, when all the senior officers had been killed or wounded, and led a successful charge resulting in the capture of the enemy’s trenches.

He married Beatrice Hill in 1916

Aged 40

Commemorating the Fallen of WW1

Today we remember …

22nd February 1917. Frederick Raikes, D Social, 1885. 2nd Lt, South Wales Borderers (attd Machine Gun Corps). Killed in action, 2nd Battle of Kut-al-Amara, Mesopotamia Campaign

Frederick Raikes was one of the oldest volunteers to join up.  He was married, with five children, and working as a solicitor when the War began.  At school he was a Junior Scholar and winner of the Heathcote Scholarship for Mathematics. He studied at Corpus Christi College, Oxford.

There was something really  heroic and yet typically English in F. M. Raikes’s offering his life for his country at an age when he might have stayed at home.  “He had high  ideals  and a love  of the  beautiful in  form  and character, in nature and art and literature.”  Again,” he joyed  all  physical effort which taxed  his resourcefulness and  endurance – if it  involved  hardship so  much the better.”  ‘I should like to find myself in a tight corner,’ he said on one occasion.  One of his friends  writes, ‘Never was anyone so full of the spirit of right living and right enjoyment as he.’  Radley has a right to be proud of such a son.

His eldest son was a boy at the school when he was killed.  His death precipitated action on the War Memorial Scholarships Fund and his son was the first boy to receive aid from it.  His nephew, John Raikes, considered Radley’s most promising mathematician, died on the Somme in 1916.

Aged 45
2nd Lt Frederick Raikes, South Wales Borderers. kia Kut-al-Amara

2nd Lt Frederick Raikes, South Wales Borderers. kia Kut-al-Amara

Commemorating the Fallen of WW1

Today we remember …

6th February 1917. John Crichton, A Social 1897. Major, Hampshire Regt, attached Royal Engineers, Inland Water Transport. Died of pneumonia during the Mesopotamia Campaign

At school he was a Prefect and played for the Soccer XI. After school, he took up marine engineering as a career, having served his apprenticeship at Thornycroft’s. He took the degree of A.M.I.C.E. at King’s College, London. He then served his time as engineer on board the Royal Mail Company’s ships for three years, which enabled him to qualify for a chief engineer’s certificate. He joined the Hampshire Regiment at the inception of the Territorial movement, and on the outbreak of war proceeded with his battalion to India, where he served as major of his battalion till the summer of 1916, when he was specially sent by the Indian Government to the front to carry out important marine constructional work.

More men died of pneumonia during the Mesopotamia Campaign than were killed in action. He is buried in Basra.

Aged 34

Major John Crichton, Hampshire Regt

Major John Crichton, Hampshire Regt

Commemorating the Fallen of WW1

Today we remember …

 

3rd February 1917.  John Partington. B Social 1898. Captain, 4th Bn, Devonshire Regt.. Killed in action, Second Battle of Kut-el-Amara, Mesopotamia (modern Iraq)

‘He went up to Pembroke College, Cambridge, with an exhibition in 1903, and took honours in the Classical Tripos in 1907. At the outbreak of war he was Classical Master at St. Edward’s School, Oxford, and received his commission in the Devons in October, 1914. He was promoted temporary captain in December, 1914, and went out at that time with his battalion to India. During 1915 he was sent to Australia on special service, returning to India in the autumn of that year.  In October, 1916, he was transferred to another front, and fell in action on February 3.’

Aged 32

John Partington as a new boy, B Social, 1898

John Partington as a new boy, B Social, 1898

 

Commemorating the Fallen of WW1

Today we remember …

Mesopotamia Campaign

17th September 1916. John Bankes-Price. D Social, 1909. Flt-Lt, Royal Naval Air Service. Killed in action at El Arish, Mesopotamia (now Iraq).

John Bankes-Price was the son of the British Consul in Chicago. He joined the Royal Naval Air Service in 1915. He is commemorated on the Jerusalem Memorial. Aged 21

Commemorating the Fallen of WW1

Today we remember …

13th September 1916

Richard Brodie-James. G Social, 1908. Lt, 9th Bn, East Lancashire Regt.Killed in action in Greece.

Richard Brodie-James was killed near Macukovo in Greece. His name is recorded on the Doiran Memorial. He was Mentioned in Despatches. The letter from his colonel to his parents says:

Your son was as gallant, cool, and capable an officer as I have met in my 32 years’ soldiering. . . . He is a loss to the regiment and the Army, for his quickness and ability were much above the average. We were all proud of him, and the men speak of him enthusiastically. In the list of recommendations for recognition which I have just sent in your son’s name stands first. Living or dead he deserves the tribute – and more.

Aged 23

&

Henry Skinner. A Social, 1910. Private, 1/4th Bn, London Scottish. Died of wounds, Battle of the Somme.

Henry Skinner was one of very few Radleians who enlisted as a Private.

He went from Radley to Abingdon School and from there to Jesus College, Cambridge, where his grandfather was a fellow.

Aged 21
Richard Brodie-James, Lt, 9th Bn, East Lancashire Regt. kia in Greece

Richard Brodie-James, Lt, 9th Bn, East Lancashire Regt. kia in Greece

Henry Skinner, Private, 1/14th Bn, London Scottish. Died of wounds, Battle of the Somme

Henry Skinner, Private, 1/14th Bn, London Scottish. Died of wounds, Battle of the Somme