Category Archives: Royalty and World War I

April 1916: Royalty and World War I

by Susan Flantzer

Michael Hugh Hicks-Beach, Viscount Quenington

Viscount Quenington

Michael Hicks-Beach, Viscount Quenington; Photo Credit – http://www.illustratedfirstworldwar.com

Michael Hugh Hicks-Beach was born on January 19, 1877 at 40 Portman Square in London, England. He was the only son and the second of the four children of Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, a Member of Parliament and Chancellor of the Exchequer, and his second wife, Lady Lucy Catherine Fortescue, daughter of Hugh Fortescue, 3rd Earl Fortescue. Michael had one elder sister and two younger sisters.

  • Lady Eleanor Hicks-Beach (1875 – 1960), married Lt.-Col. Sir John Keane, 5th Baronet; had issue
  • Lady Susan Hicks-Beach (1878 – 1965), unmarried
  • Lady Victoria Hicks-Beach (1879 – 1963), unmarried

Michael was educated at Eton College and then attended Christ Church College at the University of Oxford.  He served as a Captain in the 4th (Militia) Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment at St Helena during the Second Boer War.  From 1906 until his death, Michael was a Conservative Member of Parliament from Tewkesbury and was a board member of Lloyds Bank. In 1915, when his father was created 1st Earl St Aldwyn, Michael then held the courtesy title Viscount Quenington, one of his father’s subsidiary titles.

On September 28, 1909, Michael married Marjorie Dent-Brocklehurst of Sudeley Castle, the castle where Catherine Parr, the widow of King Henry VIII, lived the last years of her life. The couple had two children:

  • Lady Delia Mary Hicks-Beach (1910 – 2006), married Brigadier Sir Michael Dillwyn-Venables-Llewelyn, 3rd Baronet; had issue
  • Michael John Hicks-Beach, 2nd Earl St Aldwyn (1912 – 1992), married Diana Mary Christian Mills, had issue including Michael Henry Hicks-Beach, 3rd Earl St. Aldwyn

At the start of World War I, Michael joined the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars as a 2nd Lieutenant and served during the Gallipoli Campaign.  After evacuation from Gallipoli, the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars went to Egypt where took part in many of the battles that formed the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, and Michael served with them as a Lieutenant and an Adjutant.

Michael’s wife Marjorie (Viscountess Quenington) went to Egypt to serve in the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD), a voluntary organization providing field nursing services, and died from typhus in Cairo, Egypt on March 15, 1916.

About seven weeks later, on April 23, 1916, Michael died of wounds received when serving as Adjutant during the Battle of Katia, 40 miles from the Suez Canal, near Katia, Egypt. He and his wife were buried side by side at the Cairo New British Protestant Cemetery.

Cairo New British Protestant Cemetery; Photo Credit – www.findagrave.com

On April 30, 1916, just a week after Michael’s death, his father Michael Edward Hicks-Beach, 1st Earl St Aldwyn died, and his three year old grandson succeeded him as the 2nd Earl St Aldwyn. A joint memorial was held for Michael Edward Hicks-Beach, 1st Earl St Aldwyn and Michael Hugh Hicks-Beach, Viscount Quenington on May 4, 1916 at St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster, London.

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Timeline: April 1, 1916 – April 30, 1916

  • April 23 – Battle of Katia in Ogratina, Katia and Duidar east of the Suez Canal and north of El Ferdan Station in present-day Egypt
  • April 27 – 29 – German gas attack on British troops at Hulluch, France
  • April 29 – British forces under siege at Kut-al-Amara, Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) surrender to the Ottomans, first Siege of Kut ends

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A Note About German Titles

Many German royals and nobles died in World War I. The German Empire consisted of 27 constituent states, most of them ruled by royal families. Scroll down to German Empire here to see what constituent states made up the German Empire.  The constituent states retained their own governments, but had limited sovereignty. Some had their own armies, but the military forces of the smaller ones were put under Prussian control. In wartime, armies of all the constituent states would be controlled by the Prussian Army and the combined forces were known as the Imperial German Army.  German titles may be used in Royals Who Died In Action below. Refer to Unofficial Royalty: Glossary of German Noble and Royal Titles.

24 British peers were also killed in World War I and they will be included in the list of those who died in action. In addition, more than 100 sons of peers also lost their lives, and those that can be verified will also be included.

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April 1916 – Royals/Nobles/Peers/Sons of Peers Who Died In Action

The list is in chronological order and does contain some who would be considered noble instead of royal. The links in the last bullet for each person is that person’s genealogical information from Leo’s Genealogics Website or to The Peerage website.  If a person has a Wikipedia page, their name will be linked to that page.

Captain and Brevet Major The Honorable Josceline Foljambe

 

Hugo Francis Charteris, Lord Elcho

Michael Hicks-Beach, Viscount Quenington and Member of Parliament

Georg, Freiherr von Saalfeld

March 1916: Royalty and World War I

by Susan Flantzer

Lord Desmond FitzGerald

Lord Desmond FitzGerald; Photo Credit – www.illustratedfirstworldwar.com

Born on September 21, 1888, Lord Desmond FitzGerald was the second of the three sons of Gerald FitzGerald, 5th Duke of Leinster and Lady Hermione Duncombe, daughter of William Duncombe, 1st Earl of Feversham. He was born at Carton House in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland, the ancestral home of the Dukes of Leinster. The house remained in the FitzGerald family until the early 1920s when the 7th Duke of Leinster sold it to pay off his gambling debts.

Lord Desmond had an elder brother and a younger brother, and both became Duke of Leinster, a title in the Peerage of Ireland and the premier dukedom in that peerage.

Lord Desmond’s elder brother Maurice, who became the 6th Duke of Leinster in 1893 when he was six years old, spent his adult life in a psychiatric hospital, living in a villa on the hospital grounds and attended by a butler, from 1907 until his death in 1922.

Lord Desmond was educated at Eton College and then attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He passed out of Sandhurst to Irish Guards in February of 1909. He was promoted to Captain in 1913, and then in July of 1915 was promoted again to Major. He was been twice wounded in action, had been mentioned in dispatches, and was awarded the Military Cross.

According to an article in The New York Times, March 8, 1916, Lord Desmond “was experimenting with a new kind of bomb, when it exploded and a fragment struck him in the head. He was taken to a hospital and died an hour later.”

Author and poet Rudyard Kipling whose Irish Guard son John was killed in action, wrote in The Irish Guards in the Great War (chapter The Salient to The Somme): “On March 3, during practice with live bombs, one exploded prematurely, as several others of that type had done in other battalions, and Major Lord Desmond FitzGerald was so severely wounded that he died within an hour at the Millicent Sutherland (No. 9. Red Cross Hospital). Lieutenant T. E. G. Nugent was dangerously wounded at the same time through the liver, though he did not realise this at the time, and stayed coolly in charge of a party till help came. Lieutenant Hanbury, who was conducting the practice, was wounded in the hand and leg, and Father Lane-Fox lost an eye and some fingers.

Lord Desmond FitzGerald was buried in the public cemetery at Calais on the 5th. As he himself had expressly desired, there was no formal parade, but the whole Battalion, of which he was next for the command, lined the road to his grave. His passion and his loyalty had been given to the Battalion without thought of self, and among many sad things few are sadder than to see the record of his unceasing activities and care since he had been second in command cut across by the curt announcement of his death.”

cemetary_Desmond Fitzgerald

Calais Southern Cemetery in Pas de Calais, France where Lord Desmond FitzGerald was buried; Photo Credit – http://www.cwgc.org/

However, Lord Desmond’s story is not over. In 1922, when Maurice FitzGerald, 6th Duke of Leinster died, the youngest of the three brothers, Edward FitzGerald, became the 7th Duke of Leinster. The 7th Duke had a severe gambling addiction. He was bankrupted three times, in 1918, 1922 and again in 1936, and married four times. Unable to cope with his financial problems, the 7th Duke ended up living in a tiny one room flat in the Pimlico section of London. Distraught, depressed and penniless, he committed suicide in 1976. His son Gerald FitzGerald became 8th Duke of Leinster.

In 1976, when the 7th Duke died, a California artist and teacher, Leonard FitzGerald, claimed to be the rightful Duke of Leinster. He said his father was Lord Desmond FitzGerald, the second of three sons of Gerald FitzGerald, 5th Duke of Leinster, who was thought to have been killed in World War I. Leonard FitzGerald insisted that Lord Desmond, however, secretly emigrated to North America and lived there until his death in 1967, despite eyewitness accounts of Lord Desmond’s death and his burial at the cemetery in Calais, France. On the advice of his doctor, because of ill health, Leonard FitzGerald withdrew his claim. He died in 1994, but the claim was continued by his son Paul FitzGerald, who filed a suit with the British Department of Constitutional Affairs in 2006. However, Paul FitzGerald’s claim was eventually dismissed in 2007.
Canada.com: U.K. shoots down American’s claim to Irish dukedom

In 2010, DNA evidence was presented that indicates Paul FitzGerald is related to the wife of the 5th Duke of Leinster and the mother of Lord Desmond, born Lady Hermione Duncombe. This DNA evidence could pose a real legal challenge to the existing holder Maurice FitzGerald, 9th Duke of Leinster as it supports Paul FitzGerald’s theory that the ducal title has gone down the wrong branch of the family. However, at the time of this writing, there has been no further legal decisions.
The Scotsman: DNA test the latest twist in aristocratic tale of a cowboy, a gambler and a web of deceit

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Timeline: March 1, 1916 – March 31, 1916

March 1 – Germany resumes unrestricted submarine warfare
March 1–15 – Fifth Battle of the Isonzo on the Soča River, now in Slovenia
March 2 – August 4 – Battle of Bitlis in Bitlis Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (now in Turkey)
March 8 – Battle of Dujaila in Kut, now in Iraq
March 9 – Germany declares war on Portugal and Portugal officially enters the war
March 11–12 – Battle of Latema Nek in Latema-Reata Hills, British East Africa (now in Kenya and Uganda)
March 18 – Battle of Kahe in Kahe, German East Africa (now Burundi, Rwanda, and Tanzania)
March 18 – March 30 – Lake Naroch Offensive on Lake Narach, now in Belarus

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A Note About German Titles

Many German royals and nobles died in World War I. The German Empire consisted of 27 constituent states, most of them ruled by royal families. Scroll down to German Empire here to see what constituent states made up the German Empire.  The constituent states retained their own governments, but had limited sovereignty. Some had their own armies, but the military forces of the smaller ones were put under Prussian control. In wartime, armies of all the constituent states would be controlled by the Prussian Army and the combined forces were known as the Imperial German Army.  German titles may be used in Royals Who Died In Action below. Refer to Unofficial Royalty: Glossary of German Noble and Royal Titles.

24 British peers were also killed in World War I and they will be included in the list of those who died in action. In addition, more than 100 sons of peers also lost their lives, and those that can be verified will also be included.

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March 1916 – Royals/Nobles/Peers/Sons of Peers Who Died In Action

The list is in chronological order and does contain some who would be considered noble instead of royal. The links in the last bullet for each person is that person’s genealogical information from Leo’s Genealogics Website or to The Peerage website.  If a person has a Wikipedia page, their name will be linked to that page.

Lord Desmond FitzGerald
Major Lord Desmond FitzGerald

 

Hon. James Joicey
Captain The Honorable Sydney Joicey

Maximilian, Graf von Attems


Captain The Honorable Alfred Shaughnessy

February 1916: Royalty and World War I

by Susan Flantzer

2nd Lieutenant John Alexander Thynne, Viscount Weymouth

Viscount-Weymouth

John Thynne, Viscount Weymouth; Photo Credit – www.winchestercollegeatwar.com

John Alexander Thynne, born November 25, 1895, was the eldest son of Thomas Thynne, 5th Marquess of Bath and Violet Mordaunt. Violet was the daughter of Harriet Moncreiffe and questionable daughter of her husband, Sir Charles Mordaunt, 10th Baronet.  Lord and Lady Mordaunt were involved in the Mordaunt Scandal which involved Prince Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) and rocked British society in the 1890s.

Sir Charles Mordaunt was a wealthy and powerful Conservative Member of Parliament. He and his wife were members of the Marlborough Set, a group of people who surrounded the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) and named after his London home near Buckingham Palace. While Sir Charles was off fishing or hunting or attending sessions of Parliament, Harriet entertained numerous lovers, including the Prince of Wales and several of his aristocratic friends.

On February 28, 1869, Harriet gave birth to a premature daughter, Violet Caroline, the mother of John Thynne, Viscount Weymouth. The timing of the birth was significant as Sir Charles had been away on a fishing trip when the child would have been conceived. When baby Violet had a serious eye infection, Harriet hysterically thought it was from a venereal disease and confessed to her husband that she did not know who the father was, and that the Prince of Wales could have been one of several possibilities. Sir Charles sued for divorce and letters his wife had exchanged with the Prince of Wales were used in the divorce proceedings. Sir Charles threatened to name the Prince of Wales as a co-respondent in his divorce suit. Although this did not happen, the Prince was called to testify, further adding to the scandal. It was shown that the Prince of Wales had visited the Mordaunts’ house while Sir Charles was away. Although nothing further was proven and the Prince denied he had committed adultery, the suggestion of impropriety was damaging . The divorce destroyed Harriet who was declared insane and spent the rest of her life in an asylum, dying in 1906.

Harriet, Lady Mordaunt, grandmother of John Thynne, Viscount Weymouth in the 1860s; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

In 1895, John Alexander Thynne’s father became the 5th Marquess of Bath after his father died. John was then styled with the courtesy style, Viscount Weymouth and became the heir to the Marquess of Bath title. John had two older sisters, one younger brother and one younger sister.

0890_Longleat_1

Longleat House; Photo Credit – Susan Flantzer

The family home, Longleat House, was built by Sir John Thynne, the steward to Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, brother of King Henry VIII’s third wife Jane Seymour and uncle to King Edward VI. Longleat House took 37 years to design and build. It has been the home of the Thynne family ever since and was the first British stately home opened to the public.

John Thynne, Viscount Weymouth was educated at Sevenoaks School in Sevenoaks, Kent, England which was founded in 1432. He then attended Winchester College in Winchester, Hampshire, England from 1909-1912. On August 15, 1914, shortly after the start of World War I, John was admitted to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He passed out of Sandhurst, and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys) in December of 1915. On the prospect of being ordered to the front, John had written to his father, the 5th Marquess of Bath, “I am very glad I am high on the list because the sooner it comes the better. Don’t think that I funk going out, but, I know perfectly well I will be in the fright of my life but also very glad.” By October 20, 1915, John was serving in France.

Scots-Greys-1916 Trenches

Soldiers of the Royal Scots Greys, photographed in the trenches at the Hairpin on 19 January 1916 © IWM (Q 29052)

In February of 1916, John was in the trenches at the Hairpin, part of a large series of trenches near Hullach in France near the Belgian border. He expected to be home on leave soon. However on February 13, 1916, 20 year-old John and ten other Scots Greys were killed when German mines were detonated under a deep, narrow trench they were using to approach the German position.

An aerial reconnaissance photograph of the opposing trenches and no-man’s land between Loos and Hulluch in Artois, France, taken at 7.15 pm, 22 July 1917. German trenches are at the right and bottom, British trenches are at the top left. The vertical line to the left of centre indicates the course of a pre-war road. Photo Credit – Wikipedia

John Thynne, Viscount Weymouth was buried at the Vermelles British Cemetery, a British war cemetery in the village of Vermelles, in Pas-de-Calais, France. The cemetery was designed by British architect Sir Herbert Baker and contains memorials to 2,134 casualties. John’s younger brother Henry succeeded their father as the 6th Marquess of Bath in 1946.

Vermelles British Cemetery; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

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Timeline: February 1, 1916 – February 29, 1916

February 5-April 15 – Trebizond Campaign in Trabzon, Ottoman Empire (now in Turkey) begins
February 12 – Battle of Salaita Hill in Salaita, near Mount Kilimanjaro (now in Kenya)
February 21 – Battle of Verdun in Verdun-sur-Meuse, France begins and lasts until December 20, 1916
February 26 – Action of Agagia in Agagiya, Egypt
February 28 – Cameroon an African colony of Germany, surrenders

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A Note About German Titles

Many German royals and nobles died in World War I. The German Empire consisted of 27 constituent states, most of them ruled by royal families. Scroll down to German Empire here to see what constituent states made up the German Empire.  The constituent states retained their own governments, but had limited sovereignty. Some had their own armies, but the military forces of the smaller ones were put under Prussian control. In wartime, armies of all the constituent states would be controlled by the Prussian Army and the combined forces were known as the Imperial German Army.  German titles may be used in Royals Who Died In Action below. Refer to Unofficial Royalty: Glossary of German Noble and Royal Titles.

24 British peers were also killed in World War I and they will be included in the list of those who died in action. In addition, more than 100 sons of peers also lost their lives, and those that can be verified will also be included.

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February 1916 – Royals/Nobles/Peers/Sons of Peers Who Died In Action

The list is in chronological order and does contain some who would be considered noble instead of royal. The links in the last bullet for each person is that person’s genealogical information from Leo’s Genealogics Website. or to The Peerage website.  If a person has a Wikipedia page, their name will be linked to that page.

2nd Lieutenant John Alexander Thynne, Viscount Weymouth

January 1916: Royalty and World War I

by Susan Flantzer

RSA-Palmer_Jan 1916 WWI

Captain The Honorable Robert Stafford Arthur Palmer; Photo Credit – http://www.winchestercollegeatwar.com

The Honorable Robert Stafford Arthur Palmer, called Bobby in the family, was born on September 26, 1888 at 20 Arlington Street in London, the house of his maternal grandfather, Lord Salisbury. He was given the names of his maternal grandfather Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, three times a Prime Minister, and of his godfathers, Arthur Balfour, also a Prime Minister, and Sir Henry Stafford Northcote, a Governor General of Australia. Bobby’s father also held important positions including being a member of the Privy Council and First Lord of the Admiralty.

In the May of 1902, Queen Alexandra selected Bobby to be one of her pages at the coronation of her husband King Edward VII and herself. Bobby’s maternal aunt Lady Laura Ridding wrote in her biography of him: “Bobby returned home from his morning at Buckingham Palace, full of enjoyment of his experiences and of admiring devotion to the charming Queen whose train-bearer he had been. It was poignant to remember his happy chatter over that day’s doings fourteen years later when, on hearing the news of his being among the “Missing” after the battle of Umm-Al -Hannah, Queen Alexandra sent a touching message of sympathy to his parents, in which she assured them that she ” had always taken the greatest interest in her Coronation pages and that she liked their boy particularly.”

One of the pages in the photo below is Bobby. (Possibly the third from the left)

by William Edward Downey, for W. & D. Downey, albumen cabinet card, 9 August 1902

Alexandra of Denmark with her coronation pages by W. & D. Downey, albumen cabinet card, 9 August 1902, NPG x33258 © National Portrait Gallery, London

From 1902-1907, Bobby attended Winchester College, established in 1382, an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition in Winchester, Hampshire, England. He was Senior Commoner Prefect in 1907 and won the Warden and Fellow’s Prizes for English Verse and Greek Prose and the Duncan Prize for English Historical Essay.

In January 1907 Bobby won a University College Scholarship at Oxford, heading the list as Senior Scholar out of one hundred and fifty-seven candidates. He studied Literae Humaniores, the name given to an undergraduate course focused on Classics (Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, Latin, ancient Greek and philosophy) at Oxford and other universities. In 1911, Bobby became president of the Oxford Union, a debating society in the city of Oxford, England, whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. Bobby was a skilled and respected orator, and his friends nicknamed him “the future Prime Minister.” In 1911, he visited India and on his return was persuaded by his friends to publish a record of his journey under the title “A Little Tour in India.”

Having passed his Bar examinations, Bobby began his legal career as the pupil of Mr. Howard Wright at 11 New Square, Lincoln’s Inn, in the same chambers that his grandfather, Lord Chancellor Selborne, had occupied for nearly forty years in the previous century. In November of 1913, Bobby was called to the bar.

Prior to the start of World War I, Bobby had served with the 6th Battalion Hampshire Regiment, his county territorial battalion, and went with them to India in October of 1914. In August of 1915, Bobby and his regiment left India for Basra, then in Mesopotamia in the Ottoman Empire, now in Iraq, to relieve the garrison at Kut-el-Amara and participated in the Siege of Kut Al Amara.  Bobby wrote many letters home which were printed for private circulation with the title “Letters from Mesopotamia: from Robert Palmer.”

Bobby wrote to his father of the terrible conditions: “This battalion when we arrived here was nominally nearly 300 strong, but actually it could hardly have paraded 100. This reduction is nearly all due to sickness. The deaths from all causes only total between forty and fifty, out of the original 800, and of these about twenty- five, I think, were killed in action. But there has been an enormous amount of sickness during the hot weather, four-fifths of which has been heat stroke and malaria. There have been a few cases of enteric and a certain number of dysentery ; but next to heat and malaria more men have been knocked out by sores and boils than by any disease. It takes ages for the smallest sore to heal. Of the original thirty officers, eight are left here, and Major Stilwell, who is Commanding Officer.”

Written on January 7, 1916: “We started at 8.30 and marched quietly about five miles. This brought us within view of the large village of Sheike Saad, which is roughly half-way between Ali Gherbi and Kut. Between us and it the battle was in full swing. We halted by a pontoon bridge (2 on sketch) just out of range of the enemy’s guns, and watched it for several hours. It was hot, and the mirage blurred everything. Our artillery was clearly very superior to theirs, both in quantity and in the possession of high explosive shell, of which the enemy had none; but we were cruelly handicapped (a) by the fact that their men and guns were entrenched and ours exposed, and (b) by the mirage, which made the location of their trenches and emplacements almost impossible.”

“On Friday a big attack was launched on both banks. On the right bank we got round their flank and carried their first line trenches with 500 prisoners, but we hadn’t enough men or water to carry the second line. On the left bank three quarters of our force attacked frontally, and one-quarter had orders to envelop their left flank. For some unexplained reason, this one-quarter changed direction in the middle of the fight and came barging into the right of the frontal force, so that we were involved in a congested frontal attack, which was very expensive, as we got within two hundred yards of their trenches with- out being able to carry them. Our casualties were over 3000. It was here that Goschen* was mortally wounded.”

*Goschen was Lieutenant The Honorable George Joachim Goschen, the only son of George Goschen, 2nd Viscount Goschen who died from his wounds January 16, 1916. See below.

On January 21, 1916, Bobby was mortally wounded during the First Battle of Hanna.  After a short bombardment, the British charged the Ottoman lines. In an advance across 600 yards of flooded no-man’s land, the British sustained 2,700 casualties. A wounded private of the Hampshire Regiment recalled shortly after the event, “The Connaughts were fighting farther off. So the Hampshire men were obliged to go on alone. We never made a rush, and just walked slowly through the rain. A slow march to our deaths, I call it.” He went on to explain as related in Bobby’s biography by his aunt, “they had got mixed up with the Black Watch and got into the first Turkish trench, but had been driven out of it again. He saw Captain Palmer fall about 200 yards from the trench, but did not see whether he got up again or where he was wounded.”

At first Bobby was listed as missing, but it later became known that he had fallen into the hands of the Turks and died soon after reaching hospital. In May of 1916, Captain The Honorable Aubrey Herbert wrote to Bobby’s father, the Earl of Selborne: “…I received a message from Ali Jenab Bey, telling me that your son had died in hospital, and that all that could be done for him had been done, and asking me to tell you how deeply he sympathized with you. The next day Ali Jenab and two other Turks came into our camp. One of them, Mohammed Riza, told me that your son had been brought in after the fight on the 21st, slightly wounded in the shoulder and badly wounded in the chest. He had been well looked after by the doctor, and the colonel of the regiment (I could not find out which regiment) had visited him and, at the doctor’s wish, sent him some brandy. He did not suffer ; and the end came after two hours.”

Bobby’s aunt Lady Laura Ridding wrote at the end of her biography of her nephew: “Later in the year, when that part of Mesopotamia had fallen into the hands of our army, the chaplain who had administered Bobby’s last Communion to him five days before his death, the Rev. R. Irwin, searched in vain all over the site occupied by the Turkish lines and camp on 21st January. He could find no trace of the burial-places where the enemy had interred their own men or their prisoners. The body of our beloved Bobby lies in an unknown grave in that ancient land.”

Captain The Honorable Robert Stafford Arthur Palmer is commemorated on Panels 21 and 63 of the Basra Memorial which commemorates 40,682 Commonwealth forces members who died during the Mesopotamian Campaign, from the autumn of 1914 to the end of August 1921, and whose graves are not known.

The Life of Robert Palmer 1888-1916 by The Lady Laura Ridding

Letters from Mesopotamia: from Robert Palmer
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Timeline: January 1, 1916 – January 31, 1916

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A Note About German Titles

Many German royals and nobles died in World War I. The German Empire consisted of 27 constituent states, most of them ruled by royal families. Scroll down to German Empire here to see what constituent states made up the German Empire.  The constituent states retained their own governments, but had limited sovereignty. Some had their own armies, but the military forces of the smaller ones were put under Prussian control. In wartime, armies of all the constituent states would be controlled by the Prussian Army and the combined forces were known as the Imperial German Army.  German titles may be used in Royals Who Died In Action below. Refer to Unofficial Royalty: Glossary of German Noble and Royal Titles.

24 British peers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peerage were also killed in World War I and they will be included in the list of those who died in action. In addition, more than 100 sons of peers also lost their lives, and those that can be verified will also be included.

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January 1916 – Royals/Nobles/Peers/Sons of Peers Who Died In Action

The list is in chronological order and does contain some who would be considered noble instead of royal. The links in the last bullet for each person is that person’s genealogical information from Leo’s Genealogics Website  or to The Peerage website.  If a person has a Wikipedia page, their name will be linked to that page.

Lieutenant The Honorable George Joachim Goschen

Captain The Honorable Robert Stafford Arthur Palmer

Sub-Lieutenant The Honorable Harold Courtenay Tennyson

December 1915: Royalty and World War I

by Susan Flantzer

Postcard of SS Persia at Aden, c.1900; Credit – Wikipedia

Born on October 30, 1858, Lieutenant-Colonel The Honorable Edward Stuart St. Aubyn was the second son and fourth of the 13 children of John St. Aubyn, 1st Baron St. Levan of St. Michaels Mount and Lady Elizabeth Clementina Townshend, daughter of John Townshend, 4th Marquess Townshend.  St. Aubyn, who made the British Army his career, was lost at sea while serving as King George V’s messenger on December 30, 1915 when the SS Persia, a British ocean liner, was torpedoed without any warning in the Mediterranean Sea by a German U-Boat. The Persia sank in five minutes, killing 343 of the 519 aboard. The sinking broke naval international law and was very controversial. The 57-year old Edward St. Aubyn was unmarried, was a Lieutenant-Colonel of the 12th Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, and had fought in Egyptian Campaign in 1882, the Boer War between 1899 and 1900, and in World War I. From 1914 until his death, St. Aubyn was a chief of staff in charge with the General Staff Branch, and responsible for training, intelligence, planning operations and directing battles. St. Aubyn’s younger brother The Honorable Piers Stewart St. Aubyn died in action on October 31, 1914 in France.

There is a memorial to Lieutenant-Colonel The Honorable Edward Stuart St. Aubyn at St. Michael’s Mount Castle on St. Michael’s Mount, a small tidal island in Mount’s Bay, Cornwall, United Kingdom. The St. Aubyn family has lived at the castle since around 1650.

“St michaels mount” by me. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_michaels_mount.jpg#/media/File:St_michaels_mount.jpg

In addition, Lieutenant-Colonel The Honorable Edward Stuart St. Aubyn is remembered at the Chatby War Memorial in Alexandria,  Egypt, which commemorates 986 United Kingdom and British Empire service personnel who died at sea in the Mediterranean in the First World War and have no grave on land.

BBC: The Persia’s fateful voyage

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Timeline: December 1, 1915 – December 31, 1915

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A Note About German Titles

Many German royals and nobles died in World War I. The German Empire consisted of 27 constituent states, most of them ruled by royal families. Scroll down to German Empire here to see what constituent states made up the German Empire.  The constituent states retained their own governments, but had limited sovereignty. Some had their own armies, but the military forces of the smaller ones were put under Prussian control. In wartime, armies of all the constituent states would be controlled by the Prussian Army and the combined forces were known as the Imperial German Army.  German titles may be used in Royals Who Died In Action below. Refer to Unofficial Royalty: Glossary of German Noble and Royal Titles.

24 British peers were also killed in World War I and they will be included in the list of those who died in action. In addition, more than 100 sons of peers also lost their lives, and those that can be verified will also be included.

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December 1915 – Royals/Nobles/Peers/Sons of Peers Who Died In Action

The list is in chronological order and does contain some who would be considered noble instead of royal. The links in the last bullet for each person is that person’s genealogical information from Leo’s Genealogics Website or to The Peerage website.  If a person has a Wikipedia page, their name will be linked to that page.

November 1915: Royalty and World War I

by Susan Flantzer

11th Earl of Seafield

James Ogilvy-Grant, 11th Earl of Seafield; Photo Credit – http://www.lijssenthoek.be/en/address/2749/-james-alias-earl-of-seafield-ogilvie-grant.html

James Ogilvy-Grant, 11th Earl of Seafield was one of the 24 British peers who died in World War I. The Earl of Seafield is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, created in 1701 for James Ogilvy, who in 1711 succeeded his father as 4th Earl of Findlater. The first Earl of Seafield’s branch of the Ogilvy family descended from the 15th century Sir John Ogilvy, whose brother Sir Walter Ogilvy was the ancestor of the Earls of Airlie.  The name Ogilvy may sound familiar to those acquainted with the British royal family.  The Right Honorable Sir Angus Ogilvy, the late husband of Princess Alexandra of Kent, Queen Elizabeth II’s first cousin, was the second son of the 12th Earl of Airlie.

James’ father, Francis William Ogilvy-Grant (10th Earl), was the son of The Honorable James Ogilvy-Grant (9th Earl), the fourth son of Francis William Ogilvy-Grant, 6th Earl of Seafield. In 1870, James’ father Francis (10th Earl) went to New Zealand where he bought a farm which soon failed. For about ten years, Francis (10th Earl) had a hard life as a laborer. In 1874, Francis (10th Earl) married his first cousin Ann Trevor Corry Evans, who was called by her nickname Nina, and they made their home in Oamaru, New Zealand. It was in Oamaru, on April 18, 1876, that James (11th Earl), the first of Francis (10th Earl) and Nina’s seven children was born. James (11th Earl) was educated in New Zealand at Warwick House Preparatory School in Christchurch, New Zealand; Christ’s College in Christchurch, New Zealand and Lincoln University in Lincoln, New Zealand.

In 1884, The Honorable James Ogilvy-Grant, the fourth son of Francis William Ogilvy-Grant, 6th Earl of Seafield succeeded his nephew as 9th Earl of Seafield. When the 9th Earl died in June of 1888, his son, James’ father, became the 10th Earl of Seafield and James (11th Earl) now used the courtesy title Viscount Reidhaven as the heir apparent to the Earl of Seafield title. Unfortunately, the 10th Earl lived for only six more months, dying on December 3, 1888. His son James then became the 11th Earl of Seafield and Chief of the Clan Grant at the age of 12.

Photo Credit – Wikipedia

On June 22, 1898 at St. Barnabas Church in Fendalton, Christchurch, New Zealand, 22 year old James Ogilvy-Grant, 11th Earl of Seafield married 22 year old Mary Elizabeth Nina Townend, who was called Nina like James’ mother. Their only child, a daughter, Nina Caroline Ogilvy-Grant was born on April 17, 1906.

In 1903, when the third wife of James’ grandfather the 9th Earl of Seafield died, James and his wife Nina took up residence at the ancestral homes in Scotland: Castle Grant in Grantown-on-Spey, Morayshire and Cullen House in Moray, Banffshire. James, 11th Earl of Seafield and Nina, Countess of Seafield became very popular and highly regarded. James devoted much time in activities that would benefit his tenants and gained a reputation for his knowledge of estate problems. He took a special interest in afforestation, the establishment of a forest or stand of trees in an area where there was no forest.

11th Earl of Seafield_2

Photo Credit – http://www.lijssenthoek.be/en/address/2749/-james-alias-earl-of-seafield-ogilvie-grant.html

During World War I, James served as a Captain in the 3rd Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, and was attached to the 5th Battalion Cameron Highlanders. He started serving at the outbreak of the war, was with the reserves at the Battle of Loos, took part in the Hohenzollern Redoubt charge and helped to reorganize the 5th Battalion Cameron Highlanders after the battles.

In early November of 1915, James expected to soon be on leave in London. However, on Tuesday, November 8, 1915, several days before he was supposed to go on leave, he sent a letter to his sister saying, “My leave is cancelled until a later date. We have just come in from the trenches, and occupy others tomorrow. The trenches are very wet and swampy…Sunday last we had a very bad day, and lost eighteen men from shells.”

On Friday, November 11, 1915, Captain James Ogilvy-Grant, 11 Earl of Seafield was making his rounds in the trenches as commanding officer. A bullet passed through a sergeant’s arm and hit James in the head. On the morning of Saturday, November 12, 1915, the family received a telegram from the chaplain of the casualty clearing station stating that James was “dangerously wounded” and “not recovering.” Later on the same day, a telegram from the Secretary of State for War informed the family that James, age 39, had died. At the time of his death, he was the eighth British peer to have died in World War I. James was buried at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery near Poperinge, West Flanders, Belgium.

11th Earl of Seafield_grave

Photo Credit – http://www.lijssenthoek.be/en/address/2749/-james-alias-earl-of-seafield-ogilvie-grant.html

Trevor Ogilvie-Grant, James’ younger brother succeeded him as 4th Baron Strathspey and Chief of Clan Grant. The Earldom of Seafield and the other subsidiary Scottish peerages could be passed on to female heirs. James’ daughter Nina became the 12th Countess of Seafield in her own right. At the time of her death in 1969, she was the second richest British woman, after Queen Elizabeth II.

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Timeline: November 1, 1915 – November 30, 1915

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A Note About German Titles

Many German royals and nobles died in World War I. The German Empire consisted of 27 constituent states, most of them ruled by royal families. Scroll down to German Empire here to see what constituent states made up the German Empire.  The constituent states retained their own governments, but had limited sovereignty. Some had their own armies, but the military forces of the smaller ones were put under Prussian control. In wartime, armies of all the constituent states would be controlled by the Prussian Army and the combined forces were known as the Imperial German Army.  German titles may be used in Royals Who Died In Action below. Refer to Unofficial Royalty: Glossary of German Noble and Royal Titles.

24 British peers were also killed in World War I and they will be included in the list of those who died in action. In addition, more than 100 sons of peers also lost their lives, and those that can be verified will also be included.

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November 1915 – Royals/Nobles/Peers/Sons of Peers Who Died In Action

The list is in chronological order and does contain some who would be considered noble instead of royal. The links in the last bullet for each person is that person’s genealogical information from Leo’s Genealogics Website or to The Peerage website.  If a person has a Wikipedia page, their name will be linked to that page.

by Sir (John) Benjamin Stone, platinum print in card window mount, 1903

Photo Credit- by Sir (John) Benjamin Stone platinum print, 1903 NPG x45001© National Portrait Gallery, London

Lieutenant The Honorable William Lionel Charles Walrond

  • son of William Walrond, 1st Baron Waleran and Elizabeth Katharine Pitman
  • born May 5, 1876
  • Member of Parliament
  • married 1904 The Honorable Charlotte Margaret Lothian Coats, had two sons, the younger son became the 2nd and last Baron Walrond
  • died on November 2, 1915 at Aboyne Castle in Craigendinnie, Scotland after contracting tubercular laryngitis on active service in France, probably from the effects of gas warfare, age 39
  • http://thepeerage.com/p23081.htm#i230804

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thomas-carew-trollope

Photo Credit – http://www.carewcheritoncontroltower.co.uk

Captain Thomas Trollope, 3rd Baron Kesteven

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(see article above)
James Ogilvy-Grant, 11th Earl of Seafield

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Schomberg McDonnell

Photo Credit – www.illustratedfirstworldwar.com

Major The Honorable Sir Schomberg Kerr McDonnell

  • son of Mark McDonnell, 5th Earl of Antrim and Jane Emma Hannah Macan
  • born March 22, 1861 at Glenarm Castle in County Antrim, Ireland
  • Principal Private Secretary to Lord Salisbury,Prime Minister, 1888 – 1902
  • Secretary to the Commissioner of Works, 1902 – 1912
  • Chief Intelligence Officer of the London District, 1914 – 1915
  • Knight Commander, Order of the Bath
  • Knight Grand Cross, Royal Victorian Order
  • married 1913 Ethel Henry Davis
  • died November 23, 1915 from wounds received in action on November 21, 1915, age 54
  • http://www.thepeerage.com/p866.htm#i8660
Schomberg McDonnell_grave

Grave of Major The Honorable Sir Schomberg Kerr McDonnell at the Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery in West Flanders, Belgium; Photo Credit – findagrave.com

October 1915: Royalty and World War I

by Susan Flantzer

brig gen trefusis

Brigadier-General The Honorable John Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis; Credit – http://www.devonremembers.co.uk

Brigadier-General The Honorable John Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis

The Honorable John Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis was born on January 14, 1878 in London, England. He was the eldest son from the second marriage of his father Charles Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis, 20th Baron Clinton to Margaret Walrond, daughter of Sir Jack Walrond, 1st Baronet.  John, whose nickname was Jack Tre, had six siblings and five half siblings from his father’s first marriage. His father died in 1904 and his eldest son from his first marriage, Charles Jack Robert Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis, became the 21st Baron Clinton. The 21st Baron’s younger daughter, The Honorable Fenella Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis , married The Honorable Jack Bowes-Lyon, a brother of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.

Jack attended Eton College and then began his military career as a volunteer trooper in the Imperial Yeomanry in the Second Boer War of 1899-1902, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Irish Guards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Guards on July 1, 1901 and promoted to lieutenant a year later. In 1904, he was appointed as aide-de-camp to General Lord Methuen who was commander of the IV Army Corps, and then Commander-in-Chief of British Empire land forces in South Africa. In October of 1909, Jack was promoted to captain, was appointed adjutant of the Irish Guards and returned to the United Kingdom.

Upon his return to the United Kingdom, Jack served as an officer of a company of cadets at the Royal Military College Sandhurst until 1914 when he was appointed as an adjutant at the Royal Military College Sandhurst. At the outbreak of World War I, the Irish Guards were sent to France. Jack was promoted to major and went to France on September 18, 1914 as an adjutant of the Irish Guards 1st Battalion. He kept a personal diary (see link to diary below) from September 18, 1914 until August 11, 1915.
Devon Remembers: World War I Diary of Jack Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis

The Irish Guards had heavy casualties among both officers and men in the First Battle of Ypres in October and November of 1914. Jack was appointed acting commander of the 1st Battalion and made a temporary Lieutenant Colonel. He was awarded a Distinguished Service Order in February of 1915 and was mentioned in dispatches.

In August of 2015, Jack received word that he had been promoted to brigadier general and was to command the 20th Brigade in 7th Division.  At the time, he was the youngest brigadier general in the British Army. The author Rudyard Kipling whose son served in the Irish Guards (and died at the Battle of Loos in September of 1915 at age 18) wrote in his history of the Irish Guards, “The CO, Colonel Trefusis, was telephoned word that he was to command the 20th Brigade and was pathetically grieved at his promotion. He hated leaving the battalion which, after eleven months of better or worse, he had come to look upon as his own.”

Jack’s leading of the 20th Brigade in the successful attack upon Loos further enhanced his reputation, but that was the last important battle in which he participated. On October 24, 1915, Jack was arranging for his brigade to be relieved in the battle line by another brigade. While taking his replacement brigadier general around the trenches, Jack was shot through the forehead by a sniper and died immediately. He was buried the next day in the Guards Cemetery at Windy Corner in Cuinchy, France.  He was one of 58 British generals killed on the Western Front.

Treufis grave

Grave of Brigadier-General The Honorable Jack Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis; Photo Credit – http://www.webmatters.net/txtpat/images/1105.jpg

Guards Cemetery Windy Corner

Guards Cemetery, Windy Corner in Cuinchy, France; Photo Credit – www.findagrave.com

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Timeline: October 1, 1915 – October 31, 1915

October 7 – December 4: Serbia is invaded by Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria
October 14: Bulgaria declares war on Serbia
October 14 – November 9: Morava Offensive from Leskovac, Serbia to Negotin, Serbia , a phase of the Central Powers Invasion of Serbia, Bulgarians break through Serbian lines
October 14 – November 15: OVche Pole Offensive between Vranje, Serbia and Berovo, Macedonia, a phase of the Central Powers invasion of Serbia, Bulgarians break through Serbian lines
October 15: United Kingdom declares war on Bulgaria
October 16: France declares war on Bulgaria
October 17 – November 21: Battle of Krivolak in Krivolak, Kingdom of Serbia (now Macedonia) , start of the Salonika Front
October 18 – November 4: Third Battle of the Isonzo at Soča river in western Slovenia
October 19: Italy and Russia declare war on Bulgaria
October 27: French army lands in Salonika and, with the help of British and Italian troops, sets up a Balkan Front.

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A Note About German Titles

Many German royals and nobles died in World War I. The German Empire consisted of 27 constituent states, most of them ruled by royal families. Scroll down to German Empire here to see what constituent states made up the German Empire.  The constituent states retained their own governments, but had limited sovereignty. Some had their own armies, but the military forces of the smaller ones were put under Prussian control. In wartime, armies of all the constituent states would be controlled by the Prussian Army and the combined forces were known as the Imperial German Army.  German titles may be used in Royals Who Died In Action below. Refer to Unofficial Royalty: Glossary of German Noble and Royal Titles.

24 British peers were also killed in World War I and they will be included in the list of those who died in action. In addition, more than 100 sons of peers also lost their lives, and those that can be verified will also be included.

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October 1915 – Royals/Nobles/Peers/Sons of Peers Who Died In Action

The list is in chronological order and does contain some who would be considered noble instead of royal. The links in the last bullet for each person is that person’s genealogical information from Leo’s Genealogics Website or to The Peerage website.  If a person has a Wikipedia page, their name will be linked to that page.

Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Ninian Crichton-Stuart

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Charles Mills

The Honorable Charles Thomas Mills; Photo Credit – http://thepeerage.com/p2401.htm#i24009

2nd Lieutenant The Honorable Charles Thomas Mills

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Captain The Honorable Richard Grosvenor

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2nd Lieutenant The Honorable Thomas Fremantle

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Yvo Charteris

The Honorable Yvo Alan Charteris; Photo Credit – www.findagrave.com

Captain The Honorable Yvo Alan Charteris

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Brigadier-General The Honorable John Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis

100 Years Ago: The Queen Mother’s brother is killed in World War I

Captain The Honorable Fergus Bowes-Lyon; Photo Credit – Daily Mail

100 years ago, on September 27, 1915, The Queen Mother’s brother Captain The Honorable Fergus Bowes-Lyon died in World War I.  His death was the feature of our September 1915 Royalty and World War I article.  On her wedding day, The Queen Mother left her bridal bouquet on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey in honor of her brother. Read the story of The Queen Mother’s brother below.
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Unofficial Royalty: September 1915 – Royalty and World War I – The Honorable Fergus Bowes-Lyon

September 1915: Royalty and World War I

by Susan Flantzer

QUEEN MOTHER PROJECT MY DARLING BUFFY THE EARLY LIFE OF THE QUEEN MOTHER BY GRANIA FORBES - THE QUEEN MOTHER CHILDHOOD FERGUS BOWES LYON KILLED IN 1915 AT THE BATTLE OF LOOS

Captain The Honorable Fergus Bowes-Lyon; Photo Credit – Daily Mail

Captain The Honorable Fergus Bowes-Lyon, the brother of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and the uncle of Queen Elizabeth II, was killed in action on September 27, 1915 during the Battle of the Hohenzollern Redoubt, a phase of the Battle of Loos, in France. Fergus was the sixth of the ten children of Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck.

Fergus was born on April 18, 1889 at St. Paul’s Walden Bury, a Bowes-Lyon family estate in Hertfordshire, England. He was 12 years older than his sister Elizabeth and there were two siblings between them. Fergus was educated at Eton College in Eton, Berkshire, England, right across the River Thames from Windsor.

Fergus joined Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) 2nd Battalion as a second lieutenant in December of 1910, and in 1911 was sent to Punjab, India. He would have been very happy to remain in the military, but as a younger son of a peer, he knew he had to earn more money, so he took a job in the City of London. When World War I started in August of 1914, Fergus rejoined the Black Watch serving in the 8th Battalion.

On September 9, 1914, Fergus wrote to his mother that he and his fiancée Lady Christian Dawson-Damer, daughter of George Dawson-Damer, 5th Earl of Portarlington, intended to marry at once. The wedding was held on September 17, 1914, and then Fergus went off to join the 8th Battalion of the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment). Fergus and Christian had one child, a daughter, Rosemary Luisa Bowes-Lyon (July 18, 1915 – January 18, 1989), who was born two months before her father’s death. After Fergus’s death, his widow Lady Christian married Captain William Frederick Martin on June 4, 1919.

by Bassano, whole-plate glass negative, 6 April 1932

Lady Christian Norah Martin (née Dawson-Damer) by Bassano Ltd whole-plate glass negative, 6 April 1932 NPG x150177 © National Portrait Gallery, London

All four of the eldest surviving sons of the 14th Earl of Strathmore, saw action in World War I. Besides Fergus, his two elder surviving brothers were also in the British Army: Patrick and John (known as Jock) were both in the Black Watch. His next youngest brother, Michael, had just completed his first year at Magdalen College, Oxford, but he volunteered for the Scots Guard at once.

Fergus was sent to the Western Front in 1915, where the British Army and the French Army were attacking the German lines in Champagne and Artois in France to relieve pressure on their Russia allies. In August, Fergus had a brief visit home, and then returned to his battalion. British and French soldiers were preparing to attack on September 25 in the Battle of Loos, but the French were stopped by the Germans and the British, using poison gas for the first time, made some forward progress, but reinforcements were slow to come.

British infantry advancing through gas at Loos, September 25, 1915; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

On September 27, 1915, Fergus was ordered to remove a group of Germans who had infiltrated a trench by the Hohenzollern Redoubt, a defensive strongpoint of the German 6th Army, which the Black Watch had captured on September 26. Fergus and his men had been fighting continuously for the previous two days and nights. They had been relieved at 4 AM on September 27, and were preparing their breakfast when the new orders were received. Fergus led his men forward, but a German bomb exploded at his feet. His right leg was blown off and he suffered chest wounds. At the same time, bullets hit him in the chest and shoulder. Fergus was removed from the battlefield, and died a few hours later at the age of 26.

At the time of Fergus’ death, his brother John was also serving with the Black Watch. His younger brother Michael was at home recovering from wounds and his eldest brother Patrick had recently left the Black Watch after being wounded. His mother was severely affected by the loss of her son, and after his death became an invalid, withdrawn from public life until the marriage of her daughter Elizabeth to the future king in 1923. On April 23, 1923, as Elizabeth entered Westminster Abbey to be married to the future King George VI, she passed the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, whose remains had been brought from France and buried in the Abbey floor three years earlier. Elizabeth laid her bouquet of white roses on it. No doubt she was thinking of her brother Fergus and all the other British soldiers who died in World War I.
Daily Mail: Give my love to Elizabeth: The Queen Mother’s brother – and a desperately poignant letter from the WWI trenches weeks before he died

Fergus was buried in a quarry at Vermelles, France. The quarry was adopted as a war cemetery, but the details of Fergus’ grave were lost, and so he was recorded among the names of the missing on the Loos Memorial.  In November of 2011, Fergus’ grandson supplied family records to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission detailing Fergus’ original burial place, and showing that it had remained marked until the end of the war. In August of 2012, Fergus’ place of commemoration was moved to the Quarry Cemetery in Vermelles and is now marked by a headstone (photo below) inscribed with his personal details and the words “Buried near this spot” as the precise location of the grave is still not known.
Daily Record: Final resting place of Queen’s uncle discovered nearly a century after his death

fergus bowes lyon grave

Photo Credit – www.findagrave.com

British losses in the Battle of Loos were exceptionally high with 50,000 casualties (including at least 20,000 deaths). John Kipling, the 18 year old son of British author Rudyard Kipling also died in the Battle of Loos on the same day Fergus died. Kipling remembered his son and all the casualties of World War I in the following poem:

The Children
1914-1918
“The Honours of War” – A Diversity of Creatures

by Rudyard Kipling

These were our children who died for our land: they were dear in our sight.
We have only the memory left of their home-treasured saying and laughter.
The price of our loss shall be paid to our hands, not another’s hereafter.
Neither the Alien nor Priest shall decide on it. That is our right.
But who shall return us the children?

At the hour the Barbarian chose to disclose his pretences,
And raged against Man, they engaged, on the breasts that they bared for us,
The first felon-stroke of the sword he had long-time prepared for us –
Their bodies were all our defense while we wrought our defenses.

They bought us anew with their blood, forbearing to blame us,
Those hours which we had not made good when the Judgment o’ercame us.
They believed us and perished for it. Our statecraft, our learning
Delivered them bound to the Pit and alive to the burning
Whither they mirthfully hastened as jostling for honour –
Nor since her birth has our Earth seen such worth loosed upon her.

Nor was their agony brief, or once only imposed on them.
The wounded, the war-spent, the sick received no exemption:
Being cured they returned and endured and achieved our redemption,
Hopeless themselves of relief, till Death, marveling, closed on them.

That flesh we had nursed from the first in all cleanness was given
To corruption unveiled and assailed by the malice of Heaven –
By the heart-shaking jests of Decay where it lolled in the wires –
To be blanched or gay-painted by fumes – to be cindered by fires –
To be senselessly tossed and retossed in stale mutilation
From crater to crater. For that we shall take expiation.
But who shall return us our children?

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Timeline: September 1, 1915 – September 30, 1915

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A Note About German Titles

Most of the royals who died in action during World War I were German. The German Empire consisted of 27 constituent states, most of them ruled by royal families. Scroll down to German Empire here to see what constituent states made up the German Empire.  The constituent states retained their own governments, but had limited sovereignty. Some had their own armies, but the military forces of the smaller ones were put under Prussian control. In wartime, armies of all the constituent states would be controlled by the Prussian Army and the combined forces were known as the Imperial German Army.  German titles may be used in Royals Who Died In Action below. Refer to Unofficial Royalty: Glossary of German Noble and Royal Titles.

24 British peers were also killed in World War I and they will be included in the list of those who died in action. In addition, more than 100 sons of peers also lost their lives, and those that can be verified will also be included.

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August 1915 – Royals/Nobles/Peers Who Died In Action

The list is in chronological order and does contain some who would be considered noble instead of royal. The links in the last bullet for each person is that person’s genealogical information from Leo’s Genealogics Website or to The Peerage website.  If a person has a Wikipedia page, their name will be linked to that page.


The Honorable Harold Cawley

The Honorable Frank Bethell

Andrew Stuart, Viscount Stuart

The Honorable Hercules Robinson

The Honorable Fergus Bowes-Lyon (see above)

The Honorable Cyril Ponsonby

The Honorable Maurice Browne


The Honorable Thomas Agar-Robartes

August 1915: Royalty and World War I

by Susan Flantzer

Coat of Arms of Liechtenstein; Credit – “Staatswappen-Liechtensteins” by SVG Added Ramos – Own work based on: File:Coat of arms of Liechtenstein.png. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Staatswappen-Liechtensteins.svg#/media/File:Staatswappen-Liechtensteins.svg

Prince Heinrich of Liechtenstein

On August 16, 1915, 38 year old Prince Heinrich of Liechtenstein, who served in the Austro-Hungarian Army, died in Warsaw, Prussia (now in Poland) from wounds received in action. The German and Austro-Hungarian armies had occupied Warsaw on August 5, 1915 after a century of Russian control of the city, when the Russian commander in chief of the Eastern Front, Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia evacuated the Russian troops from Warsaw. The German and Austrian offensive march toward Warsaw had begun on July 13, 1915. It seems likely that Prince Heinrich of Liechtenstein was wounded sometime during the offensive as the Austro-Hungarian Army was involved and he then died in Warsaw which had become part of Prussia.

The name Liechtenstein originated from Castle Liechtenstein (“bright stone”) located near Maria Enzersdorf, south of Vienna, Austria, which was owned by the family from at least 1140 until the 13th century and again from 1807 onwards. Karl I, the first reigning Prince of Liechtenstein, received a reward of becoming a hereditary sovereign prince because he supported the right side in a land dispute between Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II and his son Archduke Matthias in 1608.

Castle Liechtenstein; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein was closely tied to Austria-Hungary. The reigning princes continued to derive much of their wealth from estates in the Habsburg territories, and they spent much of their time at their two palaces in Vienna. Liechtenstein’s army had been disbanded in 1868 for financial reasons, and so its citizens and members of the Princely Family served in the Austro-Hungarian Army.

Born on June 21, 1877 in Hollenegg, Austria, Prince Heinrich of Liechtenstein was the son of first cousins Prince Alfred Aloys of Liechtenstein and Princess Henriette of Liechtenstein. Princess Henriette’s father was Aloys II, Prince of Liechtenstein, and Prince Alfred Aloys’ father was Prince Franz de Paula of Liechtenstein, Aloys II’s brother. At the time of his death, Heinrich’s uncle Johann II was reigning Prince of Liechtenstein.

Prince Heinrich of Liechtenstein was buried in the family mausoleum in the village of Vranov now in the Brno County District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. The Liechtenstein family owned large properties in the area.  Maximilian of Liechtenstein (younger brother of Prince Karl I) founded a Pauline monastery in Vranov and had a grave site built for members of the House of Liechtenstein. The present mausoleum, built in 1812, is in the grounds of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, in Vranov, near Brno, in the Czech Republic. There are two crypts in the mausoleum – the Old Crypt, and the New Crypt – containing the remains of all but one of the ruling Princes. After World War II, the Czech government confiscated the properties of all foreigners, which included the princely family’s properties and castles. Since then, the Czech Republic has refused to return the property to the princely family of Liechtenstein, and there has been no preservation or restoration of the tombs and mausoleum.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Vranov, Czech Republic; Photo Credit – www.findagrave.com

Vrono tombs_Liechtenstein

Entrance to the Liechtenstein Crypt; Photo Credit – www.findagrave.com

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Timeline: August 1, 1915 – August 31, 1915

August 5: Warsaw is taken from Russia by Austrian and German troops in the Third Battle of Warsaw, a phase of the Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive
August 6–10: Battle of Lone Pine on the Gallipoli peninsula, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey)
August 6–13: Battle of Krithia Vineyard on the Gallipoli peninsula, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey)
August 6–15: Allies land at Suvla Bay  on the Gallipoli peninsula, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey)
August 6–21: Battle of Sari Bair on the Gallipoli peninsula, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey) last and unsuccessful attempt by the British to seize the Gallipoli peninsula
August 7: Battle of the Nek on the Gallipoli peninsula, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey)
August 7–19: Battle of Chunuk Bair on the Gallipoli peninsula, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey)
August 21: Battle of Scimitar Hill on the Gallipoli peninsula, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey)
August 21–29: Battle of Hill 60 on the Gallipoli peninsula, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey)
August 26 – September 19: Sventiany Offensive at Sventiany, Russian Empire (now Švenčionys, Lithuania)

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A Note About German Titles

Most of the royals who died in action during World War I were German. The German Empire consisted of 27 constituent states, most of them ruled by royal families. Scroll down to German Empire here to see what constituent states made up the German Empire.  The constituent states retained their own governments, but had limited sovereignty. Some had their own armies, but the military forces of the smaller ones were put under Prussian control. In wartime, armies of all the constituent states would be controlled by the Prussian Army and the combined forces were known as the Imperial German Army.  German titles may be used in Royals Who Died In Action below. Refer to Unofficial Royalty: Glossary of German Noble and Royal Titles.

24 British peers were also killed in World War I and they will be included in the list of those who died in action. In addition, more than 100 sons of peers also lost their lives, and those that can be verified will also be included.

*********************************************************


August 1915 – Royals/Nobles/Peers Who Died In Action

The list is in chronological order and does contain some who would be considered noble instead of royal. The links in the last bullet for each person is that person’s genealogical information from Leo’s Genealogics Website.  or to The Peerage website.  If a person has a Wikipedia page, their name will be linked to that page.

The Honorable Nicholas Mosley

Ludwig, Prinz von Auersperg

The Honorable Kenneth Dundas

The Honorable Gerald Legge

The Honorable Francis Willoughby

The Honorable Gerald Bailey

Adolf, Graf von Erbach-Fürstenau

  • son of Alfred, Graf zu Erbach-Fürstenau and Luise, Prinzessin zu Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen
  • born December 30, 1871 in Fürstenau, Germany
  • killed in action August 13, 1915 in Russia, age 43
  • http://thepeerage.com/p9565.htm#i95642

Joseph Karl, Graf von Schönborn-Wiesentheid

  • son of Adalbert, Graf von Schönborn-Wiesentheid and Princess Adelheid of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg
  • born January 25, 1892 in Praha, Bohemia (now Czech Republic)
  • killed in action August 14, 1915 in Miedzyrecze, Poland, age 23
  • http://www.thepeerage.com/p9858.htm#i98573

Prince Heinrich of Liechtenstein

Degenhard-Bertram, Freiherr von Loë

The Honorable Charles Lister