by Susan Flantzer

• Major John Maclean Rolls, 2nd Baron Llangattock and Captain Percy Robert Herbert, Viscount Clive
• Timeline: October 1, 1916 – October 31, 1916
• A Note About German Titles
• October 1916 – Royals/Nobles/Peers/Sons of Peers Who Died In Action

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During October of 1916, two British officers, one a peer and one the heir of a peer, died from wounds received in the terrible Battle of the Somme which lasted from July 1 – November 18, 1916. Both men were from families whose peerages had Welsh roots and both families suffered multiple tragedies.

Major John Maclean Rolls, 2nd Baron Llangattock

Major John Maclean Rolls, 2nd Baron Llangattock was born in London, England on April 25, 1870. He was the eldest of the four children of John Rolls, 1st Baron Llangattock and Georgiana Marcia Maclean, the daughter of Sir Charles Maclean, 9th Baronet of Morvaren.  John Rolls, 1st Baron Llangattock was appointed High Sheriff of Monmouthshire in 1875 and served as Member of Parliament for Monmouthshire from 1880–1885. In 1892, he was created Baron Llangattock of The Hendre in the County of Monmouth. The family home, The Hendre, from the Welsh words hen (meaning “old”) and dre (meaning “farmstead”), was located in Llangattock-Vibon-Avel, Monmouthshire, Wales. It was originally built in the eighteenth century as a hunting lodge and was expanded by the Rolls family throughout the nineteenth century. Today it is the clubhouse of the Rolls of Monmouth Golf Club.

John Maclean Rolls, 2nd Baron Llangattock’s three younger siblings:

• The Honorable Henry Allan Rolls (August 5, 1871 – June 26, 1916), unmarried
• The Honorable Eleanor Georgiana Rolls (October 9, 1872 – September 15, 1961), married Sir John Courtown Edward Shelley, 6th Baronet of Castle Goring, no issue
• The Honorable Charles Stewart Rolls (August 28, 1877 – July 12, 1910)

The most famous member of the family was the 2nd Baron’s youngest sibling, Charles Stewart Rolls, a motoring and aviation pioneer. In 1904, Charles Rolls and Henry Royce began a partnership that would result in the famous British car manufacturing company Rolls-Royce Limited. In late October – early November 1900, the 1st Baron Llangattock and his wife were hosts to TRH The Duke and Duchess of York (the future King George V and Queen Mary), who stayed at The Hendre. The Duke and Duchess were taken on motorcar excursions by Charles Rolls, probably the first time that the royal couple had been in a car. Unfortunately, on July 12, 1910, Charles Rolls died at the age of 32 when the tail of his Wright Flyer airplane broke off during a flying display. He has the first British person to be killed in an airplane accident.

John Maclean Rolls, 2nd Baron Llangattock was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford where he received a BA in 1893, BCL (Bachelor of Civil Law) in 1895, and MA in 1896. He was called to the Bar in 1895 and admitted to the Inner Temple in 1896. John served for several years with the 1st Monmouth Volunteer Artillery, retiring with the rank of Captain and Honorary Major. He also served as High Sheriff of Monmouthshire in 1900 and Mayor of Monmouth in 1906 – 1907. John was a talented musician and was one of the finest amateur organists in Great Britain. In 1912, upon the death of his father, John became the 2nd Baron Llangattock.

In January of 1915, John joined the 4th Welsh Brigade, Royal Field Artillery.  He attained the rank of Major and served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders during World War I. He was wounded while on observation duty during the Battle of the Somme, and died on October 31, 1916 at the age of 46 at the military hospital in Boulogne, France. John was buried at the Boulogne Eastern Cemetery in France.  A former commanding officer wrote: “He could have accepted less dangerous work, but he and his battery had done so well in the training that, having been selected as the 1st Battery in the Division for efficiency, he felt it his duty to go out with the battery. The country, county and brigade have lost in Major Lord Llangattock a well-tried and sincere friend.”

Only a few months before, on June 26, 1916, John’s brother Henry Allan Rolls, a Lieutenant in the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers, had died due to wounds received in World War I. As John never married and his two brothers predeceased him, the title Baron Llangattock became extinct upon his death.

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Captain Percy Robert Herbert, Viscount Clive

Captain Percy Robert Herbert, Viscount Clive, born on December 2, 1892, was the eldest of the three children of George Charles Herbert, 4th Earl of Powis and Violet Ida Eveline Sackville Lane-Fox, 16th Baroness Darcy de Knayth in her own right.  As the eldest son and heir of the 4th Earl of Powis, Percy used his father’s subsidiary title Viscount Clive as a courtesy title. The seat of the Earl of Powis was the medieval Powis Castle near Welshpool, in Powys, Wales. One of the family ancestors was Major-General Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, Commander-in-Chief of British India who established the military and political supremacy of the East India Company in Bengal, India.

Percy had a younger sister and brother:

• Lady Hermione Gwladys Herbert (September 17, 1900 – May 25, 1995), married Roberto Lucchesi-Palli, 11th Duca della Grazia, had one daughter
• Mervyn Horatio Herbert Herbert, 17th Lord Darcy de Knayth (May 7, 1904 – March 23, 1943), killed in action during World War II, married Vida Cuthbert, had one daughter, Davina Ingrams, 18th Baroness Darcy de Knayth

Percy was educated at Eton College, where he developed a passion for cricket. He then attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.  In October of 1913, he joined the Scots Guards, part of the Guards Division, and one of the Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. At the beginning of World War I, Percy was in France fighting against the onrush of German troops on Paris and Calais. Shortly before Christmas of 1914, he was invalided home suffering from frostbitten feet. Upon his recovery, Percy was the thirteenth officer commissioned into the newly formed Welsh Guards in 1915.

Percy was shot in the thigh which fractured the femur, the bone in the thigh, at the Battle of Flers-Courcellette, part of the Battle of the Somme on September 25, 1916. His family arranged for him to come home to England for treatment, and he arrived at Southampton on September 28, 1916. He was taken to King Edward VII Hospital in London, England. The following day an operation was performed to remove the bullet. However, sepsis (blood poisoning) and a serious hemorrhage from a main artery occurred and Percy Herbert, Viscount Clive died on October 13, 1916, at age 23, 18 days after being wounded. He was buried in the churchyard at Christ Church in Welshpool, Wales within sight of Powis Castle.

Upon Percy’s death, his brother Mervyn became the heir and used the courtesy style Viscount Clive. In 1929, Percy’s mother died in a car accident and she was also buried in the churchyard at Christ Church. She had been the 16th Baroness Darcy de Knayth in her own right and her surviving son Mervyn succeeded to her title while retaining the higher title of Viscount Clive by courtesy. Mervyn who was 12 years younger than Percy, enlisted in the Royal Air Force at the start of World War II in 1939.  Sadly, Mervyn also was killed in action while flying with the No. 157 Squadron RAF, a night fighter squadron. He was also buried in the churchyard at Christ Church, and his only child, four-year-old Davina, became the 18th Baroness Darcy de Knayth as females had succession rights to the peerage. Percy’s father, George Charles Herbert, 4th Earl of Powis, died in 1952 at the age of 90. As he had no surviving sons and no grandsons, his cousin Edward Robert Henry Herbert, became the 5th Earl of Powis.

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Timeline: October 1, 1916 – October 31, 1916

• July 1 – November 18 – Battle of the Somme in Somme, Picardy, France
• October – November – First Battle of the Crna Bend, near the Crna River in Macedonia and Serbia, a phase of the Monastir Offensive
• October 1 – November 5 – Battle of Le Transloy in Le Transloy, France, last stage of the Battle of the Somme
• October 1 – November 11 – Battle of Ancre Heights in Ancre, France, last stage of the Battle of the Somme
• October 9 – 12 – Eighth Battle of the Isonzo in Monfalcone, Italy
• October 19 – 25 – Second Battle of Cobadin in Rasova, Cobadin, and Cernavodă, Romania , a phase of the conquest of Romania
• October 24 – The French recapture Fort Douaumont near Verdun, France

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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 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 Percy Robert Herbert, Viscount Clive

• elder son of George Charles Herbert, 4th Earl of Powis and Violet Ida Eveline Sackville Lane-Fox, 16th Baroness Darcy de Knayth
• born December 2, 1892
• unmarried
• Captain 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards
• died from wounds received in action at the Battle of the Somme October 13, 1916 at the King Edward VII Hospital in London, England, age 23
• http://thepeerage.com/p4556.htm#i45557

Major John Maclean Rolls, 2nd Baron Llangattock

• son of John Rolls, 1st Baron Llangattock and Georgiana Marcia Maclean, daughter of Sir Charles Maclean, 9th Baronet of Morvaren
• born April 25, 1870 in London, England
• unmarried
• Major in the  4th Welsh Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
• died from wounds received in action at the Battle of the Somme October 31, 1916 at the military hospital in Boulogne, France, age 46