Tower and Town, February 2017 (view the full edition)In Memoriam 1916January Private Henry Hutchins. 2nd/4th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in action on 4 April 1916 in Mesopotamia. Private Hugh John Middleton. 5th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Died of wounds on 4 April 1916 in Mesopotamia. Private William Henry Taylor. 24th Battalion (2nd Sportsman's Battalion) Royal Fusiliers. Killed in action on 30 April 1916 when a mine exploded under the battalion front line trench. May Boy 1st Class Wilfred Sidney Dobson. HMS Queen Mary. Killed in action when the Queen Mary blew up at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916. Wilfred was among 1266 members of the crew to perish that day. Corporal Fred Ford. 29th Battalion Canadian Infantry (British Columbia Regt.) Killed in action on 31 May 1916. Fred enlisted in Vancouver. His mother lived at The Lodge, Bath Road, Marlborough. June Leading Stoker Ernest Walter Ponting. HMS Tipperary. Killed in action when the Tipperary was sunk by gun fire at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916. Ernest was among 185 members of the crew to perish that day. He was the second Marlborough man to be killed at the Battle of Jutland. (His death was recorded as 1 June.) Private Lionel Crow. 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles. Killed in action on 2 June 1916. Lionel enlisted in Brandon, Manitoba in December 1914. He had previously been employed by his father, a leather manufacturer in Angel Yard. Lionel was killed in a local action known as the Battle of Mount Sorrel. Mount Sorrel was a highly prized elevated position in the Ypres Salient. Whilst the Canadians were preparing to improve their position they were hit by a massive artillery barrage, which killed 620 men in Lionel's battalion. Major General Malcolm Mercer, the Divisional Commander, was killed in the same barrage. July Captain Percival Beckwith Wace. 5th Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment. Died of wounds. 3 July 1916 on the Somme. Captain Wace was an assistant master at the College. Captain Freeman Archibald Haynes Atkey. 9th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment on 5 July 1916 on the Somme. Captain Atkey was an assistant master at the College. He was shot by a sniper observing the progress of his battalion attacking the German trenches. Private Charles Hutchins. 1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in action. 7 July 1916 on the Somme. Private Thomas Henry Dobie. 1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in action. 11 July 1916 on the Somme. Private Reginald William Dobson. 1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in action. 15 July 1916 on the Somme. Private Philip Alan Gale. 10th Battalion Gloucester Regiment. Killed in action. 22 July 1916 on the Somme. Lance Sergeant Evan Eckhard Meyrick. 1st Battalion Cambridgeshire Regiment. Died 30 July 1916. Evan was what is delightfully known as a 'gentleman ranker'. His father was a distinguished assistant master at the College. The family lived at Thornhanger, an imposing house overlooking the Common. Evan was educated at the College and gained a classics scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge. With twelve other undergraduates he joined up with the local territorial battalion. Evan served as an ordinary soldier, turning down the opportunity to take a commission, which was easy at the early stages of the war. Evan was taken ill whilst serving in the trenches. He walked out of the lines to be confined in hospital at St Omer, where sadly he died. August Sergeant Reginald Tom Reddrop. 1st/4th Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment. Killed in action. 14 August 1916 on the Somme. 2nd Lieutenant William Robert Hill Merriman. 8th Battalion Rifle Brigade. Killed in action. 15 August 1916 on the Somme. Private Arthur James Milsom. 8th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Killed in action. 29 August 1916 on the Somme. September Lance Sergeant Ernest Augustus Head. 17th Battalion Kings Royal Rifle Corps. Killed in action. 3 September 1916 on the Somme. Guardsman Willis Robbins. 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards. Killed in action. 25 September 1916 on the Somme. October Corporal Harward Henry Baverstock. 43rd Battalion Canadian Infantry (Manitoba Regiment). Killed in action. 1 October 1916 on the Somme. Gunner Gerald Edward Ellis. 9th New Zealand Field Artillery. Killed in action. 15 October 1916 on the Somme. Gerald's widowed mother was a servant living at the College. Private Frank Hatton. 2nd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Died of wounds. 18 October 1916. Frank was the younger of two brothers to be killed in 1916. The brothers enlisted together at Le Marchant barracks at Devizes. They were the only sons of Charles and Rebecca, who lived in the London Road at the time. Lance Sergeant William George Humphries. 10th Battalion Devonshire Regiment. Killed in action. 28 October 1916 on the Salonika front. November Lieutenant James Mundy. 19th Battalion Durham Light Infantry. Killed in action. 26 November 1916. Andrew Ross |