Regt., yr. _s._ of Lawrence Kellie, of 191, Portsdown Road, Maida
Vale, London, W., Musical Composer and Singer, by his wife, Gertrude
Mary, dau. of John Stonier, of Post Hill, Staffordshire; _b._
Portsdown Road, London, 27 April, 1894; educ. Loudoun House School, St.
John’s Wood, N.W., and Westminster School, where he was a member of the
O.T.C.; obtained a 1st Class in the London University Matriculation
Examination; joined the Artists’ Rifles as Private, 3 Aug. 1914, and
went with that regt. to France in the following Oct.; was gazetted
2nd Lieut., Unattached List, 1 Jan. 1915, and later posted to the 1st
Bedfords. On 19 April following he was wounded in the thigh while
defending a trench captured from the enemy at Hill 60, and while being
carried from the trench, was killed by a shell, which also wounded the
stretcher-bearers. Buried, Hill 60; _unm._ His commanding officer,
Lieut.-Col. C. R. J. Griffith, D.S.O., wrote that he was “a most
courageous and useful officer and very popular with all in the regt.”
He was a keen all-round sportsman, and had also artistic and musical
tastes.
[Illustration: =Esmond Lawrence Kellie.=]
=KELLY, ARTHUR=, Leading Seaman (R.F.R., 1st Class 66), 211500,
H.M.S. Good Hope; lost in action off Coronel, on the coast of Chili, 1
Nov. 1914.
=KELLY, HARRY HOLDSWORTH=, Capt., R.E., yst. _s._ of
Lieut.-Col. Henry Holdsworth Kelly, R.M.A. (ret.), of Montrose House,
Southsea, by his wife, Elizabeth Eleanor, dau. of John Collum, of
Bellevere, co. Fermanagh; _b._ Staff Officers’ House, Eastney
Barracks, Portsmouth, 24 Aug. 1880; educ. Rugby and R.M.A., Woolwich
(Feb. 1897–99); gazetted 2nd Lieut. R.E. 8 March, 1899; promoted Lieut.
25 July, 1901, and Capt. 8 March, 1908; served with the Egyptian Army,
1903–13; was Resident Engineer for the construction of the Town and
Harbour of Port Sudan, 1904–08, and received the 4th Class Osmanieh
for services in connection with this, 28 June, 1908; was Inspector of
Roads and Communications for the Sudan, 13 Nov., 1908, serving as a
member of the Lado Enclave Commission in 1911; Commissioner for the
Sudan Government in the Sudan-Uganda Boundary Commission, 1913, and was
responsible for the Reconnaissance to the Boma Plateau, carried out in
the same year; took part in the operations in the Atwot Region, Sudan,
in 1910 (Sudan medal), was Intelligence Officer in the operations
against the Beir and Anuak tribes in South Eastern Sudan (clasp to
Sudan medal and 3rd Class Medjidieh) 1912; decorated with the 3rd
Class Osmanieh, 1913; re-absorbed into the British Establishment,
Nov. 1913. He served with the 38th Field Coy. R.E. in France, and was
killed in action at Bois Grenier, near Armentières, 24 Oct. 1914, while
superintending wire entanglement work between the British and German
trenches; buried at Bois Grenier; _unm._ His Commanding Officer,
Major F. M. Browne, wrote: “He was killed early this morning while on
duty in the trenches. He was struck by two bullets, one in the head
and one in the back, and I feel sure that death was instantaneous
and painless. We were enabled to recover his body, which was to-day
buried simply by the chaplain in the presence of all the Coy. His grave
lies by the roadside near a pretty country town and we are at present
erecting a cross and railings to enclose it.... I need hardly tell you
what a great loss your son’s death is to me, both as a friend and an
officer. He was invaluable to me in every way and the country has lost
in him a most valuable officer”; and writing home from a Colchester
Hospital, Lieut. Arthur Evans, Royal Engineers (of Carnarvon), paid a
tribute to the bravery and kindness shown by Capt. Kelly, who commanded
his coy., in attending to him when he was wounded, four days before
Capt. Kelly himself was killed. The letter states: “It was a great
blow to me to read of Kelly having been killed in action just after I
had written him a letter thanking him for being so decent to me after
I was hit. He came down to me some miles from Coy. headquarters to
the trenches, which must have been under heavy fire, saw me into the
dressing station, and did not leave me until just before I left in the
ambulance wagon. The dressing station was under fire, and was struck by
a shell just before I got away. He was a fine man, 6 ft. 6 in. in his
socks, beautifully built, popular and known everywhere, and I was very
proud of his friendship.” Capt. Kelly won the Army and Navy Heavyweight
Boxing Championship in 1901. He carried out explorations in Abyssinia
in 1907, 1911 and 1913.
[Illustration: =Harry Holdsworth Kelly.=]
=KELLY, THOMAS=, Stoker, 1st Class (R.F.R., B. 3286), 302040,
H.M.S. Good Hope; lost in action off Coronel, on the coast of Chili, 1
Nov. 1914.
=KEMP, ALFRED=, Stoker, 1st Class, S.S. 101861, H.M.S. Cressy;
lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.
=KEMP, ARTHUR=, Private, No. 1818, C Coy. 5th (Cinque Ports)
Battn. The Royal Sussex Regt. (T.F.), eldest _s._ of Sergt. Harry
Kemp, of the same Battn., by his wife, Kate (Sunny Bank, Wadhurst,
Sussex), dau. of James Patey; _b._ Moseham, Wadhurst, co.
Sussex, 6 Oct. 1898; educ. Wadhurst Council School; joined the Sussex
Territorials in March, 1914, and on the outbreak of war went with his
Battn. to Dover and from thence to the Tower, where he volunteered for
foreign service. He died in King’s College Hospital, Denmark Hill, 16
Jan. 1915, from pneumonia, contracted while trench digging at Whiligh.
He had been a prominent member of the Wadhurst Boy Scouts, which he
joined at its inception by Mr. E. Courthope. He was a patrol leader of
the Rattlesnakes, and obtained a number of badges. He was also bugler
of the troop.
[Illustration: =Arthur Kemp.=]
=KEMP, SYDNEY=, Ordinary Seaman, No. J. 17067, Ch., 2nd _s._
of George Kemp, of 66, Plough Road, Battersea, S.W., by his wife,
Anna Maria; _b._ Hoxton, N., 8 April, 1896; educ. Clapton Road
School; joined the Royal Navy about 15 April, 1912; and was lost when
H.M.S. Cressy, together with the Aboukir and the Hogue, were sunk by
torpedoe-fire off the Dutch coast, 22 Sept. 1914; _unm._
=KEMPSTER, JOHN DOUGLAS=, A.B. (R.F.R., A. 3714), B. 2226, 212890,
H.M.S. Good Hope; lost in action off Coronel, on the coast of Chili, 1
Nov. 1914.
=KEMPTON, HARRY LEONARD=, Stoker, 1st Class (R.F.R., A. 3714),
305750, H.M.S. Good Hope; lost in action off Coronel, on the coast of
Chili, 1 Nov. 1914.
=KEMSLEY, WILLIAM CHARLES HENRY=, Private, No. 2331, Royal Army
Medical Corps (T.F.), 2/1st Home Counties F.A., _s._ of George
Albert Kemsley, of 1, Railway Place, Lower Halling, near Rochester;
_b._ Snodland, 20 June, 1896; educ. Halling Board School; joined
the R.A.M.C. Aug. 1914, and died at Windsor, 10 Feb. 1915, of cerebral
hæmorrhage, while training. Buried, Halling Cemetery; _unm._
[Illustration: =William C. H. Kemsley.=]
=KENDALL, JESSE=, Cooper, 282542, H.M.S. Good Hope; lost in action
off Coronel, on the coast of Chili, 1 Nov. 1914.
=KENNARD, ARTHUR=, Private, No. 8557, 2nd Battn. The Hampshire
Regt., yr. and only surviving _s._ of the late Edmund Arthur
Kennard, of Hartfield, Tunbridge Wells, Master at Ipswich Grammar
School (who _d._ 13 April, 1891), by his wife, Annie M. (Cairo
Cottage, Southwater, Horsham), dau. of the late George Greenfield;
_b._ posthumous at Hartfield, co. Sussex, 21 July, 1891; educ.
Southwater Council School; joined the 1st Hants. Regt. at Portsmouth,
1 Jan. 1910, going direct to Londonderry till the Autumn, and then
to Aldershot, where he was transferred to the 2nd Battn. for foreign
service in the autumn of 1911; served Wynberg, South Africa; Mauritius
and Mhow, Central India; came home suffering with malarial fever and
was unable to accompany his regt. to the Front in March, 1915, but went
out to the Dardanelles with a draft the following July. He was killed
in action at the Dardanelles, in the great charge at Krithia, 6 Aug.
1915. On this occasion, out of the 900 who went into the action, only
250 returned.
[Illustration: =Arthur Kennard.=]
=KENNARD, STANLEY CHARLES=, Private, R.M.L.I. (R.F.R., Ch. B.
1981), H.M.S. Aboukir; lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.
=KENNEDY, ARTHUR ST. CLAIR=, Lieut., 2nd Battn. Royal Dublin
Fusiliers, yst. _s._ of Francis George Holland Kennedy, of Tivoli,
co. Limerick, by his wife, Mary St. Clair, dau. of the late William
Doyle Hobson, of Myler’s Park, co. Wexford; _b._ Shelbourne, co.
Limerick, 12 Jan. 1892; educ. Aravon, Bray, co. Wicklow; gazetted 2nd
Lieut. R.D.F. 10 June, 1914, and promoted Lieut. 15 Nov. 1914; served
with the Expeditionary Force in France; was invalided home after the
Battle of the Aisne, and subsequently sent on duty to Cork with the
3rd Battn. of his regt. There, while expecting to be again sent to
the Front with a draft, he contracted pneumonia and died in the Royal
Military Hospital, 6 March, 1915; _unm._ He was buried with full
military honours on the 8th, in Cork Military Cemetery.
[Illustration: =A. St. Clair Kennedy.=]
=KENNEDY, JOHN HORACE=, 2nd Lieut., 2nd Battn. Somerset L.I.,
attd. 2nd Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), only _s._ of Capt.
William Horace Kennedy, of Annfield, Brannockstown, co. Kildare, late
60th Rifles; by his wife, Ada Constance, dau. of Surgeon Major-Gen.
John Warren; _b._ Oaklands, Berkhamsted, co. Herts, 19 Oct. 1890;
educ. Wellington College and Sandhurst; received a commission as 2nd
Lieut. in the 3rd (Reserve) Battn. Connaught Rangers, 27 March, 1912,
and was promoted Lieut. 1 Oct. 1913; transferred as 2nd Lieut. to 2nd
Somerset L.I., 10 June, 1914; left for France, and was killed in action
in the trenches near Esterre when attd. to the 2nd Cameronians, 10 Jan.
1915. Buried near Esterre; _unm._
[Illustration: =John Horace Kennedy.=]
=KENNEDY, JOHN PITT=, Capt., 2nd Battn. The Cameronians (Scottish
Rifles), 2nd _s._ of the late Charles Napier Kennedy; _b._
London, 12 Aug. 1884; educ. Marlborough (House “Littlefield”) and
Sandhurst: gazetted 2nd Lieut. 2nd Cameronians, 10 Oct. 1903; promoted
Lieut. 14 April, 1909, and Capt. 14 May, 1913; and was killed in action
at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, 10 March, 1915. Buried near the
village of Rouge Croix on the road between Neuve Chapelle and Estaires.
Capt. Kennedy _m._ at Ootacamund, India, 13 July, 1908, Norah,
dau. of Lieut.-Col. W. E. Baddeley, R.E., Indian Army, and had a son,
Richard Pitt, _b._ 4 Sept. 1910.
=KENNEL, JOHN HENRY=, Private, No. 6802, 3rd Battn. Coldstream
Guards, _s._ of Timothy Kennel, of Arundel Road, Whittington Moor,
by his wife, Sarah Ann; _b._ Ripley, co. Derby, 7 March, 1888;
enlisted, 12 June, 1906, and was killed in action at Soupir, during the
Battle of the Aisne, 14 Sept. 1914. He _m._ at Windsor, 17 May,
1913, Emily (5 Red Lion Row, Thames Avenue, Windsor), dau. of Thomas
Hobbs, of Windsor, and had issue, John Henry Ernest, _b._ 4 Nov.
1913.
[Illustration: =John Henry Kennel.=]
=KENNETT, PERCY WILLIAM BISHOP=, Private, No. 12009, 1st
Battn. Coldstream Guards, only _s._ of George Bishop Kennett,
of Yellands, South Zeal, near Okehampton, co. Devon, Civil Servant
(retired), by his wife, Ada (Grace), dau. of W. Cone; _b._
Finchley Road, London, N.W., 13 Sept. 1893; educ. Bradley High School,
Newton Abbott, Devon; enlisted 8 Sept. 1914; left for France, 7 Jan.
1915, and died in the 3rd Field Ambulance, 4 March, 1915, of wounds
received in action near Givenchy, 2 March, 1915. Buried Bethune
Cemetery; _unm._
[Illustration: =Percy W. B Kennett.=]
=KENT, ALEXANDER JAMES=, Ch. E.R.A (Pensioner), 132323. H.M.S.
Aboukir: lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.
=KENT, ALFRED HENRY=, A.B. (R.F.R., Ch. B. 3666), 203801, H.M.S.
Aboukir: lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.
=KENYON, JOHN DE WINTON=, 2nd Lieut., 1st Battn. King’s Liverpool
Regt., 2nd _s._ of the late Ernest Kenyon, of Manchester,
Drysalter, by his wife, Eliza Gertrude (14 Farnborough Road, Birkdale.
Southport), dau. of Edwin Muir, C.E., M.I.C.E., M.I.M.E., F.G.S.;
_b._ Birkdale, Southport, 13 Sept. 1896; educ. Giggleswick,
Yorkshire, where he was in the first Rugby Football XV and first
Cricket XI for two years, was co-editor of the School Chronicle, a
cadet officer of the O.T.C. and a preposter; received a commission as
2nd Lieut. in 4th (Extra Reserve) Battn. The King’s, 15 Aug. 1914; was
transferred to the 1st Battn., 13 Sept. 1914; went to France, 9 April.
1914, with the 6th Brigade (2nd Division), and was killed in action
at Richebourg St. Vaast, 16 May, 1915, while engaged in locating the
exact position whence the heavy rifle fire kept up by the enemy was
proceeding. Buried at Richebourg St. Vaast; _unm._ Lieut.-Col. C.
J. Steavenson, commanding 1st King’s Liverpools, wrote: “He had only
been with us a few days, but had shown that, had he been spared, he
would have made an excellent officer,” and Mr. R. N. Douglas, Head
Master of Giggleswick School, wrote: “Only last Sept. I was looking to
having Jack here as Head of the School, and was feeling the greatest
confidence that now all would go well with us, and that we should have
a strong and upright leader. Of all the boys I have had in my five
years here, his has been the character which has interested me most and
given me the most pleasure. And I looked forward to a life of infinite
usefulness for him. Now it is over, but I am sure that his usefulness
has been exerted, his strength of character has justified itself, and
his example has been an inspiration.”
[Illustration: =John de Winton Kenyon.=]
=KEOGHAN, LESLIE OWEN=, Gunner, 2/1594 C. Battery, New Zealand
Artillery New Zealand Expeditionary Force, eldest _s._ of
Sigismund Owen Keoghan, of Denniston, Westport, New Zealand; _b._
Bainham, 15 Sept. 1894; educ. Bainham, Collingwood, Nelson. He left
school at the age of fourteen and was employed for a time in a cheese
factory, after which he studied agriculture on his father’s farm at
Bainham. At seventeen he went with his parents to reside at Denniston,
Westport, and engaged in farming and other occupations until the
outbreak of war. He joined the New Zealand Artillery, 20 Dec. 1914,
and after six weeks’ training at Trentham, Wellington, sailed with the
third contingent for Egypt; served at the Dardanelles; was admitted
to the Egyptian Military Hospital, 28 May and died 1 June, 1915, of
fever. Buried, Cairo; _unm._ Gunner Keoghan was a young man of
exceptionally fine physique and remarkable strength.
[Illustration: =Leslie Owen Keoghan.=]
=KEOHAN, PATRICK JOSEPH=, W.T. Operator, R.N.R., W.T.S. 149,
H.M.S. Hawke; lost when that ship was torpedoed in the North Sea, 15
Oct. 1914.
=KER, ARTHUR MILFORD=, Capt., 2nd Battn. (92nd) Gordon
Highlanders, only _s._ of Sir Arthur Milford Ker, C.I.E., M.V.O.,
Knight of Grace of St. John of Jerusalem, by his wife, Constance, dau.
of Peter Mitchell; _b._ Simla, 7 Sept. 1882; educ. Tunbridge
Castle School and Cheltenham College. When the Boer War broke out
he joined the East Surrey Militia and went out to South Africa with
them, receiving a commission as 2nd Lieut. in the 2nd Battn. Gordon
Highlanders, 19 March, 1901, and served through that campaign, 1900–2,
including the operations in the Orange Free State, June to July, 1901,
and in the Transvaal, Nov. 1901 to 31 May, 1902 (Queen’s medal with
five clasps). Promoted Lieut. 21 Feb. 1906, and Capt. 19 May, 1911; he
was killed in action near Bethune, 14 Oct. 1914; _unm._ Buried in
Bethune Cemetery.
[Illustration: =Arthur Milford Ker.=]
=KER, CECIL HOWARD=, Capt., 1st Battn. Bedfordshire Regt.,
only _s._ of George Darling Ker, of Milcote, Branksome Park,
Bournemouth, formerly Secretary and Treasurer of the Bank of Madras,
by his wife, Alice Mary, dau. of the late Capt. Charles Thomas Bently,
78th Highlanders; _b._ Madras, 4 Nov. 1883; educ. Cheltenham
College; served in South African War, 1902, with the 4th Battn.
Cheshire Regt. (Militia), taking part in the operations in the Orange
River Colony, and Cape Colony, Feb. to 31 May, 1902 (Queen’s medal
with three clasps); gazetted 2nd Lieut. 1st Bedfords, 4 July, 1903;
promoted Lieut. 27 March, 1905, and Capt. 20 Nov. 1912; went to France
with the Expeditionary Force in Aug. 1914, in which his Battn. formed
part of the 15th Brigade (5th Division), took part in the Battle of
Mons, the subsequent retreat, the Battle of the Marne, and the advance
to the Aisne, and was killed in action near Missy-sur-Aisne, 15 Sept.
following, being shot through the heart by a rifle bullet. Buried at
Missy-sur-Aisne. His Commanding Officer wrote: “We have lost in him
a very gallant officer and a dear friend.” He was a good all-round
sportsman. He played cricket and football for his school, was a
first-class rifle shot, and an excellent racquet and hockey player. In
1910, he and Capt. Leader of the Bedfords, were the runners-up for the
Military Doubles Racquets Championship, and in 1909, when the Bedfords
won the Army Hockey Championship, he captained the regimental team.
He _m._ at St. George’s, Hanover Square, London, 31 Dec. 1912,
Dorothy, yst. dau. of Lieut.-Col. William Hill-Climo, of Fir Glen
Yateley, co. Hants, Army Medical Staff (ret.), and had a son, Johnnie
George Skipton, _b._ 4 June, 1914.
[Illustration: =Cecil Howard Ker.=]
=KERBY, ALFRED=, Private. No. G. 7453, 2nd Battn. The Middlesex
Regt.; served with the Expeditionary Force in France, etc.; killed in
action, 14 March, 1915; _m._
=KERFOOT, HARRY VICTOR=, Private, No. 5214, 3rd Battn. Coldstream
Guards, _s._ of William Henry Kerfoot, of 77, Malmesbury Road,
Small Heath, Birmingham, Compositor, by his wife, Hannah Maria, dau. of
the late Edward Ford, of Wolverhampton, Painter; _b._ Leicester,
25 March, 1887; educ. Birmingham Council School; enlisted in Oct. 1903;
went out to France with the 1st Expeditionary Force, lost his right
arm in the action at Landrecies, 25 Aug. 1914, and was taken prisoner
in hospital. He was conveyed to the Garrison Camp, at Zerbst, Anhalt,
where he died of double pneumonia, 1 March, 1915; _unm._ He was
buried in the Garrison Cemetery there. Kerfoot had served three years
in Egypt, and in a letter to his father the Bishop of Khartoum said:
“He was a very earnest and sincere soldier when I knew him, and just
the kind of man to do his share in that wonderful fight at Landrecies
which kept the Germans from enveloping our whole Army.”
[Illustration: =Harry Victor Kerfoot.=]
=KERL, WILLIAM AUSTEN=, Rifleman, No. 1910, 16th (Queen’s
Westminster Rifles) Battn. The London Regt., only _s._ of William
James Kerl, Auctioneer and Surveyor, of Old Jewry, E.C. and a Past
Master of the Worshipful Company of Curriers (died 17 Feb. 1903), by
his wife, Emily (19, Solon New Road, Clapham, S.W.), dau. of the late
Henry Jeffrey Austen, of Wadhurst, co. Sussex, Auctioneer; _b._
Beckenham, co. Kent, 9 Sept. 1893; educ. City Freemen’s School,
Brixton, and on leaving school entered the wholesale drapery warehouse
of Messrs. John Howell & Co., Ltd., St. Paul’s Churchyard, E.C.;
volunteered on the outbreak of war and joined The Queen’s Westminster
Rifles, 6 Aug. 1914; went to France with his Battn. 1 Nov. 1914, and
was killed in action, 4 June, 1915, by a shell bursting in the reserve
trenches in front of Ypres while waiting to occupy the first line
fire trenches. Buried at “Cross Roads,” Potyze, Ypres-Zonnebeke Road;
_unm._ Letters from officers and men testify to his great courage
and lovable disposition.
[Illustration: =William Austen Kerl.=]
=KERLEY, HARRY=, A.B. (R.F.R., B. 3838), 192057, H.M.S. Good Hope;
lost in action off Coronel, on the coast of Chili, 1 Nov. 1914.
=KERR, ALEXANDER=, Ch. E.R.A., 2nd Class, 269478, H.M.S. Cressy;
lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.
=KERR, ARCHIBALD DAVID=, A.B. (R.F.R., Ch. B. 9932), S.S. 2542,
H.M.S. Aboukir; lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.
=KERR, DAVID ANSELM=, 2nd Lieut., 2nd Battn. Royal Scots, yr.
_s._ of Major-Gen. Lord Ralph Drury Kerr, late Col. 10th Hussars,
K.C.B., by his wife, Lady Anne, née Fitzalan-Howard, 6th dau. of Henry
Granville, 14th Duke of Norfolk, and grandson of John Williams Robert,
7th Marquis of Lothian; _b._ Curragh Camp, Ireland, 21 April,
1893; educ. Oratory School, Birmingham, and New College, Oxford, at
which latter he was a member of the Officer’s Training Corps; gazetted
2nd Lieut., 2nd Battn. Royal Scots, 7 Aug. 1914; served in France and
Flanders, and was killed near Bethune, 13 Oct. 1914. Buried, Croix
Barbée, near Bethune; _unm._
=KERR, HERMAN HENRY=, Private, No. 8/63, 10th (Otago Infantry),
Battn. New Zealand Expeditionary Force, _s._ of the late (--)
Kerr; _b._ Hamilton South, New Zealand, 5 Dec. 1893; educ. there;
joined the 10th Battn. Otago Infantry after the outbreak of war, 2
Sept. 1914; left for Egypt with the Main Force in Oct., took part
in the landing at the Dardanelles, 25 April, 1915 and died 19 May,
following, of wounds received in action there; _unm._
=KERR, HUBERT RAYNSFORD GORDON=, Lieut., 1st Battn. (71st)
Highland L.I., only _s._ of Frederick Kerr, of 27, Hereford
Square, London, S.W., by his wife, Esther Barbara Nicloux, dau. of
the late Robert Raynsford Jackson, of 31, Harrington Gardens, S.W.;
_b._ at the British Consulate, Santiago, Chili, 16 March, 1892;
educ. St. Cyprians, Eastbourne; Cheltenham College (Newick House, Mr.
Scot Skirving), and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst; gazetted
2nd Lieut., 1st Battn. Highland L.I., 13 March, 1912, and joined 21
April following; left for India to join the regt., 12 Sept. 1912, was
promoted Lieut. 21 Sept. 1914; went to France with his regt. in the
Lahore Division, and was killed at Givenchy, 19 Dec. following. Col.
(now Brig.-Gen.) R. W. H. Ronaldson wrote: “he was killed on the 19th
Dec. gallantly leading his men in action against a machine gun. I fear
not one of them escaped and all were shot down. Gallantly he led, and
as gallantly he died with all the honours of war, a soldier’s death....
I hope it may be some consolation to you all to know that he was so
absolutely happy here on service among us all, and that he went to his
death without a moment’s hesitation, determined to do his duty, come
what might. He spoke to me a few moments before and was full of life
and go there in the thick of it all. He was seen to fall just as the
dawn came up for we had made a night attack on the German trenches. It
seems so hard such a young life should have been so quickly cut down
but you must find consolation in that he did his duty without a thought
for himself, and met his death like the fine young soldier he was.”
[Illustration: =Hubert Raynsford G. Kerr.=]
=KERR, WILLIAM JOHNSTON=, Stoker, 1st Class (R.F.R., Ch. B. 7865),
S.S. 105934, H.M.S. Aboukir; lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept.
1914.