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Regiment: Worcestershire Regt.
Died: 17 October 1914 aged 19 in France. Killed in action.
Battle: Battle of La Bassee. Cemetery: Le Touret Memorial P 1718
Son of Mrs. Hastings-Medhurst, of Easton Cottage, Chagford, Devon. b. 1895.
Army III—I. House Prefect.
R.M.C. Sandhurst; Worcestershire Regt. 1914.
2nd Bn. Worcestershire Regiment.
'He went to France, 28 Aug. 1914, and was killed in action at Illies, near La Bassée, 17 Oct. 1914.
On this occasion the Worcesters had suffered
severely, and he had volunteered to go for re
inforcements. He was almost in safety when
he was killed by a maxim gun, but fortunately
the forces coming up saw him and were in time
to succour the few left alive. He had been
wounded in the head three days previously, but
refused to go into hospital, owing to shortage of officers. He was buried by his men the same
night, 700 yards north-west of Illies Church.
His Colonel wrote to his widowed mother that he was a most promising
officer, loved by all his men, and a real loss to his regiment; and another officer
wrote: “We all loved him, and his men were very fond of him and would go
anywhere with him. He was always so cheerful and extremely cool in action.
As an officer remarked to me, ‘an awfully nice fellow, a most promising soldier
and one we can ill afford to lose.’”(De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour).
'He won a Prize Cadetship at Sandhurst in June 1913. In August of this year he was gazetted to the 2nd Worcestershire Regt., and had only been on active service in France for a month when he was killed in action on Oct. 17th. Possessed of more than average ability, those who knew him predicted a successful career in the Army, and it is more than sad that such promise has been cut short. He was a boy of happy, cheery disposition, and he leaves behind him many friends at Malvern who deeply regret his early death.' (Malvernian, Nov 1914).