Regiment: Royal Field Artillery.
Died: 03 September 1917 aged 28 in Belgium. Died of wounds.
Battle: Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele). Cemetery: Bard Cottage Cemetery III F 2
Son of H. Peel, Taliaris, Llandilo, S. Wales, b. 1889.
Middle IV—Modern I. House Prefect. House XI Football.
Tea Planter in India.
Great War, Lieutenant R.F.A.
'Robert Peel was a boy of a quite distinctive character. He had great influence in his House. His quiet demeanour, his sound principles, his stern sense of duty, made a deep impression on those with whom he came into contact. His thoughtfulness for others was a noticeable feature in his character in those early days, and this characteristic came out fully when he became an officer in the Army.
He held an appointment in the south of India when war broke out. He resigned this, and reached England in December, 1914. He received his commission on December 30th, in the R.F.A. He was at Suvla Bay from August, 1915, till the evacuation, and then in Egypt till the battery went to another front in July 1916. Last December he was awarded the Military Cross, for rescuing wounded under heavy fire, and preventing the explosion of ammunition dumps. He died, on September 3rd, of a shell wound received the same day while on duty with the guns.
Those officers who knew him most intimately have written of him as follows: "He was a man of very wonderful sympathies, whose fine sensibilities and humanity not even the worst side of war could blunt. He was one of my best officers, and a very tower of strength and help at all times."
"He left the impress of his personality writ large over all his men; he has 'made' by his example more officers than one."
"When he was wounded he realised that his wound was fatal, and he tried to persuade the doctor to leave him, and said, 'The time you spend in attending to me will be wasted; look after the others, please.' As he lived a splendid life, so he died a splendid death."
"Had anyone else met his death as he did, we should have thought it wonderful: as it was —he was just himself."' (Malvernian, Nov 1917).