Regiment: Royal Fusiliers.
Died: 13 April 1917 aged 20 in France. Killed in action.
Battle: Second Battle of Arras. Cemetery: Arras Memorial Bay 3
Son of sixth Earl of Shannon, b. 1897.
Modern III—Army II.
R.M.C. Sandhurst; Royal Fusiliers 1916.
'Born in 1897, Richard Bernard Boyle succeeded his father as Seventh Earl in 1906. He passed through the Royal Military College and received his commission in the Royal Fusiliers in April 1916. His brother, Robert Henry Boyle, who was born in 1900, succeeds to the earldom.
We quote a portion of a letter from his commanding officer: "On the day he was killed I had told him I was recommending him for a Military Cross as an immediate reward for the battle of the 9th April. On this occasion he was the only officer left in his company. He at once took charge of and led it right through until he captured the final objective where he dug in. He showed the most marked courage, coolness, and leadership, in very trying circumstances. I sent him down on the 10th and had his wounds dressed. But as we were so short of officers he came straight back like the gallant little sportsman he was. On the 13th he commanded his company, with one subaltern of twenty five in command. The Regiment had a bad time, and had to go over 2,500 yards of open ground and through three heavy barrages and machine gun fire. Shannon got through all the barrages till the last, when he was hit in the right side by a bullet. He told his men to carry on, when he was again hit by a shell and killed instantly." Shannon was a thorough Irishman, high-spirited, venturesome, and independent. He was one of those boys who are more likely to find scope for the full development of their qualities in later life than at school, for his bent was towards Natural History, sport, and all kinds of machinery, rather than games and ordinary school-work. Entirely fearless, he was certain to make his mark at the war, and no member of his family could have better right to have borne its motto: Spectemtir agendo—"Let us be tested in action."' (Malvernian, Jun 1917).