Regiment: R.A..
Died: 17 September 1943 aged 45 in England. Died at Windsor.
Cemetery: Woking (St. John's) Crematorium Panel 4.
Son of Sir Edwin Savill, and Lady Savill, Howe Green, Hertford.
Woolwich.
R.F.A. 1915. R.H.A. 1918.
Chartered Surveyor.
Husband of Rene Savill, of Windsor, Berkshire.
116 Field Regt. Royal Artillery
The following notice is taken from The Times:— Lieutenant-Colonel Alfred Cecil Savill, D.S.O., M.C., Royal Artillery, who died at Windsor on September 17, gained high distinction in the field both in this war and in the last. At the age of 19 he was reputed to be the youngest major in the British Army and during the years he served in France he won the M.C. and bar and was three times mentioned in despatches. In the present war he was again mentioned in despatches and was awarded the D.S.O. for his gallantry in the retreat to Dunkirk. The youngest son of Sir Edwin and Lady Savill, he was born on December 22, 1897, and was educated at Malvern and at Woolwich. In April, 1915, he obtained his commission in the Royal Field Artillery and went to France a few months later. His progress was rapid. In December of the same year he became adjutant to the 122nd Brigade; by the end of 1917 he had been promoted to be acting-major; in 1918 he commanded his battery.
He was wounded in France. After the armistice he was awarded his "jacket" and on his retirement was placed on the reserve with the rank of brevet major. He then qualified as a chartered surveyor, and during the whole of the inter-war period he practised as a member of his father's firm, Messrs. Alfred Savill and Sons, in which capacity he advised many City companies. In June, 1939, he returned to the Army and became attached to the 30th Field Regiment, R.A., and went to France during the first few days of the war. In July, 1940, after Dunkirk, he was promoted Lieutenant Colonel on taking command of the 53rd (Worcester Yeomanry) Anti-Tank Regiment. Finally, he was given command of the 116th Field Regiment, which he held until a few weeks before his death.
He married in 1921 Irene Dawson, by whom he had a son and two daughters.
A correspondent writes:—"Alfred Savill had many qualities, but outstanding was that of leadership. He had an almost uncanny power of inspiring with his own superb confidence those who worked at his side. If ever there was a 'born soldier' it was he. And to him in his heart the years between the wars were but the interval between the two great acts of his life: acts in which he was called to play so great a part and thus, with every ounce of his energy and strength, to serve the country that he loved so well."