He was at Malvern College, House No 5, between 1901 and 1906,
where he was a School Prefect and was in XXII Football; House XI Cricket; Rackets Pair; Fives Pair.
He went to Worcester College, Oxford in 1906 and was a tennis half-blue.
He was gazetted to the 3rd battalion Royal Fusiliers in December 1911 and joined the regiment in India in January 1912.
At the outbreak of the war he was serving on Lord Willingdon's Staff at Bombay as A.D.C. but obtained permission to re-join his regiment when it was ordered to France.
He was wounded in February 1915 when a bullet was embedded in his back. Refusing an operation to remove it, or to return to England to convalesce, he returned to the front in March and was killed in action in Belgium on 15 April 1915 by a Trench Mortar whilst in trenches only 4 feet away from the Germans.
He is buried at Tyne Cot Cemetery, LIV F 16.
Memorial at Stephen's church, St Albans:
IN MEMORY OF/ ROBERT ROLAND/ WADDELL-DUDLEY/ LIEUT 3rd BATT ROYAL FUSILIERS/ KILLED IN ACTION AT ZONNEBEKE/ FLANDERS APRIL 15th 1915/ AGED 28/ A GOOD SOLDIER OF JESUS CHRIST
Geni:
https://www.geni.com/people/Robert-Waddell-Dudley-Leut/6000000026105664093 CWGC:
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/464997/waddell-dudley,-robert-roland/ Malvern WW1:
http://www.stanwardine.com/cgi-bin/malvernww1.pl?id=126 Worcester College Oxford:
https://www.worc.ox.ac.uk/visiting/library/college-archives/worcester-college-and-first-world-war/college-members-killed-1915 3 Battalion Royal Fusiliers:WO 95/2279/3
Service Record: WO 339/8067
Extracts of Telegrams to mother:
Admitted to 2 British Red Cross Hospital, Rouen, on Feb 25th 1915 with gunshot wound in shoulder.
Reported as progessing favourably on Feb 28th 1915
Discharged back to duty on March 23rd 1915
Killed in action 15th April 1915. Lord Kitchener expressed his sympathy.
His mother was a widow and living at Gombards, St Albans in 1915 when she wrote a letter enquiring about the possibility of getting his effects such as his ring, revolver and field glasses.
