Devonshire Regiment - Roll of Honour of Officers of the Devonshire Regiment Who Died in the Great War Whilst Serving With 1/5th Battalion Devonshire Regiment

No	Date Died	Surname	Forenames	Rank	Decs	Age	Cause	Country	Location/Sector	Cemetery/Memorial	Notes
Died in 1917
1	10th November	VICARY	Gilbert Doke	Capt	-	33	DOW	Palestine	CCS at Deir el Belah, SW of Gaza	Deir el Belah War Cemetery (D.102)	(p298) (1)
2	20th November	CLARK	Frank Adams	Major	-	44	DOW	Palestine	CCS at Ramleh	Ramleh War Cemetery (H.28)	(p302) (2)
Died in 1918
3	9th April	FLOYD	Howard Grimley	2Lt	-	20	KIA	Palestine	Berukin, west of Rafat	Ramleh War Cemetery (T.13)	(p367)
4	10th April	SPOONER	Charles Norman	Capt	-	39	KIA	Palestine	Berukin, west of Rafat	Ramleh War Cemetery (T.16)	(p367)
5	2nd May	HOWARTH	Harold Victor	Lt	-	22	DOW	Palestine	Near Berukin, west of Rafat	Ramleh War Cemetery (CC.55)	(3)
6	20th July	CHURCH	Arthur Gilbert Walsh	Capt	-	24	KIA	France	Near Pourcy, near Rheims	Marfaux British Cemetery (I.H.10)	(p378) (4)
7	28th July	HAY	Robert	2Lt	-	24	KIA	France	Montagne de Bligny, Ardre Valley	Soissons Memorial	(p380)
8	28th July	HUISH	Francis	2Lt	-	25	KIA	France	Montagne de Bligny, Ardre Valley	Chambrecy British Cemetery (IV.B.1)	(P380) (5)
9	30th August	DUNN	Harold Black	2Lt	-	21	KIA	France	Near Vaulx, northeast of Bapaume	Vaulx Hill Cemetery (I.F.29)	(p391) (6)
10	17th September	HALL	George Dorrington	Lt	-	20	DOW	France	CCS at Boisleux-St Marc	Sunken Road Cemetery, Boisleux-St Marc (II.D.2)	(p395) (7)
11	27th September	EALES	Charles Wilfrid	Lt	-	25	KIA	France	"Kaiser Trench", east of Flesquieres	Vis-en-Artois Memorial (Bay 4)	(p401)
12	27th September	EVANS	John Ewart	2Lt	-	19	KIA	France	"Kaiser Trench", east of Flesquieres	Lebucquiere Communal Cemetery (IV.B.29)	(p401)
13	30th September	BEDFORD	Roland	Lt	MC*	20	KIA	France	Masnieres, St Quentin Canal	Lowrie Cemetery, Havrincourt (J.10)	(p402)
14	30th September	OSBORNE	Trevor Leonard	Lt	-	19	KIA	France	Masnieres, St Quentin Canal	Flesquieries Hill British Cemetery (V.A.2)	(p402) (8)
15	30th September	WILLIS	Frederick	Lt	-	25	KIA	France	Masnieres, St Quentin Canal	Flesquieries Hill British Cemetery (V.A.5)	(p402) (9)
16	7th November	BOSWORTHICK	William Howard	2Lt	-	19	KIA	France	Near Le Trechon, Forest of Mormal	Cabaret Rouge British Cemetery (XXX1.A.32)	(p431) (10)
17	21st November	YONGE	Geoffrey Bowen	2Lt	-	19	DOW	France	Hospital at Rouen	St Sever Cemetery, Rouen (S.V.K.6)	(p431) (11)
Notes: (The numbers marked with a "p" in the Notes column refers to the page in "Devonshire Regiment 1914-1919, Volumes 1 and 2", by C T Atkinson, where the death of the officer is mentioned or indicated). 1. VICARY was wounded at Ali el Muntar on 7th November 1917. 2. CLARK was wounded near Kirjath Jearim, northwest of Jerusalem, on 20th November 1917. 3. HOWARTH was wounded near Berukin on 21st April 1917. 4. CHURCH was originally buried at Jonchery sur Vesle and was reburied at Marfaux in September 1919. 5. HUISH was originally buried in a battlefield grave near Montagne de Bligny and reburied in Chambrecy British Cemetery in December 1919. 6. DUNN was originally buried in a battlefield grave southwest of Vaulx and reburied in Vaulx Hill Cemetery in February 1920. 7. HALL was wounded at Havrincourt on 14th September 1918. 8. OSBORNE was originally buried in a battlefield grave east of the St Quentin Canal, near Masnieres and reburied at Flesquieries Hill British Cemetery in March 1920. 9. WILLIS was originally buried in a battlefield grave near Masnieres and reburied at Flesquieries Hill British Cemetery in February 1920. 10. BOSWORTHICK was originally buried in Obies Churchyard and was reburied in Cabaret Rouge in July 1925. 11. YONGE was wounded near Le Trechon on 7th November 1918.

Those Officers of Other Regiments Who Died in the Great War Whilst Serving With

1/5th Battalion Devonshire Regiment TF

No	Date Died	Surname	Forenames	Rank	Decs	Age	Cause	Country	Location/Sector	Cemetery/Memorial	Notes
1	20th July 1918	SMITH	John	2Lt	-	30	KIA	France	Ardre Valley, Aisne	Soissons Memorial	(p378) (1)
2	30th August 1918	MORRISON	Robert	2Lt	-	23	KIA	France	E of Fremicourt, E of Bapaume	Vaulx Hill Cemetery (I.G.6)	(p391) (2)
3	1st September 1918	LOOK	John Leopold	2Lt	-	31	DOW	France	CCS at Gezaincourt	Bagneux British Cemetery (VI.E.9)	(p391) (3)
Notes: (The numbers marked with a "p" in the Notes column refers to the page in "Devonshire Regiment 1914-1919, Volumes 1 and 2", by C T Atkinson, where the death of the officer is mentioned or indicated). 1. SMITH was detached from The King's (Liverpool Regiment). 2. MORRISON was detached from the Lancashire Fusiliers and was originally buried in a battlefield grave east of Fremicourt and reburied at Vaulx Hill Cemetery in December 1919. 2. LOOK was detached from the Gloucestershire Regiment and was wounded near Vaulx on 30th August 1918.

Battalion History

5th Battalion TF. The Battalion was formed in 1908 and based at Plymouth, part of the newly constituted Territorial Force. At the outbreak of war on 4th August 1914 the Battalion was at Annual Camp on Woodbury Common, Exeter. Training for deployment for war operations commenced at Salisbury Plain and during this period a second-line of the Battalion was formed from Regimental Territorial Force personnel who did not volunteer for overseas service together with the huge number of untrained recruits. The second-line Battalion was named the 2/5th Battalion TF.

1/5th Battalion TF

After the second-line was formed and the Battalion was renamed as the 1/5th Battalion, it was deployed to India in October 1914 for Garrison and Security duties at Multan, where it spent the next two years. In March 1917 the Battalion was transferred to the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) for operations in Palestine, fighting at Gaza, Beersheba, Jerusalem and Berukin. In May 1918 the Battalion was deployed to the BEF in France fighting on the Marne, Bligny, Havrincourt, Marcoing and Masnieres. At the Armistice the Battalion was serving in 62nd Division which was chosen to become part of the Army of Occupation on the Rhine. The Battalion reached its operational location of Schwerfen, southwest of Cologne, in Germany on 23rd December 1918 and served in the Rhineland until 5th October 1919 when it was reduced to a cadre and returned to the UK in November 1919 for demobilisation.

Regimental History

The Devonshire Regiment was formed on 1st July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms, which saw the two Battalions of the 11th (North Devon) Regiment of Foot being renamed and reconstituted as the Regular 1st and 2nd Battalions of the new Regiment, with the Regimental Depot based at Topsham Barracks, Exeter. The 1881 reforms also redesignated the Militia and Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVC) units within the Regimental District of Devon as Battalions of the new Regiment - the East Devon Militia forming the 1st (Militia) Battalion and the South Devon Militia forming the 2nd (Militia) Battalion. Five Volunteer Battalions of the new Regiment were formed from the county Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVC) units: 1st Devonshire (Exeter and South Devon) RVC , the 2nd Devonshire (Prince of Wales's) RVC, the 3rd Devonshire RVC, the 4th Devonshire RVC and the 5th Devonshire RVC. In 1908, as part of the Haldane Reforms, the two Militia Battalions were amalgamated, reorganised and restructured forming the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion and the five Volunteer Battalions were reorganised and formed the 4th Battalion, 5th Battalion, 6th Battalion and 7th Battalion of the Regimental Territorial Force (TF). After the Declaration of War on 4th August 1914 and at various stages up to 1st June 1918, the order of battle of the Devonshire Regiment was made up of 30 Regular, Territorial Force, Service, Labour, Works, Garrison, Reserve and Graduated Battalions.

A detailed history of the Devonshire Regiment can also be viewed here, here and here.

The "Devonshire Regiment 1914 - 1918" (by C T Atkinson - ISBN 13: 978-184342150 ) provides a detailed account of the operations of the Battalions of the Regiment which took an active part in the Great War.

Analysis of 1/5th Battalion Officer Casualties

Year	Palestine	France	Total
1917	2	-	2
1918	3	12	15
TOTALS	5	12	17

Page last updated: 13th September 2023

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