Aim of the Website/Project

The aim of this part of the website is simple.   It is to collate into one place an accurate record of the death of the 281 officers of the Prince Albert's (Somerset Light Infantry) who died in the Great War and to make a permanent record of their sacrifice.   These officers served and died for their country on land, sea and in the air and are listed here in a Regimental Officers Roll of Honour.

Accuracy and Research

The author has taken every reasonable care to ensure that the information on this website is as accurate as possible.   Please contact the author should errors or omissions be discovered by visitors to the site in order that corrective action can be taken.   Contact details are shown above and below. Research is continuing for further information which will be posted on the site as soon as it is checked and verified.

First World War Casualties

The formal dates of the First World War as recognised by the UK Government are between 4th August 1914 and 31st August 1921 inclusive, and any member of the UK and Commonwealth/Empire Armed Services who died in this period, or as a result of their service during this period, are officially registered and commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) either by an approved headstone on the grave or if this is not possible or practical, the name being inscribed on a relevant Memorial to the Missing.   All of the officers listed in these Regimental Rolls of Honour are registered and commemorated by the CWGC.  

The Prince Albert's (Somerset Light Infantry) in the Great War

During the Great War the Regiment was organised into Regular, Territorial Force and Service Battalions as described here.   A total of 20 Battalions were raised, reorganised or disbanded during the course of the war but only 12 saw active service.   These fighting Battalions saw combat in France and Flanders, India, Palestine and Mesopotamia and earned a total of 60 Battle Honours during the war and a list of these Battle Honours can be found here.

Facts and Figures

A total of 281 officers of the Somerset Light Infantry, including 2 Brigadier Generals,  lost their lives in the Great War and a detailed analysis of the casualties can be viewed here.   All are buried or commemorated on Memorials To The Missing throughout the world as official war casualties.

168 officers are buried or commemorated in France and 51 in Belgium.   Other burials or commemorations are in Bulgaria, Cameroon, East Africa, Egypt, Gallipoli, Germany, India, Mesopotamia, Palestine, Poland, Russia, Salonika, at Sea and in Turkey.   16 officers are buried in the UK.

A total of 63 officers of the Regiment were detached to other Services, Headquarters, units and fighting Battalions of other Regiments and a list of these officers can be viewed here.

41 officers of other Regiments died in the Great War whilst serving with fighting Battalions of the Somerset Light Infantry.   A Roll of Honour of their names and details of their death can be viewed here.

Project Development

In addition to the basic sources of information outlined in the main Project Home Page, an enormous amount of relevant information regarding the Somerset Light Infantry is available through the following organisations and publications:

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC)

• Officers Died in the Great War (ODGW)

•  History of the Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Albert's) 1914-1919 by Everard Wyrall  (ISBN 1843422166)

  
  

•  Regimental Archive of the Somerset Light Infantry

•  Somerset Military Museum

•  British Regiments 1914 - 1918:   by Brigadier E A James

•  General Register Office (GRO) Index To War Deaths 1914 - 1921, Army Officers

•  Army Lists (1914 - 1921) (from the National Library of Scotland)

•  Bond of Sacrifice (Volumes 1 and 2)

•  De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour 1914 - 1918

•  War Office personal files held in Catalogues WO339 and WO374 at The National Archives

•  Medal Index Cards held in Catalogue WO 372 at The National Archives

•  Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914 - 1918 held in Catalogue WO 329 at The National Archives

•  Battalion War Diaries and Histories held in Catalogue WO95 at the National Archives

•  British First World War Trench Maps, 1915 - 1918 (from National Library of Scotland)

•  National and Local contemporary press

•  The RAF Museum Archive (for RAF/RFC Casualty cards)

•  Royal Flying Corps Research Data Website

•   Fatal Air Accidents in Britain Website (Period 1914 - 1920)

•  The Times Digital Archive 1785 - 1985

•  The London Gazette

•  War Memorials and commemorative plaques

•  The FreeBMD Project

•  The Great War Forum

•  The National Army Museum

•  The Imperial War Museum Register of War Memorials

•  The Long, Long Trail - Discovering the British Army and its Soldiers in the Great War

•  The Wartime Memories Project

•  Ancestry.co.uk  -  Military Records

These sources, with others, together form the basis for the Roll of Honour of Officers of the Regiment who died in the Great War.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The CWGC commemorates those official casualties who died in service, or died due to service, during the First World War.   The formal inclusive dates of the war are between 4th August 1914 and 31st August 1921 and any member of the UK and Commonwealth/Empire Armed Services who died during this period are officially registered and commemorated by the CWGC either by an approved headstone on the grave, or if this is not possible or practical, the name being inscribed on a Memorial to the Missing.

In December 2020, the Commission reviewed their policy on amendments to the Casualty Database.   One of the outcomes of the review was that they would no longer add Honours and Awards to the database where there is no entitlement to post-nominal letters.   Therefore the recording of "Mentioned in Despatches", for instance, would no longer be carried out.    

There are some apparent anomalies in the individual records in the Debt of Honour Register maintained by the CWGC and these are listed here with the suggested corrective action taken, and the Webmaster's long term aim is to correct all of these inaccuracies.

Officers of Other Corps and Regiments Honoured and Remembered in this Website/Project

Also recorded and honoured in this website/project are the names of fallen officers of the following Yeomanry, Royal Engineer and Infantry Regiments:

• Cheshire Yeomanry

• Denbighshire Yeomanry

• Royal 1st Devon Yeomanry

• Royal North Devon Yeomanry

• Dorset Yeomanry

• Glamorgan Yeomanry

• Gloucestershire Yeomanry (Royal Gloucestershire Hussars)

• Montgomeryshire Yeomanry

• Pembroke Yeomanry

• Shropshire Yeomanry

• North Somerset Yeomanry

• West Somerset Yeomanry

• Welsh Horse Yeomanry

• Royal Anglesey Royal Engineers

• Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers

• Devonshire Regiment

• Dorsetshire Regiment

• Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry

• Gloucestershire Regiment

• Herefordshire Regiment

• The King's (Shropshire Light Infantry)

• Monmouthshire Regiment

• Royal Welsh Fusiliers

• Somerset Light Infantry

• South Wales Borderers

• Welsh Guards

• Welsh Regiment

Site Author/Webmaster

The site author/Webmaster can be contacted here:   fallenofficersofthegreatwar@gmail.com

Copyright and source - Imperial War Museum, under Share and Re-use

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.