Fallen Officers of the Great War   |   Welsh Guards

No

Date Died

Surname

Forenames

Rank

Decs

Age

Cause

Country

Location/Area/Sector

Cemetery/Memorial

Notes

Died in 1916

1

19th July

NEWBOROUGH

The Lord William Charles Wynn

Lt

-

43

DOI

UK

Park Lane, London

Llan Ffestiniog (Newborough) Burial Ground

(1)

Died in 1918

2

28th March

WILLIAMS-BULKELEY

Richard Gerard Wellesley

Major

MC, MiD

30

DOI

UK

Hospital in London

East Finchley Cemetery (D.3A.18)

3/p126   (2)

Died in 1919

3

26th November

BAXTER

Frederick Bowden

2Lt

-

20

DOI

UK

Midland Railway Station, Derby

Arnside Cemetery, Cumbria (C.132)

(3)

Notes:    (The numbers marked with a "p" in the Notes column refers to the page within the trio of Books "The Welsh At War" - (Book 1) - From Mons to Loos and the Gallipoli Tragedy, (Book 2) - The Grinding War :The Somme and Arras and (Book 3) - Through Mud to Victory: Third Ypres and the 1918 Offensives, by Steven John, where the death of the officer is mentioned or indicated).

1.   NEWBOROUGH died of pleurisy.

2.   WILLIAMS-BULKELEY was appointed Regimental Adjutant on 5th March 1917.   A Death Notice published in The Times on 29th March 1918 states that he died "after a long illness".

3.   BAXTER was appointed to a commission in the Welsh Guards (Special Reserve) on 28th August 1918.   He died of asphyxia whilst travelling on the train between Manchester and Derby.

Whilst the Regiment and the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards was officially formed on 26th February 1915, the 2nd (Reserve) Battalion Welsh Guards was raised in August 1915 at Wellington Barracks, London.

Permission to raise the Regiment had originally been given by King George V on 6th February 1915 and the War Office was tasked to carry out the necessary work.  Major General Sir Francis Lloyd, Commander of the Brigade of Guards and General Officer Commanding London District was issued orders by Field Marshal Lord Kitchener to raise the Regiment and the formal Royal Warrant to form the single Battalion of the Regiment was issued on 26th February 1915.   The nucleus of the Welsh Guards was soon formed with 300 Welshmen transferring from the Grenadier Guards and NCOs transferring from The Grenadier and Scots Guards, after careful selection had been carried out.   Lieutenant Colonel William Murray-Threipland was appointed to command the Regiment and the 1st Battalion and in the Supplement to the London Gazette, Number 29117, dated Thursday 1st April 1915, on page 3226, the following officers were appointed to the Regiment on 2nd April 1915:

As Majors:

Captain The Honourable Alexander Gore Arkwright Hore-Ruthven, VC, (from 1st (King's) Dragoon Guards

Captain Granville Cecil Douglas Gordon (from Scots Guards)

As Captains:

Lieutenant John Harford Bradney (from Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry)

Lieutenant Arthur Percy Palmer, DSO, (from Reserve of Officers) - Killed in action at Loos on 27th September 1915.

Lieutenant George William Fisher Philipps (from Durham Light Infantry)

Lieutenant John Lamplugh Wickham (from Scots Guards)

Second Lieutenant Osmond Trahairn Deudraeth Williams (from 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys)) - Died of wounds in France on 30th September 1915.

Second Lieutenant Rhys Williams (from Grenadier Guards)

Lieutenant Richard Gerard Wellesey Williams-Bulkeley (from Reserve of Officers) - Died of illness in UK on 28th March 1918.

As Lieutenants:

Lieutenant Hugh Evelyn Allen (late Lieutenant Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment))

Lieutenant Hugh Ellison Wethered (from Reserve of Officers)

Lieutenant Percy Robert Herbert, Viscount Clive, (from Scots Guards) - Died of wounds in UK on 31st October 1916.

Lieutenant Percival Lawrence Montagu Battye (from Grenadier Guards)

Lieutenant Wilfred Hugh Julien Gough (from Montgomeryshire Yeomanry)

Captain Rupert Wyndham Lewis (from Glamorgan Yeomanry)

Captain James John Pugh Evans (from Welsh Horse Yeomanry)

Second Lieutenant Ernest Edmund Henry Malet Earl of Lisburne (Scots Guards)

Second Lieutenant Keith Graham Menzies (from 2nd Life Guards)

As Second Lieutenant:

Second Lieutenant Basil Tudor Vincent Hambrough (from Welsh Regiment)

Lieutenant James Allan Dyson Perrins (from Seaforth Highlanders)

Lieutenant Harry Talbot Rice (from East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry)

Second Lieutenant Geoffrey Cartland Hugh Crawshay (from Welsh Regiment)

Second Lieutenant Henry Algernon Evan-Thomas (from Coldstream Guards)

Second Lieutenant William Augustus Fitzgerald Lane Fox-Pitt (from Cheshire Regiment)

Lieutenant The Hon Philip Granville James Fitzalan Howard (from Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) - Died of wounds in France on 24th May 1918.

Second Lieutenant Felix Alexander Vincent Copland-Griffiths (from The Rifle Brigade)

After these initial appointments, a steady stream of new officers were Gazetted to the Welsh Guards by transferring from other Regiments or joining directly from Officer Training Corps.

The newly raised Welsh Guards were based at White City, and, at the behest of the King, mounted their first King's Guard at Buckingham Palace on 1st March 1915 (St David's Day) and thereafter recruitment started in earnest.   On 24th March 1915 the Regiment was inspected by Major General Sir Francis Lloyd, Commander of the Brigade of Guards and General Officer Commanding London District, at the White City and the strength of the 1st Battalion was 800.   Within two more weeks the 1st Battalion was up to full establishment and recruiting began to form a 2nd Battalion.   Meanwhile the 1st Battalion was sent to Sandown Park for combat training and preparation for deployment to France and the BEF and posting to the 3rd Guards Brigade, of the Guards Division on 18th August 1915.

A detailed history of the Regiment can be found in "History of the Welsh Guards" by CH Dudley Ward, DSO, MC, published in 1919.