British aristocracy losses in WW2

Killed serving with 1st Gren Gds, Holland, 1944
GIBBS, The Hon. VICARY PAUL
Son of Walter Durant Gibbs, 4th Baron Aldenham, and of Lady Aldenham (nee Paul), of Ware, Hertfordshire; husband of Jean Frances Gibbs (nee Harnbro).
CWGC :: Casualty Details

 

HAMILTON-RUSSELL, The Hon. GUSTAVUS LASCELLES
Son of Gustavus William Hamilton-Russell, J.P., D.L., 9th Viscount Boyne and of Viscountess Boyne, C.B.E. (nee Lascelles), of Bridgnorth. His brother, the Hon. Desmond Claud Hamilton-Russell, also died on service.

CWGC :: Casualty Details

1st Royal Dragoons , Tunisia, 1943
HAMILTON-RUSSELL, The Hon. DESMOND CLAUD
Son of Gustavus William Hamilton-Russell, J.P., D.L., 9th Viscount Boyne, and of the Viscountess Boyne, C.B.E. (nee Lascelles), of Bridgnorth, Shropshire
CWGC :: Casualty Details

 

Lieutenant Colonel (Lord) HAY, EDWARD DOUGLAS JOHN
Son of William Montagu Hay, 10th Marquess of Tweeddale and the Marchioness Tweeddale; husband of Lady Hay (nee Latham), of Theydon Mount. Also served in the 1914-18 War. Staff Capt. to General Sir Edmund Ironside, 1921. Military Secretary to Rt. Hon. Sir Herbert Samuel from 1921-1923.
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Killed when Guards Chapel hit by a V1.

 

NORTHUMBERLAND, 9th Duke of
CWGC :: Casualty Details

PERCY, HENRY GEORGE ALAN
9th Duke of Northumberland. Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Lord Privy Seal, 1935. Son of the late Alan Ian Percy, K.G., C.B.E., M.V.O., 8th Duke of Northumberland, and of Helen Magdalen, Duchess of Northumberland.
CWGC :: Casualty Details

Killed serving in 3rd Gren Gds , Belgium 1940

Dbf sent me this.

from The Irish Times, Friday, October 11, 1940



DUKE KILLED IN ACTION

LEAVES £1,400,000

Lieutenant Henry George Alan Percy, of the Grenadier Guards, twenty-seven years old, ninth Duke of Northumberland, who died on active service on May 21, left unsettled estate of the gross value of £1,446, 489. Net personality is £1,092,538, and estate duty of £193,883 has been paid.

Probate of his will and codicil has been granted to his mother, Helen Magdalen, Duchess of Northumberland; his uncle, Lord Eustace Percy, and Lord Halifax, the Foreign Secretary.

The young Duke died while leading a party of forty men of the Grenadier Guards in a bayonet charge against a German machine-gun enfilading British troops near Louvain.

The wife of one of the Guardsmen afterwards told how she had heard that the Duke called for forty volunteers. "The Duke led them in the charge," she said, "but none of them returned. Later the Guards sent out a search party, but found only the body of the Duke." The operation was successful, however. The Duke and his men had given their lives to silence the gun.

In 1936 the Ducal estates in Northumberland were turned into a private company.

 

SALTOUN, The Master of
CWGC :: Casualty Details

FRASER, The Hon. ALEXANDER SIMON
Master of Saltoun. Son of Capt. Alexander Arthur Fraser, M.C., 19th Baron Saltoun of Abernethy, and Lady Saltoun (nee Welby), of Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire.

Killed Italy, with 6th Gren Gds
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Lieutenant Colonel (9th Bart) DES VOEUX, Sir WILLIAM RICHARD De B.
CO of 156 PARA
Son of Lt.-Col. Henry John des Voeux, O.B.E., and Dorothy Gladys des Voeux; husband of Lady des Voeux (nee Elkington), of Adbury Holt, Newbury, Berkshire.
CWGC :: Casualty Details

 

WIGRAM, The Hon. FRANCIS CLIVE
Son of Clive Wigram, P C., G.C.B., G.C.V.O., 1st Baron Wigram, and of Lady Wigram (nee Chamberlain), of Regent's Park, London.
CWGC :: Casualty Details

Killed Salerno with 6th Gren Gds

 

During the course of the morning of Sunday 27th August, Major Sir John Backhouse, Second-in-Command of 179 Field Regiment, crossed the bridge to look for a suitable site for his guns. His scout car came under heavy fire from some German guns and he was severely wounded in the head. He died later that day.

BBC - WW2 People's War - Fire Orders Chapter 14c


He'd already been wounded back in June.
The next morning Lieut.-Colonel W. D. Blacker was killed by enemy mortaring and Major Sir John Backhouse wounded. This left Major T. M. Brewis in command of the regiment....

the 27th August the bridgehead was large enough for the Armour to break out on its way into Belgium. The Regiments greatest loss at this time was when the Second-in-Command, Major Sir John Backhouse, was killed when looking for forward gun positions. John Backhouse had been everybody’s friend.


Worcestershire Regiment(29th/36th of Foot) Web site

 

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Lieutenant Colonel GEOFFREY CHARLES TASKER KEYES V C, M C, 71081, Royal Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons), Royal Armoured Corps and No. 11 (Scottish), Commando who died age 24 on 18 November 1941
Awarded Croix de Guerre. Son of Admiral of the Fleet Roger John Brownlow Keyes, G.C.B., K.C.V.O., C.M:G., D.S.O., A.D.C., 1st Baron Keyes, and of Lady Keyes (nee Bowlby), of Buckingham.
Remembered with honour BENGHAZI WAR CEMETERY

Geoffrey Charles Tasker Keyes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
71081 Geoffrey Charles Tasker KEYES, VC, MC, Royal Scots Greys, 11 Commando: 18/11/1941

Memorial to him and to his father, Sir Roger Keyes:
Pic courtesy of Dovermarine.

 

Just reading in Something About a Soldier by Christopher Bulteel MC about Michael Brodrick's death, on page 182.

It seemed possible that our battalion might be called in , too, to execute some kind of pincer movement , out beyond the main road, and around to meet with the Grenadiers in Battipaglia. Michael went forward in a carrier to reconnoitre.
The carrier recieved a direct hit from an enemy mortar, and Michael was killed almost instantaneously.

 

Page 363 of the Grenadier Guards history says FC Wigram also killed by a mortar bomb.

 

Adam mentioned Trenchard in post #3.
CWGC :: Casualty Details

TRENCHARD, The Hon. HUGH
Son of Marshal of the Royal Air Force Hugh Montague Trenchard, G.C.B., O.M., G.C.V.O., D.S.O., 1st Viscount Trenchard, and of Viscountess Trenchard (nee Bowlby), of Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.

6th Bn Grenadier Guards, regimental history page 301 says

Both Lieuts JM Strang-Steel and Hon H Trenchard were first wounded by mines , and shortly afterwards killed by mortar bombs.

That was during the fighting for The Horseshoe, Mareth Line, Tunisia.



STRANG STEEL, JAMES MALCOLM
Son of Maj. Sir Samuel Strang Steel, 1st Bt., and the Hon. Lady Strang Steel, of Philiphaugh, Selkirkshire.
CWGC :: Casualty Details

 

:: CWGC ::

Lieutenant The Hon. STEPHEN EDWARD THOMAS PRESTON 228338, 1st Bn., Irish Guards who died age 23 on 30 January 1944
Son of Jenico Edward Joseph Preston, 15th Viscount Gormanston, and of Eileen, Viscountess Gormanston, of Gormanston Castle, Co. Meath, Irish Republic.
Remembered with honour ANZIO WAR CEMETERY

Night attack 29/30 Jan 1944, Carroceto:
Lieutenant Stephen Preson [3 Coy Pl Comdr] was killed by machine-gun fire from the flank as he came out of th first railway cutting with the second platoon.

and his brother
Captain JENICO WILLIAM RICHARD PRESTON 107447, 2/4th Bn., King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry who died age 25 on 09 June 1940
16th Viscount Gormanston. Son of the late Jenico Edward Joseph Preston, 15th Viscount Gormanston, and of Eileen Alice, Viscountess Gormanston (nee Butler); husband of the Viscountess Gormanston (nee Hanley), of Naas, Co. Kildare, Irish Republic.
Remembered with honour DUNKIRK MEMORIAL
Grave/Memorial Reference: Column 115.

Attached photo of Dunkirk memorial courtesy of Drew

 

*CWGC :: Casualty Details

Major The Marquess of Hartington family name Cavendish

Major Marquis of HARTINGTON Mentioned in Despatches 90720, ALIAS who died age 26 on 09 September 1944
(See CAVENDISH, the true family name). Son of Edward William Spencer Cavendish, K.G., 10th Duke of Devonshire, and the Duchess of Devonshire, of Chatsworth, Derbyshire; husband of Kathleen, Marchioness of Hartington, of Westminster, London.
Remembered with honour LEOPOLDSBURG WAR CEMETERY


*cwgc seems to be down again; will edit in details later.

Edit new cwgc links: :: CWGC ::
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From A Distant Drum, Pereira:
The capture of Heppen brought in another large batch of prisoners and they had an interesting story to tell. During No. 4 Company's attack the day before, the Germans also abandoned Heppen, but were ordered to recapture it without fail the next morning. By a million to one freak of war their attack reached the village about ten minutes before ours, with the result that they were hit by the full weight of our artillery before they were able to dig in or organize themselves against our attack. It finished them. When I had interrogated the prisoners I went to the command post. Colonely Roddy was back with the full story of the Heppen attack.

No. 3 Company had no officers left. C.S.M. Cowley had got the company through the last stage of the attack, for which he was awarded the D.C.M. I was going to ask, and then the CO said, "Billy Hartington has been killed."
I said, "Oh."
There was nothing else one can say. I thought: "So in war the infantry just go on and on and in the end it's almost inevitable. If you are lucky you are hit; if you are unlucky you are killed. How few people know what it costs to live like that? Already there are other generations with lives to live. This must never happen to them. Oh, God, watch over us and keep us, and whatever is to be the end it must not be in vain. Most people will forget because they have never known or understood, but if we who know the cost, if we survive, what hope will there be when we forget?" In my heart I knew I would forget as we all have - not the facts, but the misery and sacrifice whic alone can give them meaning. I remember thinking almost exactly as I have written and, though one's feeling cannot survive the rub of time, I know that I was right."



See #19 on this thread for Cowley's D.C.M. citation http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/unit-documents/19260-5-bn-coldstream-guards-2.html


Edit: Courtesy of Ramacal, Attached a photo of headstone