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Biographies

These are brief biographies of those commemorated on the Cenotaph.  If you should happen to have more information on any of these, please let us know, so that we can add it here:-

  1. Captain Graham AGNEW 13th (Service) Battalion, The Northumberland Fusiliers was killed in action at Loos 26 September 1915.  This Battalion with 62nd Brigade, 21st Division had only landed in France in the second week of September.
  2. Rifleman R R 'Joe' BACON, Northern Rhodesian Police aged 37, was steward of the English Club at Elizabethville in the Belgian Congo when he made his way to Abercorn to assist the garrison of the Northern Rhodesia Police.  On 17 March 1915 he was with a fellow volunteer, Jack Merry, four Africans of the Northern Rhodesia Police, a Belgian NCO and 60 Belgian askari all under Captain McCarthy NRP, camped near the headwaters of the Samfu River, one and a half miles from the border with German East Africa.  They were attacked at dawn by a larger enemy force.  The enemy were beaten off and driven back over the border leaving one German and three Africans dead and a German officer as a prisoner of war.  However Rifleman Bacon and three Belgian askari were also killed,
  3. Nurse Monica Gertrude Alice BEAUFORT, Volunteer Aid Detachment (Kaloolah) was the daughter of Leicester Beaufort MA BCL, formerly Governor and Chief Justice of Labuan and British North Borneo, who was appointed as the first judge in North-Eastern Rhodesia in 1901.  Her mother died at Fort Jameson and her father moved to Livingstone on the amalgamation of North-Eastern and North-Western Rhodesia in 1911.  On 25 October 1915 Miss Beaufort and her step-mother left Livingstone by train for Cape Town.  She joined the South African Military Nursing Service being stationed at the Military Hospital, Wynberg, Cape Town where she died on 21 October 1918 presumably a victim of the worldwide flu epidemic.  Miss Beaufort's grave is number BI UN 31 in Plumstead Cemetery Cape Town. (Vet in Africa John Smith p230 ). Her family called her Kaloolah - even on her gravestone.
  4. Lt Col Basil Frederic BISHOP MC, East Lancashire Regiment. Joined the North-Western Rhodesia Government Service on 11 August 1903 and was an assistant district commissioner and magistrate by 1914. Killed leading an attack commanding 9th South Lancs, 22 Division on 18 Sep 1918 at Pip Ridge Macedonia on the Salonika Front.
  5. Captain Alastair Bruce BREMNER, Northern Rhodesian Police, was born in 1884, the son of William Bremner of 3 Kent's Terrace, Torquay.  He joined the British South Africa Police as Trooper no.870 in 1907 and was commissioned as Sub-Inspector and Second Lieutenant in the Northern Rhodesia Police early in 1911.  Later that year he was posted to Mongu and operated against slavers on the Portuguese border.  For a year from April 1913 he commanded the NRP escort to the Anglo-Belgian Border Commission. On the outbreak of war he was a lieutenant and was sent ahead of the Mobile Column to recruit former police and KAR askari around Kasama to assist in the defence of the border with German East Africa.  In April 1915 he was at Fife and commanded the NRP element in the raid on Mwananengombe. Bremner was promoted Temporary Captain as a company commander on 2 April 1916 for the advance into GEA.  He was on sick leave in the United Kingdom from 15 March until August 1917, his first trip home since 1907. On 9 October 1917 he resumed his temporary rank as Officer Commanding the Depot at Livingstone.  On 1 January 1918 he was leading a draft to entrain for the front when he was thrown from his horse and died. 
  6. Captain Walter BRIDGES, 1034 Mechanical Transport Company, Army Service Corps died on 25 January 1919 in Italy.  This company formed the Base MT Depot at Serravall, Arquata.
  7. Major John Edouard Marsdem BROMLEY DSO, Royal Field Artillery, was a native commissioner having joined the government service in 1908. He served with the 2nd Reserve Brigade Royal Field Artillery and later as a Temporary Captain Acting Major DSO in command of a battery of XL Brigade RFA., 2nd Division, until he was killed in action on 7 June 1918 as the tide was about to turn on the Western Front.
  8. Private Frank Washington BROOKE South African Rifles, who served with the Rhodesia Nyasaland Field Force in East Africa from late 1915.  However at the time of his death on 12 October 1916 No.9348 Private Brooke was serving with the 2nd South African Infantry on the Western Front. Killed in action on the 12th October 1916 aged 37. The 2nd and 4th S.A.I. attacked Snag and Tail Trenches. The assault died away because of machine guns nests, placed well back in prepared positions, which caught the attacking waves at long range. He has no known grave but his name appears on the Thiepval Memorial.
  9. Captain Colin Selwyn BROWN 11th (Lonsdale)(Service) Battalion The Border Regiment, 97th Brigade, 32nd Division, was killed on 1 July 1916 one of some 20,000 officers and men killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme..
  10. Volunteer George CAMPBELL Nyasaland Volunteer Reserve, Field Service Contingent enlisted on 2 March 1916 died on 10 (or 12) April 1916 at Karonga. (Cinderella's Soldiers, The Nyasaland Volunteer Reserve, Peter Roger Charlton 2010 p141)
  11. Lieutenant Colonel John CARDEN CMG, Wiltshire Regiment, was born at Kineton on 13 May 1870, the son of a captain in the 36th Foot.  He was educated at the Royal Naval School, New Cross and on 13 July 1890 attested as Trooper no.543 in the British South Africa Company's Police, newly raised for the occupation of Mashonaland.  On 8 May 1891 he was promoted Corporal in C Troop and on 1 November that year Sergeant in A Troop.  In July 1892 Carden was appointed sub-inspector in the Umtali Municipal Police which he left to become a scout for the Salisbury Horse and later a Remount Officer in the Matabele War of 1893.  He was promoted Captain that December and acted as Commissioner of Police, Matabeleland in 1894. He was appointed Adjutant and Chief Staff Officer of the Rhodesia Horse Volunteers and Adjutant of the Bulawayo Field Force in the Rebellion of 1896.  In May 1899 Captain Carden led his troop of the British South Africa Police across the Zambezi at Walker’s Drift to relieve Captain Drury's troop at Fort Monze in North-Western Rhodesia.  In August 1900 he handed over the Fort to Colonel Harding, Commandant of the newly raised Barotse Native Police, and led the remant of his fever ridden troop back across the Zambezi.  After service in the war in South Africa Carden was appointed Second in Command of the Barotse Native Police succeeding Harding as Commandant with the Local Rank of Lieutenant Colonel on 1 November 1906  He continued as Commandant of the Northern Rhodesia Police until 18 December 1912 when, having recently married he retired to Russell Cottage, West Lavington, Wiltshire.  John Carden was not to enjoy retirement or married life for long.  On 30 September 1914 he became temporary major and Second in Command of the newly raised 5th (Service) Battalion The Wiltshire Regiment  Succeeding to the command, Lt Col John Carden CMG took his battalion to Gallipoli where he fell at its head during the Turkish counterattack on Chunuk Bair on 10 August 1915.  He has no known grave.
  12. Lieutenant Leonard John CHAMPION, Northern Rhodesia Police, was the son of J I Champion of Burnham-on-Sea.  He attested in the BSAP as Trooper no.1412 in 1911 and went to the Front with the Southern Rhodesian Column in 1915 becoming a sergeant.  On 5 April 1917 he was commissioned Temporary Second Lieutenant, Northern Rhodesia Police. Lieutenant Champion was mortally wounded during the NRP Service Battalion's stand against von Lettow Vorbeck's main force at Fusi between Wiedhafen and Songea on 4 October 1918.
  13. Lieutenant Maurice DAFFARN, Northern Rhodesia Police, was born in London the son of W G Daffarn of 14 Campden Hill Square, Kensington and Valewood, Woking.  Young Daffarn was educated at Winchester and Trinity College, Cambridge.  He was commissioned into the 16th Lancers on 3 November 1909 but resigned his commission on 7 February 1912.  He joined the Northern Rhodesia Government Service in September that year and was an Assistant Native Commissioner when attached to the Northern Rhodesia Police as a Temporary Second Lieutenant on 17 December 1914.  On 24 April 1915 Daffarn was with Lieutenant G P Burton, 82 NRP other ranks and 50 Belgian troops when they attacked a German transport column near Mwazye, 34 miles into enemy territory, dispersing the escort and capturing many carriers and their loads.  Tracking the escort Burton found the path crossed some high hills.  He sent out flankers and advanced slowly.  About 100 yards from the top of the pass heavy fire was opened from three sides and a scout, Private Fungulu NRP was killed.  Burton ordered his men to fix bayonets and charge.  As they went forward Lieutenant Daffarn was mortally wounded by a bullet in the neck.
  14. Lieutenant Herbert Gough DAVIS, The Norfolk Regiment, was also an Assistant Native Commissioner but shortly before the outbreak of war was severely mauled by a leopard, both arms being broken.  Africans carried him for three and a half days,150 miles to Mongu where Davis arrived raving.  He was patched up by John Smith, a Government Veterinary Officer and sent on down the Zambezi to reach Livingstone Hospital two weeks later.  Sent to England on sick leave Davis obtained a captaincy in 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion, The Norfolk Regiment only to die on 14 February 1915 aged 37.  He is buried in Dranouter Churchyard. ('Vet in Africa, Life on the Zambezi 1913-1933', John Smith ed Tony Bagnall Smith, Radcliffe Press 1997 p210.
  15. Lieutenant Colonel Michael Frederick Beauchamp DENNIS DSO, Kings Own Scottish Borderers, was a farmer.  In 1917 he became a Temporary Lieutenant Colonel in command of 7th/8th (Service) Battalion, The King's Own Scottish Borderers, 46th Infantry Brigade, 15th (Scottish) Division.  Wounded on 25 April and 31 July that year Lt Col M F B Dennis DSO and Bar's luck finally ran out when he was killed on 19 May 1918.  His Second in Command and successor as CO was H P Hart DSO who was farming at Choma in 1920.
  16. Private Thomas DICKENS 1st South African Infantry killed in action on 18 October 1918 and is buried at Naves, France. Husband of Caroline Dickens, of Broad Road, Wynberg, Cape Province
  17. Rifleman James Kirk DUNCAN, King’s Royal Rifles, of Kawambwa was born at Paisley and enlisted in the Training Reserve at Hamilton.  He later served with 2 KRRC until killed on 9 July 1917.
  18. Lieutenant Robert Astley Franklin EMINSON BA, King’s Royal Rifles, Downing College Cambridge, son of T B F Eminson of Gonerby Cottage, Scotter, Gainsborough was an Assistant Entomologist with the BSACo from 1913 to 1915.  He was commissioned into 6th (Special Reserve) Battalion KRRC and was serving as a lieutenant with the Machine Gun Corps when killed in France on 20 July 1916
  19. Rifleman James Reid FINDLAY, King’s Royal Rifles, from Blairhead was serving with 2KRRC when he died on 30 June 1916.
  20. Colonel Alfred St Hill GIBBONS, The King’s Regiment, first reached the Victoria Falls in 1895 and remained hunting and exploring in Barotseland until March 1896.  In 1898 he was back, returning to England via the Nile in 1899.  In 1904 his book 'Africa from South to North Through Marotseland'(sic) was published in London by John Lane.  Lt Col Gibbons was on the Somme in command of 13th (Service) Battalion The King's (Liverpool Regiment), 9th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Division when he was wounded on 14 July 1916.  He died the next day.
  21. Captain Henry Cullen GOULDSBURY, Berkshire Regiment, was Native Commissioner at Mporokoso.  Despite the reluctance of the local population to have anything to do with troops from the Belgian Congo who were believed to be cannibals, Gouldsbury ensured that there was sufficient conventional food for Major Olsen's 1st Battalion when it marched through his district in September 1914, to assist the NRP in the defence of the northern border.  However he still thought he was not doing enough for the war effort and left Northern Rhodesia on 31 December to obtain a commission in 9th (Reserve) Battalion The Royal Berkshire Regiment.  Captain Gouldsbury was serving with 2nd/1st King's African Rifles when he died on 27 August 1916.
  22. Lieutenant Harold Stewart GREEN DCM, 4th Dragoon Guards, an Assistant Native Commissioner enlisted in the 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards.  For his work carrying messages under fire and crawling close to the enemy lines in order to listen for mining, and locating an advanced line of enemy posts, acting Corporal Green was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (London Gazette11 March 1916) and was commissioned.  2nd Lieutenant Green was killed on 4 April 1918.
  23. Lieutenant Guy Frederick Beckham HANDLEY MC, Coldstream Guards, joined the North-Western Rhodesia Administration in 1906 and was a Native Commissioner when he left to join 8th (Service) Battalion The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, 70th Infantry Brigade, 23rd Division.  He was awarded the Military Cross and Bar in 1916 and was an Acting Captain with 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards when killed on 27 August 1918.
  24. Lieutenant John Carolin 'Jack' HAYES MC, Coldstream Guards, of the Survey Department joined the Mobile Column of the Northern Rhodesia Rifles in which his number was 7.  He served as a rifleman on the northern border until his unit was disbanded in early 1916. Having served as a Second Lieutenant with 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards, Lieutenant J C Hayes MC was a member of the 3rd Battalion when he was admitted to hospital at Le Havre where he died of flu on 19 November 1918.
  25. Rifleman George HEPBURN, Northern Rhodesia Rifles, a rubber and ivory trader in civil life, remained at the Front as a scout with the Southern Rhodesia Column when the Northern Rhodesia Rifles were stood down. He died of dysentery at Fife on 3 April 1916.
  26. Lance Corporal Henry Havelock HIPWELL MM, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, of Umvuma and Broken Hill served in 2nd Rhodesia Regiment in East Africa.  The regiment, reduced to 91 effectives, was withdrawn in February 1917.  Hipwell may have been one of the nearly 400 who were found fit for service in Europe, after recuperative leave, and left Southern Rhodesia again on 4 September.  RR1565 Lance Corporal Hipwell MM was a member of 1st South African Infantry when reported wounded and missing on 29 October 1918.  His name is inscribed on the Vis en Artois memorial.
  27. Captain Charles HOLLAND, Royal Air Force, was one of the 25 men who marched from Fort Jameson to join the Northern Rhodesia Rifles at the front.  He was a captain (MC) in 8 Squadron Royal Flying Corps when he was killed on 25 January 1918 some nine weeks before the formation of the Royal Air Force.
  28. Captain Charles Cooper HORNSBY, Northern Rhodesia Police, was the son of Lieutenant Colonel H F Hornsby of Oakwood Court, Kensington.  1051 Trooper Hornsby joined the BSAP in 1909 and was commissioned into the Barotse Native Police on 16 August 1911. On the outbreak of war he was sent with Lieutenant Castle and 25 African Police to Sesheke to keep watch on the German fort at Schuckmannsburg in the Caprivi Strip.  On the afternoon of 21 September 1914, after the German Resident had agreed to surrender, Lieutenant Hornsby led the combined force of NRP and BSAP across the Zambezi and on landing had to forcibly disarm an African sentry who refused to give up his rifle.  He later served in German East Africa as a Temporary Captain commanding 'F' Company NRP but was admitted to hospital at Lupembe in March 1917 and died there of enteric on 12 May aged 31.
  29. Lieutenant Gilbert HOTCHKISS, The Gordon Highlanders, left his brother's farm at Kafue and trekked with the Northern Rhodesia Rifles to the Northern Border.  He left to go to England, joining the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps as Pte No.4/3/4462 on 28 June 1915.  Hotchkiss was commissioned into The Gordon Highlanders on 1 January 1916 and killed in action on 23 April 1917. (The Inns of Court OTC During the Great War.)
  30. Captain Francis Stanley HOWARD, Royal Fusiliers, an Assistant Native Commissioner was commissioned into the London Regt 3rd Bn Royal Fusiliers. Killed on 28 November 1915 aged 36 at Loos in France. Ref WO 372/10/60887 Memorial: Loos Memorial, Pas de Calais (Panel 130).
  31. Captain William T HUSBANDS, Northern Rhodesia Police, was the son of John Husbands of Waldeck Road, Carrington, Notts.  He went to war as a Corporal BSAP and was an acting warrant officer by 1 February 1916 when granted a temporary commission in the NRP 'while Officer in Charge of Supplies, Northern Border' at the Kasama Base Depot.  He was mentioned in despatches for his work on supply and was a temporary captain when he died at Kasama on 24 December 1918 age 31.
  32. Lieutenant Ernest Lucien INGPEN, Northern Rhodesia Police, was the son of a King's Counsel and educated at the City and Guilds College, being a member of London University OTC.  In 1912 he joined the BSAP as Trooper No.1611 and was commissioned as a Special Service Officer with the NRP on 6 October 1914.  He was promoted Sub-Inspector and Lieutenant on 6 August 1915.  On 7 June 1916 Ingpen accompanied Dr Harold and a few BSAP to the gate of the German Fort at Bismarcksburg under the mistaken belief that the garrison had surrendered.  They were met by the Commandant, Lieutenant Hasslacher, who disabused them.  Harold seized the German and the party withdrew under fire from three sides.  Mortally wounded in the groin Ingpen cleared the abatis in one desperate leap.
  33. Lieutenant Charles Edward Stannus IRVINE, Northern Rhodesia Rifles, was the son of Colonel Irvine DL of Killedeas, County Fermanagh.  He studied engineering at Trinity College Dublin and after serving in the South African War joined Rhodesia Railways.  In 1904 he was trading cattle at Chipanda and in 1905 bought a farm at Itimbwe.  In December 1914 he was commissioned to command the Left Section of the Northern Rhodesia Rifles in the Field.  On 16 April 1915 forty men of the Rifles and 20 NRP marched for five and a half hours from Fife to surprise the enemy post at Mwanangombe. Lieutenant Irvine was first into the stockade but fell mortally wounded.  Forty of the enemy were killed or captured.
  34. Lieutenant Percy Clarkson JOHNSON, 1/8th Battalion, The Manchester Regiment TF, 42nd (East Lancashire) Divison, was killed at Helles on 16 May 1915.
  35. Lance Corporal Harold Gordon KIRBY B Coy 4th Regt, South African Infantry. Born in Colorado and was a member of the SA Mounted Police in Cape Town. Attested to the Transvaal Scottish and went to Europe as part of the SA Expeditionary Force. Killed in action, at Delville Wood on 19 July 1916 aged 26. Name is on THIEPVAL MEMORIAL. Son of Edward Williams Kirby and Emma Kirby, of Rowlandia Farm, Lusaka, Rhodesia. A farmer in North West Rhodesia. Brother of Walter Houx Kirby, wounded in Delville Wood. His brother died in service in WW2.
  36. Lieutenant John Wilfred LEFFLER Royal Air Force, born 05 April 1892, was killed in training on 25 Sep 1918 and is buried in Brighton.   
  37. Rifleman Alex LINDSAY, Northern Rhodesia Rifles, had left his farm west of Chilanga to join the Northern Rhodesia Rifles. On 6 May 1915 fifty men of the Rifles encountered an enemy patrol near Mukoma's Village and captured an askari's kit.  The Rifles bivouacced on the Missipissi Stream where they were fired on by a German force.  The men rallied to their alarm posts and drove off their attackers for the loss of Riflemen Lindsay and Warren and five African carriers killed.
  38. Sergeant Edgar Gilbert LOCKWOOD 25th (Frontiersmen) Battalion, The Royal Fusiliers was born in Wakefield. He died 16 December 1917 aged 39 and is buried at Dar es Salaam.
  39. Lieutenant Colonel Colmer William Donald LYNCH DSO, The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, Reserve of Officers, the son of Major General William Wiltshire Lynch, joined 9th (Service) Battalion, The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in 1914.  He was Temporary Lieutenant Colonel, commanding the battalion in 64th Brigade 21st Division from disembarkation in France in August 1915 until he was killed on the Somme on 1 July 1916. He was awarded his DSO after the battle of Loos. He was a member of the MCC and East India Club.
  40. Lieutenant Frederic Charles MACAULAY, King Edward’s Horse, accompanied Colin Harding when he first entered Barotseland in October 1899, and trained the first African recruits for the Barotse Native Police.  Born in India, Macaulay served with the Matabeleland Mounted Police in the Rebellion of 1896.  As a corporal he was second in command of Robert Coryndon's British South Africa Police escort when the latter took up his appointment as the first Resident Commissioner in Barotseland in September 1897.  When the BSAP troop was withdrawn from North-Western Rhodesia in August 1900, Harding placed Sgt Macaulay in command at Fort Monze.  By High Commissioner's Notice No.16 of 7 September 1901 he was appointed a sub-inspector in the Barotse Native Police and in 1902 was in command at Kasempa from where he led patrols against slavers' caravans.  Here Macaulay was appointed Native Commissioner and by 1914, when the last slavers had been expelled permanently from Northern Rhodesia, he was Native Commissioner and Magistrate for the Kafue District, based at Mumbwa.  Macaulay left Northern Rhodesia on 28 October 1914.  No.729 Sergeant F C Macaulay served with 'C' Squadron, 1st King Edward's Horse, 47th (2nd London) Division.  On New Year's Day 1916 Macaulay went into the Line at Loos in the neighbourhood of the Double Crassier, in command of eight sharpshooters from the squadron, then engaged in routine training at Drouvin.  On 13 January, despite having no telescopic sights or other special equipment, the sharpshooters claimed two kills but the following day reported that Macaulay had been killed by a shell. (War Diary C Sqn 1 King Edward's Horse PRO WO95/2717, H L James, The History of King Edward's Horse (London, Sifton Praed & Co, 1921))
  41. Lieutenant Humphrey Gilbert MACHELL, 3rd Battalion attached 8th (Service) Battalion The Border Regiment, 75th Brigade, 25th Division died on 12 June 1918 in France.
  42. Dr Dundas S MacKNIGHT, Royal Navy, was in practice at Broken Hill in 1909.  He died on 9 November 1918 as a Surgeon Lieutenant Royal Navy, aged 43, and is buried at North Front Cemetery, Gibraltar. MacNight was serving on board the HMS Brittania which was torpedoed by a German U Boat in the western approaches to the Straits of Gibraltar.
  43. Rifleman D S 'Archie' MacGREGOR, 2nd Rhodesia Regiment, but originally Northern Rhodesia Rifles until their disbandment.  He became an Intelligence Agent in East Africa until killed on 25 November 1917.
  44. Rifleman George McKNIGHT, South African Infantry – originally Northern Rhodesian Rifles no. 74 then 2nd Rhodesia Regiment.
  45. Lieutenant Donald Cameron McMILLAN, King’s Royal Rifle Corps was serving with 12KRRC, 60th Brigade, 20th (Light) Division when he died of wounds on 11 March 1916
  46. Rifleman Jacob MERBER aka RABINOWITZ King’s Royal Rifle Corps managed the Susman Brothers' Store at Sesheke until he married Gertie Grill in August 1909 and moved to Umvuma for a short time before returning north of the Zambezi to join his brother in law, Solly Grill, in business at Mazabuka. The partnership was dissolved early in 1914. No.R36830 Rifleman Merber served with 2 KRRC in France but died of wounds on 10 July 1917. (An African trading Empire, The Story of Susman Brothers & Wulfsohn, 1901-2005, Hugh Macmillan I B Tauris 2005 p933)
  47. Volunteer John MINSHALL, Nyasaland Voluntary Reserve on 14 August 1917, died on 5(or 6) May 1918 and is buried at Mangoche.
  48. Corporal Herbert Walter NISBETT, Gordon Highlanders died on 25 December 1917.
  49. Captain Hugh F North, 1/4 Battalion The Hampshire Regiment TF was a government servant possibly in the Survey Department.  He was killed on 12 January 1916 in Mesopotamia.
  50. Private Ernest William OSBORNE, Rhodesia Regiment left Livingstone to join 2nd Rhodesia Regiment but was killed in France with 1st South African Infantry on 10 April 1918 aged 30.
  51. Lieutenant Geoffrey PALMER RE, 153 Field Company Royal Engineers 37th Division was killed in action on 19 November 1915 in France
  52. Rifleman Kenneth Douglas PEACOCK Rhodesia Regiment, was a government clerk in North-Western Rhodesia from 1903 until October 1911.  He served on the Northern Border as Rifleman No.10 in the Northern Rhodesia Rifles and then joined 2nd Rhodesia Regiment as No.1575, dying at Morogoro on 18 January 1917 aged 33.
  53. Captain Henry Goold PEARCE MC RE, Royal Engineers, was manager of Champion Mine at Umtali when he left to become manager of the King Edward Mine in Northern Rhodesia.  He served at the front in the ranks of the Northern Rhodesia Rifles before leaving for England to join the Royal Engineers.  Acting Captain Pearce MC was serving with 171 Tunnelling Company when killed in action on 17 July 1917.
  54. Lieutenant Herbert Stanley PLANT RE, Royal Engineers, of 181 Tunnelling Company attached to 52nd Infantry Brigade 17th Division died on 18 February 1918 in France.
  55. Lieutenant John Matthew POUND, Royal Marines Light Infantry, was an Assistant native Commissioner.  He was killed on the Somme on 13 November 1916 aged 34
  56. Rifleman Drostan Arthur Cummin RUSSELL, Northern Rhodesia Rifles, was the son of a Major General and educated at Radley and Balliol, Oxford.  He worked as a surveyor for the Canadian Northern Railway in British Columbia before becoming Private Secretary to Aubrey Wallace, Administrator of Northern Rhodesia, who released him to join the Northern Rhodesia Rifles.  No.50 Rifleman Russell died of blackwater fever at Serenje on 31 October 1915.
  57. Captain Thomas Leopold RUSSELL, King’s African Rifles, died as an Acting Captain in 3/2KAR on 6 November 1917 aged 38
  58. Major Martin RYAN MC 25th Battalion Royal Fusiliers died in East Africa on 18 October 1917 aged 40
  59. Lieutenant Frederick Gordon de SATGE, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, was born in 1884, the son of Commander Oscar de Satge RN, and himself became a midshipman in 1898.  He served in China during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 but resigned his commission as a sub-lieutenant in 1903. de Satge then served as a trooper in the Cape Mounted Riflemen, the Cape Police and finally the BSAP until June 1909 when he was commissioned in the Barotse Native Police and took charge at Kasempa. As sub-inspector and lieutenant he resigned from the Northern Rhodesia Police on 9 December 1913 after being taken to task for exceeding his disciplinary powers on a long and arduous border patrol. He went to German South West Africa with 1st Rhodesia Regiment and on 11 June 1915 was commissioned as a lieutenant in 6th (Special Reserve) Battalion, The King's Royal Rifle Corps, being attached to the 4th Battalion at the Front by September. Apparently granted a regular commission in the 1st Battalion he was attached to 7th (Service) Battalion KRRC, 41st Brigade, 14th (Light) Division from 16 July 1916. He was Temporary Captain commanding a company at the time of the first use of tanks at Flers. On 14 September 1916 at 11.45pm the Battalion moved up to and through Delville Wood, taking up a position behind 8 KRRC in front of the Wood at 1am under shellfire. At 6am 8 KRRC left their trenches at Brown and Green Streets and advanced with the tanks to Switch Trench where 7 KRRC passed through to attack and occupy Gap Trench which they consolidated. They met little resistance but came under heavy shellfire. After a short interval the tanks resumed the forward movement and 42 Brigade passed through 7 KRRC but were unable to take their objective because of machine gun-fire from the flanks. In the confusion many of 7 KRRC went forward with 42 Brigade. On 16 September 43 Brigade relieved 42 Brigade. 7 KRRC and 7 Rifle Brigade occupied Green and Brown streets east of Delville Wood where they were shelled until ordered to return to the transport lines at Fricourt at 7pm on 17 September. de Satge was originally reported as missing believed wounded but later confirmed as one of 3 officers of his Battalion killed together with 21 other ranks. One other officer died of wounds and 10 were wounded. 189 other ranks were wounded and 120 reported missing. (War Diary 7 KRRC PRO WO95/1896)
  60. Private Cecil Herbert Sauerman, 2nd South African Infantry, Died of his wounds on 17 Jan 1918 in France. Son of Ada Alice Sauerman, of "Belingwe," Morom Rd., Wynberg, Cape Province, and the late Bruno Sauerman.
  61. Sergeant Thomas Robert Landy SAVORY. 2nd Rhodesia Regiment was the son of a Land Inspector.  He died at Salisbury on 1 October 1917 aged 23.
  62. Sergeant Charles William SELL DCM, Northern Rhodesia Police, served as a trooper in the Bulawayo Field Force during the Matabele Rebellion of 1896.  He then joined No.1 Division British South Africa Police as Trooper 2585 being wounded as a member of the Mafeking garrison on 27 March 1900. He was an elephant hunter in Northern Rhodesia and volunteered as a scout for the NRP in 1914. A company of the NRP joined 7th South African Infantry in the Muhange Hills where they were surrounded. On the night 30/31 October 1916 Sergeant Sell crept through the enemy lines to fetch help, but the enemy drew off the next day having bitten off more than they could chew. The award of the Distinguished Conduct Medal to Scout Sergeant Major Sell was gazetted on 26 May 1917 'For conspicuous gallantry in performing dangerous reconnaissances on many occasions. On one occasion, with a small party of Scouts, he held up and inflicted many casualties on an enemy advanced guard, himself bringing a wounded man out of action'. Charlie Sell's luck ran out and he died of wounds on 29 May 1918.
  63. Scout Norman SINCLAIR, Northern Rhodesia Police, a scout who was on reconnaissance in Angola when, armed only with a Bowie knife he encountered a lion on 9 May 1915.  They killed each other.
  64. Lieutenant Charles Millington SING, Royal Sussex Regiment, had been an Assistant Native Commissioner since 1911. He was commissioned in The Royal Sussex Regiment and joined its 7th (Service) Battalion, 12th (Eastern) Division, in France on 19 March 1916.  He died of wounds on 7 July 1916 aged 27.
  65. Volunteer Herbert H SMITH, Nyasaland Volunteer Reserve, joined the Field Service Contingent on 21 June 1916 and died at Neu Langenberg of enteric and malaria on 5 April 1917, (Cinderella's Soldiers p.158) Buried at Iringa.
  66. Sergeant A J SMITH, - regiment is not given on the memorial possibly because of the confusion over units he served with: 7th Bn The London Regiment and 1 / 4KAR.
  67. Major Alfred SOAMES DSO, 6th (Service) Battalion The Royal East Kent Regiment (The Buffs) 37th Brigade, 12th (Eastern) Division , born 16 September 1862, son of Reverend Charles Soames, MA, of Mildenhall, Marlborough, Wiltshire and went to Haileybury School. He served in the South African War in 1901. He received the Queen's Medal with a clasp, and was created a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order [London Gazette 31 October 1902]: "Alfred Soames, Lieutenant, South African Mounted Irregular Forces. In recognition of services during the operations in South Africa".was killed in action near Hulloch in France on 13 October 1915. He was well known amongst the cricketing circles in Johannesburg at the Wanderers Club as an umpire.
  68. Rifleman William STEVENS, Northern Rhodesia Rifles, was killed when taking over piquet duty at Tunduma near Fife on 11 November 1915.
  69. Lieutenant Henry Joseph Maxwell Ignatius STUART, Coldstream Guards, was another member of the Survey Department who joined the Northern Rhodesia Rifles.  He was later commissioned in 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards and killed in action on 9 October 1917.
  70. Lieutenant Henry William TARBUTT, Northern Rhodesia Police, was the son of Henry Fyson Tarbutt of 'Wayside' Onslow Cresent, Woking.  He joined the BSAP as Trooper No.1521 in 1911 and was a sergeant with the Southern Rhodesia Column when commissioned into the NRP on 5 April 1917.  On 9 August 'A' Company NRP drove in two enemy pickets before assaulting an enemy position at Tuturu.  Leading the charge Lieutenant Tarbutt was bayoneted in the throat and fell into the German trench.  Four African police died with him.  Before retiring the Germans buried Tarbutt in a grave marked 'Lt Tarbutt, 'A' Coy N.R.Police. In honour of a brave man'.
  71. Private Joseph Collins TAYLOR, 2nd Rhodesia Regiment, died on 11 July 1916 aged 32 and is buried at Dar es Salaam.
  72. Private R J F URQUART, 2nd Rhodesia Regiment from Broken Hill later joining 1st South African Infantry. He died as a prisoner of war in Germany on 18 October 1918.
  73. Rifleman Arthur John 'Mad Jack' or 'Matabele' WARREN, Northern Rhodesia Rifles, a Lusaka builder and farmer, was killed together with Alex Lindsay on 17 May 1915.
  74. Captain Geoffrey Fell WATHERSTON, East African Forces, was the son of the Rev Alex Law Watherston, Headmaster of Hinckley Grammar School. Young Watherston was Orderly Room Sergeant of the Barotse Native Police by 1 October 1903 and was commissioned as Sub-Inspector on 1 October 1904. He was in command at Kaunga from December until March 1905. From 1 February 1908 until 31 March 1909 he was seconded as Commandant of the North-Eastern Rhodesia Constabulary with the local rank of captain. Watherston was promoted Captain on 1 October 1910 and was Adjutant of the Barotse Native Police. At the start of the war he joined the East African Forces and soon became a Sergeant in a machine gun company. He soon regained his old rank with the Uganda Police Service Battalion before he died on 27 November 1916. Captain Watherston is buried in Jinja cemetery Uganda.
  75. Lance Corporal W W WAUGH, Royal Buckinghamshire Hussars Yeomanry, was born at Maybole but enlisted at the Cape. He died in Egypt on 12 August 1916.
  76. Lieutenant Edward Gordon WILLIAMS, Special Reserve, 2nd Grenadier Guards was killed in France on 12 August 1915 possibly accidently.
  77. Sergeant Joseph WILSON, 3rd King’s Royal Rifle Corps, was born at Belfast. He enlisted in Southern Rhodesia and was killed on the Western Front on 8 May 1915.
  78. Rifleman David Alexander WOOD, Northern Rhodesia Rifles, was in Katanga at the outbreak of war and served as a volunteer with the Belgian forces before joining the Northern Rhodesia Rifles.  On 28 June 1915 a German force surrounded Saisi in the early morning mist and woke the garrison by bombarding them with a field gun. No.121 Rifleman Wood and another rifleman were sent with a section of NRP to reinforce the piquet at the Saisi bridge where Wood was killed aged 42. After confused fighting over open ground south and west of the fort the enemy were repulsed.
  79. Rifleman John BEATTIE, Northern Rhodesian Rifles. Buried Chinsali, Zambia. Died at Lubwa Mission, Northern Rhodesia 26/6/16 aged 37. Third son of Archibald and Ann Dalgleish Beattie, mason, 1 Twirlees Road, Hawick, and brother of Margaret. His name appears on the South African panel on the Hawick Roll of Honour.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young, 
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow. 
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted: 
They fell with their faces to the foe. 

If you should happen to have more information on any of these, please let us know, so that we can add it here.

 

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