#whsfridayfact - Lost Boys
1981-2018, 100 years since the end of the First World War and we would like to remember all the Windlesham boys who lost their lives during this conflict.  70 boys in total lost, the youngest 18, Second Lieutenant Toby St. George Caulfield and the oldest, 64, was Admiral Herbert Lyon, C.B.

The Lost Boys
 
Statistics:

• 70 old boys gave their lives in WW1 (see note below*) - plus 34 in WW2, giving a "traditional" total of 104. An additional 6 are recorded for the Boer War taking the total to 110.
• In WW1, the youngest casualty was 18 year old Second Lieutenant Toby St. George Caulfield of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and Royal Flying Corps who was shot down in a dogfight in June 1917.
• The oldest, at 64, was Admiral Herbert Lyon, C.B.  He died in 1919, retired. The war may of course have hastened his death. 
• A slightly better candidate for oldest, qualified as "the oldest killed in action" or "during the war", might be Brigadier General George Colborne Nugent, 51, who was "killed by a stray bullet" in the front line trenches in May 1915.
• The first Windlesham Casualty of the war was Captain Francis Joseph Currie, killed on 24 August 1914, age 21.
• The last man to die before the Armistice was Lieutenant Douglas Woulfe Hay, M.C. on 29 September 1918, aged 21.
• There were three "worst days" of the war on which 2 OWLs lost their lives: 7 Aug 1915, 10 Aug 1915, 15th Sept 1916. As this is not a particularly powerful statistic...
• ...the worst month of the war was August 1915 in which 5 OWLs lost their lives. All five were at Gallipoli.
  • Second Lieutenant Thomas Edward Ainger
  • Lieutenant George Leonard Cheesman
  • Captain William Barras Hore
  • Lieutenant Gerald Bevis Lockhart
  • Lieutenant Samuel King Wright
• Deaths by year
  • 1914: 8
  • 1915: 12
  • 1916: 14
  • 1917: 14
  • 1918: 14
  • Post-1918: 7

 
 

• The most highly decorated OW was Lieutenant Colonel Spencer Acklom D.S.O. and Bar, M.C.
• OWL awards
  • DSO (Distinguished Service Order): 3 (including Spencer Acklom's two)
  • MC (Military Cross): 8 (including Spencer Acklom)
  • DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross): 1
  • Mentioned in Despatches: 4 that we found so far
  • In addition Brig-Gen Nugent was made MVO (Member of the Royal Victorian Order) and Admiral Lyon was made CB (Companion of the Order of the Bath).  Technically 'higher' honours than the above but more 'gongs for senior officers' than for gallantry
• The most popular regiment was (unsurprisingly) the Royal Sussex Regiment (6 OWL,s)
• Units served in:
  • Royal Navy: 4
    • Traditional: 2
    • As pilot: 1
    • Royal Marines: 1
  • Army:
    • Cavalry: 4 (including 2 with Indian units)
    • Artillery: 7 (assuming GFC Lawton served with the artillery)
    • Engineers: 1
    • Infantry: 49 (including 3 with Indian and African units)
    • Service Corps and Departments: 0 (eg: Chaplains, Ordnance, Pay Corps etc.,)
    • Flying Corps: 4

*Note that the Flying Corps was part of the army at the time and that 3 of the 4 served with infantry units as well. (Richard Yates did not and was commissioned directly onto the Special List)