Name
Rupert Edward Gascoyne-Cecil
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
11/07/1915
20
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lieutenant
Bedfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
RAILWAY DUGOUTS BURIAL GROUND (TRANSPORT FARM)
I. A. 2.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hatfield Town Memorial, Hatfield In Memoriam Book, St Etheldredas Church Window, Bishops Hatfield
Pre War
Fourth son of the Rev. Cannon Lord William Rupert Ernest Gascoyne-Cecil, Rector of Hatfield and Lady Florence Mary, nee Bootle Wilbraham, 3rd daughter of Edward, 1st Earl of Lathom, G.C.B., P.C. Rupert was born in Hatfield on 20th January 1895.
Educated at Westminster and Christ Church, then Oxford where he joined the Public School Corps.
In the 1901 & 1911 Census, Rupert, age 6 and 16 respectively, was with his parents and siblings in St Audrey’s Rectory, Back Street (Church St.) in Old Hatfield. Then in the 1911 census, Rupert is listed as a student (the 1911 census transposes his name to Edward Rupert).
He rowed in the Torpid at Oxford and was keenly interested in bell ringing.
Wartime Service
Rupert obtained his commission as Second Lieutenant in the 4th Bedfordshire Regt. On 15 Aug 1914 and was attached to the 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regt.
He was killed in action near Ypres, 11 July, 1915, during a bombardment preceded by the blowing up of a very big mine by the Germans between the trenches.
His commanding officer wrote: “Your son was only with us unfortunately for a very short time, but he had endeared himself to all who knew him by his cheerfulness and soldierly qualities.” Capt. Curtis wrote: “The Germans exploded a very large mine between two of our trenches about 7.15pm. and then shelled us heavily. On hearing the explosion your son immediately tried to get up to the fire trench, of which he was in charge, but unfortunately he was struck on the head by a fragment of shell, and was killed instantaneously...... He was always beloved by all his fellow officers and above all by his men, who had a great respect for him. We all feel the loss which the regt. has sustained by his death but we are proud he was doing his duty so nobly when he was killed. A Good many men were stunned and confused by the explosion, but your son remained cool and det his death going to his post.”
The Bishop’s Hatfield Parish Magazine of October 1914, in the 2nd list of men mobilised from Hatfield, recorded “Cecil. Rupert Lieut. – St Audrey’s – 4th Beds Regt.” and in August 1915: “Letters tell of Rupert Cecil’s death. Besides these accounts has come that at the moment he was killed he was helping a wounded man.
A memorial service was held in the Parish Church on Saturday, July 24th which was taken by his dearest friend the Rev. G.K.A. Bell, Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Organist and Choir gave of their best for this lovely service. The ringers remembered his keen interest in the Belfry and rang a muffled peal to his memory."
Rupert Edward Gascoyne-Cecil
News has been received that the Rector’s youngest son, Lieutenant Rupert Cecil, was killed in action on Sunday July 11th. That evening the enemy exploded a mine in the front trench which was, at the time, in his charge. He tried to get up to the mine crater to his men, but as he went he was hit and killed instantly. Anyone who knows what the explosion of a mine means will admire this coolness and courage on his part. But that was all in keeping with his whole character. To human eyes his seems perhaps a short life, yet his twenty years were twenty years of usefulness: for he was one of those blameless ones who strengthen those around them wherever they go.
As a Church worker, too, he made his usefulness felt in the parish. To this the bell-ringers will bear witness: when at home he was seldom absent from the ringers’ floor on Sundays or on practice nights. And now his death for his country comes as the crowning act of usefulness. He has gone as one more from Hatfield into that band of great ones who have not shrunk from spending and being spent for others. C.T.T. Wood”
On Active Service
July 15th 1915
Dear Sir,
You will have heard, before this reaches you, the sad news about your son, 2nd Lieut. R.E.G. Cecil. I am writing to try and express my very sincere sympathy, and that of all ranks of the Battalion, and to give you a few details as to what occurred. About 7.15 p.m. last night the Germans exploded a mine near our front trenches and at the same time opened artillery fire and a certain amount of rifle fire on the trenches near the mine. Your son was shot through the head, either by shrapnel or rifle bullet, and death was practically instantaneous and painless. He is to be buried this afternoon near Ypres-Cominis railway line (about a mile from the former place) where a number of officers and men have been buried. The Rev. Fitch, Chaplain to the 15th Brigade, has been asked to conduct the funeral service. Your son was only with us, unfortunately, for a very short time but he had endeared himself to all who knew him by his cheerfulness and soldierly qualities.
With deepest sympathy
Yours sincerely, Chas. N. Griffith. Lt.-Colonel Commanding 1st Beds Regt.
July 12th
Dear Sir,
I am very sorry to have to inform you that your son Rupert was killed in action yesterday. The Germans exploded a very large mine between our two trenches about 7.15 pm., and then shelled us heavily. On hearing the explosion your son immediately tried to get up to the fire trench of which he was in charge, but unfortunately he was struck on the head by a fragment of shell and was killed instantaneously. He is to be buried this afternoon at the Brigade Headquarters, where there is a small cemetery for officers and men, at 4 0’clock. The Brigade Chaplain, the Rev. Fitch, is officiating. I knew your son at Dovercourt, and I have been in charge of the company which he was in, for a few days since Captain Tollemache was admitted to hospital. He has always been beloved by all his fellow officers, and above all by his men, who had a great respect for him. We all feel the loss which the Regiment has sustained by his death, but we are proud he was doing his duty so nobly when he was killed. A good many men were stunned and confused by the explosion, but your son remained cool, and as I have already told you, he met his death going to his post.
Please accept my deepest sympathy in the great loss you have sustained.
Yours sincerely,
J.C. Curtis
July 15th
I was Lieut. Cecil’s servant and was in his presence till five minutes before he was killed; he was hit in the head and passed away immediately. I must mention your son will always be missed by us all, and we hope that you will accept our deepest sympathy. He is to be buried about 1½ miles from where he was hit; a wooden cross was placed on his grave with the following words inscribed:-
R.I.P
Lt, R. E. G. Cecil,
1st Bedfordshire Regt,
Killed inaction, July 11th ‘15
I must say that no one could have wished to have a better officer than Lieut. Cecil. Several of us, including myself were in his Company at Dovercourt.
Yours respectfully, Pte. John A Lawrence
A mine has just blown a part of our trench up and killed several men, also Lieut. Cecil, whom we are all sorry to lose; it gives us a shaking..........I must tell you we have been relieved from the trenches so I write a bit more; we are ten or twelve miles back now; it is a treat to see people again; I expect we shall have a good rest this time. I am glad to get away from that place. It is a pity we lost so many just before we came away, from that mine, it was the worst one they had ever fired against us, it blew the ground up hundreds of feet high, as that went off they fired shrapnel for an hour: that is how Lieut. Cecil got killed, a piece catching him through the head; he had still got his smile when we buried him.
Harry Monk (K.I.A. September 1915)
Awarded the British War Medal, Victory Medal, 1914/1915 Star.
Additional Information
His brothers John Arthur and Randle William also fell.
Acknowledgments
Jonty Wild, Christine & Derek Martindale, Hatfield Local History Society (www.hatfieldhistory.uk)
