Name
Algernon George Newcome Wood (DSO)
19 May 1879
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
30/10/1915
32
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Major
Essex Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Distinguished Service Order, Mentioned in Despatches
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
AZMAK CEMETERY, SUVLA
II. A. 14.
Turkey (including Gallipoli)
Headstone Inscription
No Report
UK & Other Memorials
Bengeo School Memorial – Location to be confirmed, Haileybury College Cloister Wall Memorial, Hertford Heath, Haileybury College Memorial, Hertford Heath, Haileybury College Chapel Roll of Honour, Hertford Heath, Ingatestone & Freyerning Memorial, Essex
Pre War
Algernon George Newcombe Wood was born on 19th May 1879 in Warley, Essex, to parents Lt. Colonel George Wilding Wood and Anna Maria Caroline (nee Norton), he was one of seven.
Algy, as he was known, was educated at Bengeo School, Danesbury, Bengeo, Hertford and then at Haileybury School, 1893 – 1897, and finally at the Royal Military College at Sandhurst.
On 11th February 1899 he was gazetted to 2nd Lieutenant in the Essex Regiment and was promoted to Lieutenant on 11th March 1900 and went on to become a Captain in 1905. During the Boer War he served as a Staff Officer and with the 6th Mounted Infantry, took part in many operations and actions, for which he received both the Queen’s South African Medal with six Clasps and the King’s South African Medal. The Battalion was transferred to India and were quartered in Bangalore and Quetta, before being detached to Mauritius. Algy had a spell of Home Leave in early 1911. On his return to India In 1912 he was serving as Adjutant for the Battalion.
Wartime Service
In August 1914 the regiment was in Mauritius, they returned to England in December. In January they moved to Banbury and came under orders of 88th Brigade in 29th Division.
Algy was promoted to Major in 1915. On 12st March his unit sailed for Gallipoli via Egypt and Mudros, landing on W Beach at Cape Helles on 25th April and coming under heavy fire at once. They formed a small bridgehead and held on.
They remained in the location until August when they were selected to take part in the landings further North at Suvla Bay, arriving at 2am on 21st August. On 29th of the same month while in a reserve position they were hit by several shrapnel shells which burst among them killing a number of officers and men. Conditions were very difficult and it was almost impossible to move by day due to sniper activity.
The weather was very hot, there was a shortage of water and sanitation, with outbreaks of dysentery causing a number of casualties. During this period he was awarded the DSO, on 15th October, the citation reads: “For distinguished service in the field”. On 30th at 11am Algernon was leaning against the outside wall of his dug out watching an aeroplane above the trenches and smoking his pipe when he was hit in the throat by a Turkish sniper’s bullet. He fell back into the arms of his Sergeant Major who was standing nearby and his last words were reputed to be ‘I am finished Sergeant Major’ and he died a few seconds later. He was struck by a chance bullet in a relatively safe place and his friend Captain John Gillam of the Army Service Corps said that his name will never be forgotten in the 29th Division.
During his time at Gallipoli he was also awarded the Serbian Order of the Eagle.
He was Mentioned in Despatches 5 Aug 1915
Additional Information
Soldiers Effects of £251 1s 9d to Richard Mountford Wood.
Acknowledgments
Neil Cooper
Malcolm Lennox, Karen Smith - Acting Director of External Relations www.haileybury.com/honour, Ann Hacke, Terry & Glenis Collins
