Name
Reginald Percy Loyd (MC)
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
01/12/1917
22
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Captain
Coldstream Guards
3rd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Military Cross
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
METZ-EN-COUTURE COMMUNAL CEMETERY BRITISH EXTENSION
II. E. 15.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Langleybury Village Memorial, Ind Memorial (External) St Paul's Church, Langleybury Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford, Abbots Langley Village Memorial
Biography
Percy Loyd was born in Chelsea on 20th July 1895. He was the youngest of three sons of Edward and Clementina Loyd. The family had moved to Langleybury House by 1901. Edward Loyd was a Justice of the Peace and had served as the High Sheriff of Hertfordshire. Percy was educated at Eton and attained the rank of Lieutenant in the 1st Hertfordshire Territorial Force. His Medal Record Card indicated that he embarked for France on 18th March 1915 and served with the 1st Herts throughout 1915 and 1916.
On 19th May 1915 Percy was wounded during the Battle of Festubert. He recovered and a year later, on 19th July 1916 he was wounded in a trench raid on the German front line, once again in the Festubert sector. His injury was reported in the Hertfordshire Advertiser on 12th August 1916 - "wounded in the left arm, but his injuries are not of a serious character".
At some point after this he joined the 3rd Battalion of the Coldstream Guards, which was also based around the Festubert area. His brother Henry Loyd was also serving as an officer with the Coldstream Guards. Percy continued to serve with the Guards throughout 1917. When the British offensive at Cambrai started in late November 1917, the Coldstream Guards were brought into action at Bourlon Wood. On 1st December they counter-attacked to stem the German advance. Without the support of artillery and tanks the 3rd Coldstream Guards re-took the village of Gouzeaucourt a few miles to the south-west of Cambrai. Percy Loyd was killed in action in the nearby village of Gonnelieu.
The Abbots Langley Parish Magazine reported his death: “The news of the death of Captain Percy Loyd on December 1st was received with the greatest regret by all in the Parish, and deep sympathy is felt with Mr and Hon. Ms Loyd. At the beginning of the War he joined the Herts Regiment, and later was transferred to the Coldstream Guards, the officers of which speak in the highest terms of his capabilities and bravery. He died a noble death, leading his company against a hail of bullets, to drive the Germans back after they had broken through at Gouzeaucourt. The Guards had been in it at Bourlon Wood, and were on their way to rest when the catastrophe occurred, and they were hurled into another part of the line at half an hour's notice. He was hit high in the thigh and died in a few seconds.”
On 13th December 1916 the Hertfordshire Advertiser reported
“An impressive memorial service to the late Captain R. P. Loyd, Coldstream Guards, third son of Mr and the Hon. Mrs E. Henry Loyd,of Langleybury, who, as reported in last week’s “Herts Advertiser,” was killed in action on December 1st, and in which service all other village lads, who had fallen in the war, were remembered, was held at Langleybury Parish Church on Sunday afternoon. The church was beautifully decorated with white flowers.”.
Percy’s brother, Henry Loyd, reached the rank of Major and survived the Great War.
Reginald Percy Loyd was buried at Metz en Couture Communal Cemetery, British Extension in France and was commemorated on the Langleybury War Memorial, and on a Plaque above the family grave at St Paul’s Church Langleybury. He was not commemorated on the Abbots Langley War Memorial, but was recorded in the Abbots Langley Parish Magazine and Roll of Honour throughout the Great War.
Acknowledgments
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
