Name
Robert Chauncy Masterman
23 January 1896
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
01/07/1916
20
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lieutenant
Lancashire Fusiliers
19th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 3 C and 3 D.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
St John the Evangelist Church Memorial, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, Harrow School Memorial, Harrow Memorial of the Great War (book)
Pre War
Robert Chauncy Masterman was born on 23 January 1896 in Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead, the son of the Henry and Alice Masterman, of Rough Down Villas, Boxmoor, Herts, and baptised at St Paul's, Hemel Hempstead on 29 March 1896. He was one of five children, but his older brother Henry died in 1893 aged six.
His father was a practicing solicitor and partner with Masterman and Everington in London. The Villas were originally built to house important personnel of the London and North Western Railway of which his father was a shareholder.
On the 1901 Census he was listed with his mother and sister Mary as visitors at the home of his widowed grandmother, Ellen Coates, at 24 Leckford Road, Oxford. His father was at home at 1&2 Rough Down Villas, Boxmoor with his sisters Nesta and Stella, being looked after by three servants.
He was educated at Harrow School from 1910 and was listed as a boarder there on the 1911 Census. Whilst there he joined the School Officer Training Corps and played football, cricket, racquets and fives for his house and the school. He received a prize in 1913 for Latin.
Robert suffered three family bereavements in quick succession whilst at Harrow. His grandmother Ellen died on 29 December 1911, aged 93, followed shortly after by his mother Alice on 6 January 1912 in Hemel Hempstead and his father on 22 February 1913 in Cairo, Egypt. This left Robert and his three sisters orphaned and his sisters went to Oxford to live with a maternal aunt and uncle.
Wartime Service
At the outbreak of war, Robert enlisted in September 1914 straight from school and initially joined as a Private with the 7th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment for training, transferring shortly afterwards to the 6th (Service) Battalion.
He was gazetted on 28 November 1914 and in December he was discharged from the Bedfordshire Regiment with a view to obtaining a Commission. During this time he won a a Harrow Scholarship to go to Hertford College, Oxford but did not take up the scholarship as he gained a commission in the Lancashire Fusiliers initially as 2nd Lieutenant, being posted to the 9th Battalion. He joined his battalion at Belton Park, near Grantham and in April 1915 moved to Witley Camp, Goldalming, Surrey to complete his training.
He was promoted to Lieutenant and sent to Gallipoli, sailing from Liverpool on 5 July 1915, landing at Suvla Bay on 6 August. Robert was made acting Captain in Gallipoli but was invalided home because of dysentery, which was a common occurrence, virtually every man became ill because of stomach problem. He was invalided back to England in October and having recovered in hospital in Oxford he was deemed fit enough to return to battle and was posted to C Company, 19th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers.
He was sent to France and in late June the Battalion was at Black Horse Bridge, Authuille when on 1 July 1916 they were ordered to attack Thiepval and capture the German line at Mouguet Farm. Robert died when leading his men to attack enemy trenches but was hit by machine gun fire.
He was 20 years old, has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France.
Additional Information
Probate of his estate was granted to his older sister, Stella Marion Masterman, on 23 August 1916. with effects of £807 0s 5d. She received a £5 war gratuity and pay owing of £75 15s 0d.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.harrowschool-ww1.org.uk, www.dacorumheritage.co.uk, www.hemelatwar.org., www.hemelheroes.com
