Name
Maurice Frederic Blake
6 October 1881
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
14/09/1914
32
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lieutenant
King's Royal Rifle Corps
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LA FERTE-SOUS-JOUARRE MEMORIAL
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Welwyn Village Memorial, St Mary the Virgin Roll of Honour, Welwyn, Blake Window, St Mary the Virgin, Welwyn, Roll of Honour, Eton School, Eton, Eton War Memorial, New College Oxford Memorial
Pre War
Maurice Frederic Blake was born on 6 October 1881, the son and eldest child of Arthur Maurice Blake and Isabel Blake (nee Crawley) at Danesbury House, Welwyn and baptised on 6 November 1981 at St Mary's, Welwyn.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at Danesbury with with 20 servants. His father was said to be "living on own means" as a landed proprietor.
Maurice was educated at Eton College and New College, Oxford.
Although he is listed as living with the family at Danesbury on the 1901 Census, he had gained a commission in February 1901 as 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st (Hertfordshire) Volunteer Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment. He received his commission with the King's Royal Rifle Corps in Oct 1903 and by Dec 1904 he was serving in India. Maurice returned to the UK in February 1910 and in 1911 was with the 2nd Battalion, KRRC at Shorncliffe Kent.
Wartime Service
Being a serving soldier when war broke out, Maurice was deployed to France immediately and arrived on 13 August 1914.
During early September 1914 the 2nd Battalion was involved in the Battle of the Aisne. Maurice Blake was said to have been wounded near Vendress-Royon and was initially posted as wounded and missing since September 14th, eventually being confirmed as killed in action. During this action the Battalion lost 8 officers, with 300 other casualties. Maurice's mother made enquiries of the Red Cross in the hope that he was a Prisoner of War but his remains have not been recovered.
He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the La Ferte-Sous-Jouarre Memorial, France.
Additional Information
Maurice and his brother Cecil Rodolph (killed in 1917) are also commemorated on the Eton College Memorial and by a Memorial Window in St. Mary’s Church, Welwyn.
Probate was granted on 7 August to his father Arthur Maurice Blake with effects of £356 0s 7d.
A war gratuity of £40 was received by the executor Charles Wigan Esq.
Acknowledgments
Neil Cooper, Brenda Palmer
Paul Jiggens, Welwyn and District History Society - www.welwynww1.co.uk, Brenda Palmer, www.iwm.org.uk
