Name
Fergus Bowes-Lyon
18 Apr 1899
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
27/09/1915
26
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Captain
Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)
8th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
The Hon Fergus Bowes-Lyon
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
QUARRY CEMETERY, VERMELLES
A. 15.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
All Saints Church Memorial, St Paul’s Walden, Whitwell Village Memorial, Eton College War Memorial, Berks, Boys of Ludgrove School, Ludgrove, Berks, St Margarets & High Higherhurst Memorial, Buxted, Sussex
Pre War
Fergus Bowes-Lyon was born on 18 Apr 1899 at Forbes House, Ham, Surrey, the son of Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and his wife Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck. He was one of nine children, and older brother to Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, wife of King George VI and mother of Queen Elizabeth II.
On the 1891 Census the family consisting of parents Claude & Cecilia (named as Glamis), Violet Hyazinth (born 1883), Mary Frances (born 1884), Patrick (born 1885), John (Jock) Herbert (born 1886), Alexander Francis (born 1887), Fergus and Rose Constance (born 1890) using a family name of Lyon were living at St Pauls Walden Bury, Hitchin. His father was "living on his own means".
By 1901 eleven year old Fergus was at boarding school at Ludgrove School, Middlesex and then attended Eton College, Berkshire, where he was a keen cricketer. His parents and family of Mary, Rose, Michael Claud (born 1894) and Elizabeth (born 1900) remained at The Bury, St Paul's Walden.
Fergus gained a commission as 2nd Lieutenant, 7 Dec 1910, in the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) and in 1911 was serving in Punjab, India with the 2nd Battalion. He reigned his commission prior to the outbreak of the Great War.
Fergus married Lady Christian Norah Dawson-Damer (daughter of the Earl of Portarlington) on 17 Sep 1914 at St Margaret's Church, Buxted, Sussex. Their daughter Rosemary was born on 14 Jul 1915 and was only two months' old when her father died.
Wartime Service
Fergus was appointed Captain (Temporary) on 17 Nov 1914. 8th (Service) Battalion had formed at Perth 12 Aug 1914 and after training at Aldershot, Alton and Bordon the Battalion went to France on 10 May 1915 as a Unit of 25 Brigade 9th (Scottish ) Division.
Fergus was killed in action on 27 Sep 1915 during the Battle of the Hohnezollen Redoubt during the Battle of Loos, whilst leading an attack on German lines. His leg was blown off by shrapnel from German artillery, he was hit by bullets in the chest and shoulder and he fell back into his sergeant's arms. He was buried nearby in a quarry which became Vermelles Cemetery, this ground was fought over and grave locations were lost. He was initially remembered on the Loos Memorial (see additional information below)
Additional Information
His widow was granted probate in London on 11 March 1916 with effects of £1152 9s 9d, Her address was given as 20 St James' Square, London. She received pay owing of £112 9s 4d.
N.B. on some records it is claimed that Fergus was born in Glamis, Scotland.
Although Fergus is commemorated on the Loos Memorial, contemporary evidence was produced by Captain Bowes-Lyon’s grandson, James Voicey-Cecil, with the help of his second cousin, King Charles III (the then Prince of Wales) and historian Christopher Bailey, that Fergus had been buried in the quarry and that a named grave marker was in place at the end of the war. CWGC documents were then found that recorded his burial in 1920, later superseded with forms from 1925 which omitted his name. As a result a new headstone was installed in the Quarry Cemetery, Vermelles in 2012, inscribed "Buried near this spot"
His widow remarried in 1919 to William Martin in Uckfield, Sussex. Brothers Patrick, John, served with Black Watch in the Great War but survived. Younger brother Michael served with 16 Royal Scots, was taken prisoner of war and repatriated 29 Nov 1919.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer, Neil Cooper
Jonty Wild, livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk, www,westernfrontassociation.com
