| Date | 18 April 1941 |
|---|---|
| Source | Windsor, Slough & Eton Express |
| Reference | EE02-0008 |
| Volume | Eton Excelsior Rowing Club, Volume 2 |
| Collection | Eton Excelsior |
Transcript
FROM OUR FILES TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO
FRIDAY, 15TH APRIL, 1916.
Eton Excelsior and the War.
No less than forty-three members of the Eton Excelsior Rowing Club have joined His Majesty’s Forces since the outbreak of war, and now only fourteen are left to carry on the club during the present season. Two-both members of the Berkshire Yeomanry-have been killed in action, and several have been wounded.
Images
Curator's Notes
It is unclear who the two losses reported were. It is likely to be Herbert Henry Hiley and Alfred Blane, as they were remembered in the 1916 Annual Meeting. We remember all those from Eton Excelsior who fell in WWI. From an excerpt of “Windsor in the Great War” p. 86:
Eton Excelsior Rowing Club
The club has its own memorial dedicated to nine of its members who were killed in the Great War. Many of them were Windsor men.
L/Cpl Robert Edward White, Royal Berkshire Regiment, lived in Bolton Crescent, killed 22 August 1917 aged 27, and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial.
Trooper Herbert Henry Hiley, Berkshire Yeomanry, killed 21 August 1915 at Gallipoli, is commemorated on the Helles Memorial. He is also mentioned in the Windsor Boys’ School chapter.
2nd Lt Walter Le Grove, London Regiment, grew up in Bournemouth, killed on 25 April 1918 and is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial.
Trooper Alfred Blane from Windsor, Berkshire Yeomanry, seriously wounded during the same action in which Trooper Hiley was killed, died of his wounds on 24 September 1915 and is commemorated on the Alexandria War Memorial.
Pte Stanley W J Bennett from Staines, Royal Berkshire Regiment, died 31 August 1917, and is buried in Cologne.
Pte Christian Frederick Charles Harnack of 33 Frances Road, Machine Gun Corps, killed 30 August 1918, buried in Aubigny Cemetery in France. He is also mentioned in the Windsor Boys’ School chapter.
Pte Leslie Baynes Starling, from Farnham in Surrey, London Regiment (London Scottish), died 29 August 1918 aged 18, buried in Queant Road Cemetery, Buissy.
2nd Lt Walter Scott Mertz, from Porthcawl in Glamorgan, Royal Engineers, died 28 July 1916, buried in Newton Nottage Churchyard, Glamorgan.
Nothing further is known of C S Jackson. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists four casualties under this name, but none of them has a local connection.
Lest we forget.
Curator's References
“Windsor in the Great War” by Derek Hunt and Brigitte Mitchell, WLHG. ISBN 97809550556796.