Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

At the outbreak of war the British, together with Indian troops, resolved to protect oil supply in the region by occupying the area around Basra at Abadan. This evolved into a series of campaigns towards Baghdad against the Turkish forces as Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) was part of the Ottoman Empire. Meetings in late 1914 and into 1915 led the Viceroy and Indian government at Simla to reconsider the limited involvement of troops and they decided to order further advances with a view to securing the Shatt-al-Hai, a canal connecting the Tigris and Euphrates river and potentially capturing Baghdad. The British government disagreed and wished to conserve forces for the Western front. The Viceroy was given permission to act as it wished, but told in no uncertain terms that no reinforcements should be expected.

The initial success experienced by the British and Indian forces quickly disintegrated in the face of Ottoman opposition. The Siege of Kut-Al-Amara began on 7th December with the besieging of an 8,000 strong British-Indian garrison in the town of Kut, 100 miles south of Baghdad, by the Ottoman Army. These campaigns produced few tactical benefits, indeed the catastrophic defeat at Kut in 1916 was a major setback. Badhdad was eventually taken in March 1917.

The conditions in Mesopotamia were dreadful. The climate, sickness and disease produced large losses in addition to battle casualties. About as many men died of disease as were killed in action. The Mesopotamia front was part of a strategy hoping for success at lower cost than the Western Front but no decisive victory was achieved.

Detail :

He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 4th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment (The Royal North Gloucestershire Regiment of Militia) on 12 February 1896 and was promoted lieutenant on 2 February 1897. On 16 December 1898, he was seconded as aide-de-camp to George Curzon, the 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, Viceroy of India. He was subsequently promoted captain 11th April 1900, whilst still serving as ADC.

He resigned his commission on 28 January 1907, but over a year later on 9 June 1908, he was commissioned a major, commanding the Wiltshire Battery, 3rd Wessex Brigade, Royal Field Artillery (T.F.). They were sent out to Meerut, India in the Autumn of 1916 and then subsequently served in the Mesopotamian campaign. At the Battle of Istabulat, he was killed by shrapnel through the heart while commanding his battery. He commanded his battery throughout, and especially on the day of his death, with the greatest skill, and was once mentioned in Despatches.

He fell on April 21st 1917 during the advance on Baghdad, hit in the chest by a Turkish shrapnel shell. He was buried on the battlefield, but was later consolidated and buried in Grave III.S.1 of the Basra War Cemetery.


See also: Winchester College at War
See also: Revolvy

Masonic :

Roll lists PAGET.
Joined Kitchener Lodge No. 2998, at Simla as a joining and founder member in 1904. Inititated, aged 21 into Himalayan Brotherhood lodge No. 459, also at Simla in 1899.

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley