Early Life :

Family :

Education & Career :

Marlborough College (Littlefield) - Hockey XI (Capt), XI, XV and Rackets Pair
Oriel College Oxford - Oxford University Cricket XI (4 Years), Hockey XI (4 Years), Football XI (3 years), and Rackets pair.
Harrow Master 1912-1914

Rugby International. The Rugby History Society notes that on March 18th 1911 Lagden was selected for England to play Scotland at Twickenham. Mist before play and hard ground made both the pitch and the ball greasy, which did little to assist the backs of either side. The packs were evenly matched on the day, the English bigger and stronger but also slower than their Scottish counterparts. The play was as fast and open as the conditions allowed, England faceing what was generally regarded to be the best of the Scottish sides selected that season. During the game Lagden was to score two conversions on his debut in what was eventually to be a thirteen points to eight victory as England retained the Calcutta Cup, although had the English pack played as expected there is every chance that the winning margin may have been far more. This was to be Lagden's only international cap as he immediately fell from favor with the English selectors. In this he was considered unlucky, not least by Edward Sewell, a prominent chronicler of the sport of rugby union at the time.

Service Life:

Campaigns:

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

23 November 1914 - 6 February 1915. As the armies of 1914 fought themselves to exhaustion they settled down by the end of the year to the realities of static trench warfare. During the winter, activity was mostly comprised of a series of small scale raids and attempts by the BEF to gain superiority over the battlefront. At the same time increasing numbers of Territorial battalions and replacements for the Regular battalions came into theatre and had to be trained and acclimatised to trench occupation. This period was further noted for the severity of the weather and the need to rapidly source and equip the troops with adequate winter and waterproof equipment, whilst improving the trench conditions. Miserable times.

Detail :

A few days later was called upon to lead his Company in an assault on the German trenches at St. Eloi.

'He behaved with the utmost gallantry,' wrote his Colonel 'the task was an impossible one, and D Company did all that was humanly possible to carry it out. When last seen he was lying badly wounded on the parapet of the German trench, and although reported as 'wounded and missing,' there is little hope of his survival. He died as he had lived, a hero among his fellows.

The KRRC Chronicle continues:
Coming direct from Harrow, where as Assistant Masters their sympathies and interests were identical, the two friends, Charles Eyre and Ronald Lagden, are essentially types of British manhood, which the Public School and University life of England has produced in such numbers to fight for the Empire in the hour of her peril. . . . Athletes of superlative excellence, scholars of high degree, conscious of their own physical strength and mental culture, both had been habituated from boyhood to lead, and to train the confidence of their fellows. . . . Such heroic spirits are of their very nature ideal officers and leaders of men. Of the only two survivors who were taken prisoners in that attack, one, a corporal, wrote from Germany Captain Lagden, who was well away in front, was the first man to fall. I went and offered help, but he told me to go on with my men : then I saw him get up and struggle forward, but he was again wounded, and fell. Although they advanced gallantly the attack was doomed from the outset. Of the three hundred men involved one hundred and thirteen of them became casualties, wounded, killed or missing. Captain Ronald Owen Lagden was one of those who never returned from this ill fated advance into no mans land.

At this time the 4th Battalion of the Rifles was stationed in The St Eloi sector, some fifteen miles north of Neuve Chapelle on the Ypres salient. In early 1915 between the first and second battles of Ypres the fighting in this area had descended, quite literally, into the trenches. Conditions were terrible for the British forces who were hampered by the lack of troops and essential supplies. The trenches were often waist deep in liquid mud and the cold was bitter. Hundreds of casualties were incurred from frostbite let alone those who fell due to enemy action. The German forces were entrenched often as close as thirty feet from the British lines, but assaults were still planned and executed often without the benefit of either surprise or sufficient artillery support. It was a recipe for disaster. On March 3rd 1915 Lagden, who was by now commanding a company, led his men over the top against the well prepared German trenches. Although they advanced gallantly the attack was doomed from the outset. Of the three hundred men involved one hundred and thirteen of them became casualties, wounded, killed or missing. Captain Ronald Owen Lagden was one of those who never returned from this ill fated advance into no mans land."

Masonic :

Initiated into Apollo Lodge in 1910 when listed as an Undergraduate, studying at Oriel College, Oxford University. He was 20 years of age. By 1912 he was actually in arrears of his dues, and the last annotation in his contribution record is that he was "Missing 1914."

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