Family :

Education & Career :

Educated at Mr Courtney Welch's Army College, Farnham.

He was a member of the Junior and a keen shot.

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The Second Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902, South Africa.
• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

19 October - 22 November 1914. Following the failure of the German Schlieffen Plan in August and September 1914, both sides engaged in a series of linked battles as they sought to outflank each other. The climax of these manouvres was at Ypres in November 1914 when the might of the German Army attempted to break the much outnumbered British Expeditionary Force. The political importance of Ypres, being the last town of any size in Belgium that remained in allied hands, established its importance for both sides and ensured a series of battles over four years.

The First Battle of Ypres in 1914 is characterised by a series of linked heroic stands by outnumbered British soldiers in conditions of confusion and weary endurance. The Germans never knew how close they had come to winning - at one point just the clerks and cooks were the last line of defence for the BEF. By the end of the battle the magnificent original BEF, composed of professional regular soldiers, had been all but destroyed and already the Territorial battalions were called into battle. From the end of 1914 a 'Regular' battalion was in terms of its compostion little different to a Teritorial or later Service Battalion. The professional soldiers had all but vanished.

Detail :

LEWIS, Hugh Frederick, Captain, 2/Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment) Captain Hugh Frederick LEWIS. 2nd Battalion, Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment) was a career soldier who had served in the South African (Boer War) Wars of 1899-1902 He died on the 19th October 1914 aged 33 years. He was born in London, the son of Colonel J.F Lewis (Royal Engineers) of Winchester, Hampshire. He was the husband of Winifred Rachel Lewis of Maes Gwyn, Winchester, Hampshire. The Queen's (Royal West Surrey) Regimental History (Col H.C Wylly) gives the circumstances of Hugh's death which occurred near Ypres: "Meanwhile North of Ledeghem, though our cavalry had apparently been through it, north of the town a number of bicycles were seen outside a house. A party under Captain Lewis and Lance Corporal Philips was sent to bring them in. They advanced on the house but were fired on by German soldiers inside. Captain Lewis was shot in the head and most of the other men were also killed." He had been Mentioned in Despatches.

The Surrey Advertiser of the 31st October, 1914 records the story: " WOUNDED AND MISSING. Lewis, Captain H.F., Royal West Surrey Regiment. Captain Hugh Frederick Lewis was boar on March 9th, 1881, was embodied in the 3rd Militia Battalion of the Queen's for 159 days, and was gazetted second lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion on May 12th, 1900; being promoted to lieutenant two and a-half years later; and subsequently getting his company. In the South African war he served in operations in the Transvaal, the Orange River Colony, and on the Zululand frontier of Natal, and has the Queeen's medal with 2 clasps, and the King's medal with two clasps."

Masonic :

Hugh is listed as a Lieutenant of the Army stationed at Zungeru when initiated into Northern Nigeria Lodge No. 3325 in 1909. His ceremony of raising was held in L76. His subs are apparently paid in 1915 in then in arrears during 1916. The contribution record continues with the annotation showing that he is "Killed in Action (date unknown)".

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