Family :

Education & Career :

Harrow, Oxford University

Service Life:

Campaigns:

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

France & Flanders covers all the dates and corresponding locations which are outside the official battle nomenclature dates on the Western Front. Therefore the actions in which these men died could be considered 'normal' trench duty - the daily attrition losses which were an everyday fact of duty on the Western Front.

Detail :

BLACKWELL, Aubrey Francis, Lieutenant, 6th London Brigade, RFA Youngest son of the late Thomas Francis Blackwell, J. P., D.L., and of Mrs. Blackwell, of ' The Cedars,' Harrow Weald. Educated Harrow and Oriel College, Oxford. Lieutenant Blackwell, who was reading for the Bar when the War broke out, in spite of defective eyesight at once sought and obtained a Commission in a London Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery and proceeded to France in March, 191 5. In September, 1916, he won the Military Cross for gallantry during the Battle of the Somme. He was killed by a shell on June 2nd, 1917, while returning to his reserve line to have a wounded leg bandaged. His Colonel wrote: ? I cannot tell you the gloom his loss has cast over the Brigade. Personally I never wish to command a better soldier than he was ? always cheery under all circumstances, fond of his work, loved by his men, brave to a fault, and endowed with much more than his share of a sound common sense. We all feel that we have lost not only a brave and capable officer, but a real friend, whom we all held, and whose memory we shall always hold, in the greatest affection. It has indeed hit us very hard. A brother-officer wrote : ? Many friends at Harrow and Oxford will feel much the poorer by the loss of ' Tony ' Blackwell. So long as memory endures they will think with sorrow and delight of that blithe and sunny nature, miss the quick humour and the joyous laughter, and value the recollection of a clean and manly life, and of a character which radiated fun and good fellowship up to the very end. Sources; London Gazette Harrow Roll of Honour Vol 5

Masonic :

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