Commemorated: | |||
| 1. Memorial: | Brandhoek New Military Cemetery No.3 | II. F. 17. | |
| 2. Book: | The (1921) Masonic Roll of Honour 1914-1918 | Pg.135 | |
| 3. Memorial: | The (1940) Scroll - WW1 Roll of Honour | 52D GQS | |
Awards & Titles: | |||
Family :
Lieutenant Colonel Stafford James Somerville was born on 18 February 1871, the son of the Reverend Dudley Somerville, Chaplain to the Forces, of Stoke Damerel, Devon, the husband of Mrs. F. A. Somerville, of 34, York St., Portman Square, London.The eldest of his two sons, Captain Stafford Dudley Somerville, 5th (Service) Battalion, King’s Own (Yorkshire Light Infantry), was killed in action at Hamel on 5 July 1916, fighting in the trenches recently vacated by the 9th Royal Irish Fusiliers.
Education & Career :
Somerville went to Wellington College between 1883 and 1889. He was in the Combermere and was made a Prefect in 1888.
Service Life:
Campaigns:
- The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.
| Unit / Ship / Est.: 1/Royal Irish Fusiliers |
1st Battalion August 1914 : at Shorncliffe. Part of 10th Brigade in 4th Division. Moved to York and on 18 August to Harrow. 23 August 1914 : landed at Boulogne. 3 August 1917 : transferred to 36th (Ulster) Division and on 24 August to 107th Brigade. 8 February 1918 : transferred to 108th Brigade in same Division. |
| Action : The Battles of Ypres 1917 (Third Ypres, or Passchendaele) |
31 July - 10 November 1917. By the summer of 1917 the British Army was able for the first time to fight on its chosen ground on its terms. Having secured the southern ridges of Ypres at Messines in June, the main attack started on 31st July 1917 accompanied by what seemed like incessant heavy rain, which coupled with the artillery barrages conspired to turn much of the battlefield into a bog. Initial failure prompted changes in the high command and a strategy evolved to take the ring of ridges running across the Ypres salient in a series of 'bite and hold' operations, finally culminating in the capture of the most easterly ridge on which sat the infamous village of Passchendaele. The Official History carries the footnote ?The clerk power to investigate the exact losses was not available? but estimates of British casualties range from the official figure of 244,000 to almost 400,000. Within five months the Germans pushed the British back to the starting line, which was where they had been since May 1915.
Promoted Lieutenant 21 September 1892.
Served with the Peshawar Column and 5th Brigade, Tirah Expeditionary Force on the North West Frontier 1897-98. India Medal with clasps ‘Punjab Frontier 1897-98’ and ‘Tirah 1897-98’.
Promoted Captain 1 July 1898 and Major 3 November 1910.
Served with 1st Battalion, The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in 87th Brigade, 29th Division from March 1915. 1914-15 Star.
Assumed command at Gallipoli on 2 May 1915 until wounded in the shoulder and evacuated to hospital in England on 6 May 1915.
Deployed to France in December 1916 and was attached to and assumed command of the 9th Royal Irish Fusiliers on 16 March 1917.
Killed in action on 16 August 1917 on Hill 35 during the Battle of Langemarck, aged 46.
He is commemorated in the Memorial Chapel at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
Detail :
His obituary was published in The Times on Saturday, 8th September 1917:
"LIEUTENANT-COLONEL STAFFORD JAMES SOMERVILLE, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, commanding a battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers, who died on August 14 of wounds received in action the same day, was the youngest and last surviving son of Rev. Dudley Somerville, C.F., and grandson of Captain John Somerville R.N., Knight of the Tower and Sword of Portugal.
Born in 1871, he was educated at Wellington College and Sandhurst, and received his commission in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in 1890. He took part in the Tirah campaign in 1897-98, and was at the landing of the 29th Division in Gallipoli in 1915, being afterwards severely wounded. In December, 1916, he went to another front, and last march was given command of a battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers. Colonel Somerville leaves a widow and one son, his elder son, Captain Dudley Somerville, K.O.Y.L.I., having been killed in July, 1916."
Masonic :
| Type | Lodge Name and No. | Province/District : |
|---|---|---|
| Mother : | Golconda No. 3249 E.C. | Madras |
Initiated | Passed | Raised |
14th February 1913 | - | - |
The contribution records of the Lodge show he was only ever an Entered Apprentice and annotated "Died before 30.6.17."
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