Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

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

The Gallipoli Campaign was fought on the Gallipoli peninsula 25th April 1915 to 9th January 1916. in a failed attempt to defeat Turkey by seizing the Dardanelles and capturing Istanbul. Ill-conceived and planned, the initial effort by the Royal Navy failed to force passage through the Dardanelles by sea power alone. It was then realised that a land force was needed to support the project by suppressing the Turkish mobile artillery batteries. By the time all was ready the Turks were well aware and well prepared. Despite amazing heroics on the day of the landings only minor beachheads were achieved and over the succeeding 8 months little progress was made. Eventually the beachheads were evacuated in a series of successful ruses.

Despite Gallipoli rightly becoming a national source of pride to Australians and New Zealanders, far more British casualties were sustained, and these days the substantial French contribution is almost forgotten.

Detail :

Context to his story is provided by hmsconway.org which provides the following piece, amongst a detailed piece on Gallipoli:

"Dudley Hethorn Standring (1898-00) Dudley was a Captain in the 8th Ardwick Bn, Manchester Regiment. A Director of John Standing & Co pre-war and member of the Territorial Army he was Mentioned in Dispatches. His battalion landed from the transport Ionian at Cape Helles on 6th May to re-enforce the initial landings. In all probability he landed at V Beach and would have passed the wreck of Unwin’s River Clyde. A soldier in the battalion recorded “After landing we had about 2 or 3 hours rest in dugouts when we got orders to carry on where we went to another lot of dugouts for a few days which were about 2 miles behind the firing line where we had to make dugouts under fire as once you landed at the Dards you was always under fire … we had about 4 days in them when we moved again, this time into the first line of trenches which was the firing line. We took our position on the left of the British lines. We were in this position for five days and during that five days we lost a few men, killed and wounded”. The battalion was involved in attempts to break out of the Helles bridgehead, known as the second Battle of Krithia Vineyard, an unsuccessful attempt to divert Turkish attention from further landings. King and Young (see below) fought in the same battle. Sergeant John Barton wrote that: "We made a magnificent bayonet charge and came off victorious. We didn't half make the Turks fly.""

The Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser of 1st July, 1915 reports him wounded, 4th June. The Army and Navy Gazette 24th July 1915 show that he "Died of Wounds", reflecting his unit as the "8/Manchester Regiment."

The Newcastle Journal 19th July 1915 shows a little more insight into his military career: "Captain D.H. Standring, 8th Battalion Manchester Regiment (died of wounds), was gazetted to his rank in the Ardwick Battalion in February, 1913. He had qualified as an Instructor in Army Signalling."

Later the next year, the Nantwich Guardian, 13th October, 1916 shows the quest to place a commemorative plaque to him: " CHESTER CONSISTORY COURT - A Consistory Court was held at Chester Cathedral on Monday, Chancellor Sir Philip Baker Wilbraham presiding. WAR MEMORIALS. Mr T.M. Dutton, proctor, applied on behalf of the Ven. Archdeacon Maitland Wood, vicar and the wardens of the Parish Church of Bowdon, for permission to place a tablet of brass in the church as a memorial of Dudley Hethorn Standring, captain in the Manchester Regiment, who was killed in action at Gallipoli on the 29th May, 1915. The expense is to be defrayed by deceased's mother, Mrs. A G. Standring, of 24 Glebe-road, Barnes, Surrey. Permission was granted."

Mentioned in Despatches on several occasions.

Died 30th May 1915 of wounds sustained on 28th May. Dudley was killed in action on 30th May, and is buried in the Redoubt Cemetery in Helles, where he is also commemorated. He is further commemorated on a brass plaque in St Mary's Church, Bowdon.

Masonic :

The Masonic Roll 1921 lists him in error as SLANDRING. The contribution record shows his name as STANDING, a manufacturer from Bowdon. His war service is recorded; so many are the number from the East Lancashire Centurion Lodge who gave their service (and lives), that his final annotation is dittoed from the line above: "Killed in Action June 1915."

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