Captain
Eric Seymour STEPHENSON
DSO
Infantry
Died: 6th May 1915 - Age: 36

Commemorated:

1. Memorial:Ta-Braxia CemeteryIV. 31.
2. Book:The (1921) Masonic Roll of Honour 1914-1918Pg.135
3. Memorial:The (1940) Scroll - WW1 Roll of Honour46A GQS
    

Awards & Titles:

Distinguished Service Order
Mentioned in Despatches x2
Queen's South Africa Medal & 4 Clasps
King's South African Campaign Medal 1901 & 1902 Clasps
Khedive's Sudan Medal (1896-1908) & Clasp
 

Family :

Son of Charlotte Seymour Sclater (formerly Stephenson) and the late Percy Stephenson.

His familial brother Cyril Edward Seymour Stephenson is also included on this role.

Service Life:

Campaigns:

Unit / Ship / Est.: Gloucestershire Regiment 

attd. as Landing Staff Officer to Sir Ian Hamilton's Staff.

Action : Gallipoli 

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.

Served in the South African War. Attached for many years to the Egyptian Army. ERIC SEYMOUR STEPHENSON CAPTAIN, GLOUCESTERSHIRE REGIMENT Eric Seymour was born 21st April 1879. He served with Brabant's Horse in the Boer War and was commissioned in May 1900 in the 1st Gloucestershire Regiment. He was awarded the D.S.O. 1901. In 1906 he was seconded to the Egyptian Army. On the 26th April 1915 he was Landing Staff Officer at Sedd-el-Bair (V Beach Gallipoli). Whilst rescuing several wounded men on the beach he was shot in the abdomen. He died on board the hospital ship 'Sicilia' on the 6th May. Aged 36 the son of Charlotte and the late Percy Stephenson, he was buried at the Ta-Braxia Cemetery, Valetta, Malta.

The Bond of Sacrifice Vol.2 CAPTAIN ERIC SEYMOUR STEPHENSON D.S.O., 1st BATTN. GLOUCESTERSHIRE REGIMENT, attd. EGYPTIAN ARMY, was the elder surviving son of Ernest Pery [sic] Stephenson and of Charlotte Seymour, daughter of William Proctor Mellen, who subsequently married William Lutly Sclater, of 10, Sloane Court, London, S.W. He was born on the 21st April, 1879, at Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S.A., and was educated at Eton. He was in South Africa at the outbreak of the Boer War, and in November 1899, he joined Brabant's Horse, in which, in January, 1900, he was promoted Lieutenant, and he continued to serve with that Corps in operations in the Orange Free State from February to May, 1900, including the defence of Wepener. In May, 1900, he was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant in the Gloucestershire Regiment, being posted to the 1st Battalion. He served with his new Regiment and with the Mounted Infantry in the Transvaal, west of Pretoria, and in the Orange River Colony, including actions at Wittebergen. He also took part in fighting in Cape Colony north and south of the Orange River, in the Transvaal, in the Orange River Colony and on the Zululand frontier of Natal. For his services in the war he was mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette, 14th April and 10th September, 1901), received the Queen's medal with four clasps and the King's medal with two clasps, and was awarded the D.S.O.

In February, 1905, he was promoted Lieutenant and in April, 1906, he was seconded for employment with the Egyptian Army and was for some time Brigade Major of the Khartoum district, then as Inspector of the Tembwe district of the Bahr-el-Ghazal, on the Franco-Belgian Soudenese frontier. In 1908 he was on active service in the Gebel Nyima District in Southern Kordofan and received the medal and clasp. He was promoted Captain in June, 1911, and when the War with the Central Empires broke out was in command of an Egyptian Regiment at Khartoum.

Captain Stephenson was ordered to join General Sir Ian Hamilton's Staff as Landing Staff Officer with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, and on the 26th April, 1915, while directing landing operations from the s.s. "River Clyde," at the Sedd-el-Bahr landing beach, he went to the rescue of some wounded men lying in the lighters and in the water. He had already rescued five or six men when he was shot in the abdomen. He was taken to the hospital ship "Sicilia," but died on the 6th May, 1915, off the coast of Malta and was buried in the cemetery at Valetta. Captain Stephenson was a member of the Army and Navy Club (The "Rag")."

Masonic :

TypeLodge Name and No.Province/District :
Mother : Khartoum No. 2877 E.C.Egypt

Initiated
Passed
Raised
7th February 1907
3rd October 1907
2nd January 1908
 

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

Additional Source:

Last Updated: 2020-11-27 17:03:14