Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

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

The Final Advance in Artois occured 2nd October - 11th November 1918. Concurrently with the advances in the Somme and Arras sectors the First and Fifth British Armies continued the advance and chase the Germans back towards the Belgian border.

Detail :

Killed in action with Lieut Edwin William Alfred George Middlecote in DH4 A8052. (David Barnes)

Small Town, Great War. Hucknall 1914-1918 Facebook Groups shares the story of the pilot: "The son of the landlord of the Derby Inn, Burton-on-Trent, Lieutenant Edwin William Alfred George Middlecote, 16th Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps, attached 25 Squadron Royal Air Force, was reported missing on 9th October 1918. He had been shot down during a bombing raid near Mauberge on 3rd October 1918 and is buried in Rumilly-en-Cambresis Communal Cemetery Extension. "LIEUT. E. W. A. G. MIDDLECOTE, R.A.F., is the son of Mr. [Edwin] and Mrs. [Annie] Middlecote, of the Derby Inn, Burton-on-Trent. As an infantry officer Lieut. Middlecote, who is only 21, was awarded the Military Cross a year ago, when he and his men took a Hun pill box." 'Nottingham Evening Post', of 9th October 1918.

Middlecote had enlisted in the ranks of the Cameron Highlanders on 3rd May 1915, landing in France on 11th September 1915, posted to 1/4th Battalion. He was wounded in action – shot through the left hand – on 6th October 1915. There was some doubt as to the nature of his wound but an investigation concluded that it was not self-inflicted.

One of those called to give evidence to the inquiry was a member of the original B.E.F., Pte. William George Watson, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment. He said: “[As] Middlecote was going away he said, “That was a narrow escape. I nearly got it in the head.” He was very frightened and excited and I hardly think he knew what he was saying.”

He returned to the U.K. on 12th October 1915. Discharged to a commission on 27th March 1917, he joined the King's Royal Rifle Corps. There is no record of Middlecote receiving the Military Cross in the 'London Gazette.' Lieutenant Middlecote was killed along with his pilot, Sgt. Frederick Percival Clarke, also aged 21, and buried in the same cemetery. He was a holder of the Belgian Croix de Guerre, the son of Thomas and Maria Clarke, of 1 Ceres Road, Plumstead, London."

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