Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

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

22 April - 25 May 1915. On the 22nd April 1915 the Germans used poison gas at Ypres. This was the first 'official' use of gas and took the Allies by surprise. After initial success capitalising on the confusion and horror of this weapon, a heroic stand, initially by the Canadians and then supported by British and Indian Battalions, held the German advance. However it became clear that the Germans had achieved a tactical advantage and eventually the British were forced to retire to more a more defendable perimeter closer to Ypres. These positions were on the last ridges before Ypres and their loss would have resulted in the loss of the town and possibly open the Channel coast to German occupation with disastrous consequences for the re-supply of the BEF.

Detail :

Appears in the book: Menin Gate North: In Memory and In Mourning By Paul Chapman "(Panel 49) Capt. Gordon Cuthbert, 8th Ban. The Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regt.), (T.F.), S. of Henry Westell Cuthbert, of Charlton, Staines, co. Middlesex; b. Charlton, 14 August 1876; educ. Clifton College; joined London Rifle Brigade, 1894; gazetted 2nd Lieut. 2nd Volunteer Brigade, Middlesex Regt. February 1900; entered Territorial Reserve 1908; rejoined Middlesex Regt. for war in August 1914, and proceeded to Gibraltar for garrison duty until February 1915, and was killed on 25 April following while leading a storming party which retook a trench near Ypres that had been vacated by another battalion owing to gas. Capt. Cuthbert m. Eleanor Bruce, dau. of the Rev H.K. Anketell, and left three children - Cholmeley Ranson, b. October 1905; Elizabeth Nora, b. January 1908; and Partricia Cicely, b. May 1911. He was a member of the Junior Army & Navy Club. Age 38"

His will (estate £11,110) was announced in the Reading Mercury Chronicle on 8th May 1915, but his character is better explained by the Middlesex Chronicle of the same date:

"A CHAMPION CAPTAIN. Supplementing the notice given in this column last week of Captain Gordon Cuthbert, who was killed near Ypres on April 24th, and who commanded the Twickenham Co. of the 8th, comes the following appreciation from the pen of Sec.-Lt. S.S. Leeson, of the same Co., who has been invalided home from the front. Speaking of his late Captain as a very gallant gentleman, the writer proceeds: "It is not exaggeration to say that his officers and men adored him- unfailing in sympathy, unfailing in good humour, he was always ready at the end of a long march or an exhausting turn of duty in the trenches with a laugh and a joke, however tired he might be. As one of his men said, 'Our Captain Cuthbert is a champion.' His devotion was indeed an example. By disposition a man of peace, he might easily have avoided service at the front on medical grounds, but he preferred to take the risk of another attack of his old trouble and go with his 'boys.' The battalion has lost a loyal servant, and company a devoted leader, Lt. Buller and I a true friend. He leaves a widow and three little children, who I know will have the sympathy of your readers."

Masonic :

Past Master. Employed Captain - Army (1902)

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