Part 114

=KENYON, JOHN DE WINTON=, 2nd Lieut., 1st Battn. King’s Liverpool Regt., 2nd _s._ of the late Ernest Kenyon, of Manchester, Drysalter, by his wife, Eliza Gertrude (14 Farnborough Road, Birkdale. Southport), dau. of Edwin Muir, C.E., M.I.C.E., M.I.M.E., F.G.S.; _b._ Birkdale, Southport, 13 Sept. 1896; educ. Giggleswick, Yorkshire, where he was in the first Rugby Football XV and first Cricket XI for two years, was co-editor of the School Chronicle, a cadet officer of the O.T.C. and a preposter; received a commission as 2nd Lieut. in 4th (Extra Reserve) Battn. The King’s, 15 Aug. 1914; was transferred to the 1st Battn., 13 Sept. 1914; went to France, 9 April. 1914, with the 6th Brigade (2nd Division), and was killed in action at Richebourg St. Vaast, 16 May, 1915, while engaged in locating the exact position whence the heavy rifle fire kept up by the enemy was proceeding. Buried at Richebourg St. Vaast; _unm._ Lieut.-Col. C. J. Steavenson, commanding 1st King’s Liverpools, wrote: “He had only been with us a few days, but had shown that, had he been spared, he would have made an excellent officer,” and Mr. R. N. Douglas, Head Master of Giggleswick School, wrote: “Only last Sept. I was looking to having Jack here as Head of the School, and was feeling the greatest confidence that now all would go well with us, and that we should have a strong and upright leader. Of all the boys I have had in my five years here, his has been the character which has interested me most and given me the most pleasure. And I looked forward to a life of infinite usefulness for him. Now it is over, but I am sure that his usefulness has been exerted, his strength of character has justified itself, and his example has been an inspiration.”

=KEOGHAN, LESLIE OWEN=, Gunner, 2/1594 C. Battery, New Zealand Artillery New Zealand Expeditionary Force, eldest _s._ of Sigismund Owen Keoghan, of Denniston, Westport, New Zealand; _b._ Bainham, 15 Sept. 1894; educ. Bainham, Collingwood, Nelson. He left school at the age of fourteen and was employed for a time in a cheese factory, after which he studied agriculture on his father’s farm at Bainham. At seventeen he went with his parents to reside at Denniston, Westport, and engaged in farming and other occupations until the outbreak of war. He joined the New Zealand Artillery, 20 Dec. 1914, and after six weeks’ training at Trentham, Wellington, sailed with the third contingent for Egypt; served at the Dardanelles; was admitted to the Egyptian Military Hospital, 28 May and died 1 June, 1915, of fever. Buried, Cairo; _unm._ Gunner Keoghan was a young man of exceptionally fine physique and remarkable strength.

=KEOHAN, PATRICK JOSEPH=, W.T. Operator, R.N.R., W.T.S. 149, H.M.S. Hawke; lost when that ship was torpedoed in the North Sea, 15 Oct. 1914.

=KER, ARTHUR MILFORD=, Capt., 2nd Battn. (92nd) Gordon Highlanders, only _s._ of Sir Arthur Milford Ker, C.I.E., M.V.O., Knight of Grace of St. John of Jerusalem, by his wife, Constance, dau. of Peter Mitchell; _b._ Simla, 7 Sept. 1882; educ. Tunbridge Castle School and Cheltenham College. When the Boer War broke out he joined the East Surrey Militia and went out to South Africa with them, receiving a commission as 2nd Lieut. in the 2nd Battn. Gordon Highlanders, 19 March, 1901, and served through that campaign, 1900–2, including the operations in the Orange Free State, June to July, 1901, and in the Transvaal, Nov. 1901 to 31 May, 1902 (Queen’s medal with five clasps). Promoted Lieut. 21 Feb. 1906, and Capt. 19 May, 1911; he was killed in action near Bethune, 14 Oct. 1914; _unm._ Buried in Bethune Cemetery.

=KER, CECIL HOWARD=, Capt., 1st Battn. Bedfordshire Regt., only _s._ of George Darling Ker, of Milcote, Branksome Park, Bournemouth, formerly Secretary and Treasurer of the Bank of Madras, by his wife, Alice Mary, dau. of the late Capt. Charles Thomas Bently, 78th Highlanders; _b._ Madras, 4 Nov. 1883; educ. Cheltenham College; served in South African War, 1902, with the 4th Battn. Cheshire Regt. (Militia), taking part in the operations in the Orange River Colony, and Cape Colony, Feb. to 31 May, 1902 (Queen’s medal with three clasps); gazetted 2nd Lieut. 1st Bedfords, 4 July, 1903; promoted Lieut. 27 March, 1905, and Capt. 20 Nov. 1912; went to France with the Expeditionary Force in Aug. 1914, in which his Battn. formed part of the 15th Brigade (5th Division), took part in the Battle of Mons, the subsequent retreat, the Battle of the Marne, and the advance to the Aisne, and was killed in action near Missy-sur-Aisne, 15 Sept. following, being shot through the heart by a rifle bullet. Buried at Missy-sur-Aisne. His Commanding Officer wrote: “We have lost in him a very gallant officer and a dear friend.” He was a good all-round sportsman. He played cricket and football for his school, was a first-class rifle shot, and an excellent racquet and hockey player. In 1910, he and Capt. Leader of the Bedfords, were the runners-up for the Military Doubles Racquets Championship, and in 1909, when the Bedfords won the Army Hockey Championship, he captained the regimental team. He _m._ at St. George’s, Hanover Square, London, 31 Dec. 1912, Dorothy, yst. dau. of Lieut.-Col. William Hill-Climo, of Fir Glen Yateley, co. Hants, Army Medical Staff (ret.), and had a son, Johnnie George Skipton, _b._ 4 June, 1914.

=KERBY, ALFRED=, Private. No. G. 7453, 2nd Battn. The Middlesex Regt.; served with the Expeditionary Force in France, etc.; killed in action, 14 March, 1915; _m._

=KERFOOT, HARRY VICTOR=, Private, No. 5214, 3rd Battn. Coldstream Guards, _s._ of William Henry Kerfoot, of 77, Malmesbury Road, Small Heath, Birmingham, Compositor, by his wife, Hannah Maria, dau. of the late Edward Ford, of Wolverhampton, Painter; _b._ Leicester, 25 March, 1887; educ. Birmingham Council School; enlisted in Oct. 1903; went out to France with the 1st Expeditionary Force, lost his right arm in the action at Landrecies, 25 Aug. 1914, and was taken prisoner in hospital. He was conveyed to the Garrison Camp, at Zerbst, Anhalt, where he died of double pneumonia, 1 March, 1915; _unm._ He was buried in the Garrison Cemetery there. Kerfoot had served three years in Egypt, and in a letter to his father the Bishop of Khartoum said: “He was a very earnest and sincere soldier when I knew him, and just the kind of man to do his share in that wonderful fight at Landrecies which kept the Germans from enveloping our whole Army.”

=KERL, WILLIAM AUSTEN=, Rifleman, No. 1910, 16th (Queen’s Westminster Rifles) Battn. The London Regt., only _s._ of William James Kerl, Auctioneer and Surveyor, of Old Jewry, E.C. and a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Curriers (died 17 Feb. 1903), by his wife, Emily (19, Solon New Road, Clapham, S.W.), dau. of the late Henry Jeffrey Austen, of Wadhurst, co. Sussex, Auctioneer; _b._ Beckenham, co. Kent, 9 Sept. 1893; educ. City Freemen’s School, Brixton, and on leaving school entered the wholesale drapery warehouse of Messrs. John Howell & Co., Ltd., St. Paul’s Churchyard, E.C.; volunteered on the outbreak of war and joined The Queen’s Westminster Rifles, 6 Aug. 1914; went to France with his Battn. 1 Nov. 1914, and was killed in action, 4 June, 1915, by a shell bursting in the reserve trenches in front of Ypres while waiting to occupy the first line fire trenches. Buried at “Cross Roads,” Potyze, Ypres-Zonnebeke Road; _unm._ Letters from officers and men testify to his great courage and lovable disposition.

=KERLEY, HARRY=, A.B. (R.F.R., B. 3838), 192057, H.M.S. Good Hope; lost in action off Coronel, on the coast of Chili, 1 Nov. 1914.

=KERR, ALEXANDER=, Ch. E.R.A., 2nd Class, 269478, H.M.S. Cressy; lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.

=KERR, ARCHIBALD DAVID=, A.B. (R.F.R., Ch. B. 9932), S.S. 2542, H.M.S. Aboukir; lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.

=KERR, DAVID ANSELM=, 2nd Lieut., 2nd Battn. Royal Scots, yr. _s._ of Major-Gen. Lord Ralph Drury Kerr, late Col. 10th Hussars, K.C.B., by his wife, Lady Anne, née Fitzalan-Howard, 6th dau. of Henry Granville, 14th Duke of Norfolk, and grandson of John Williams Robert, 7th Marquis of Lothian; _b._ Curragh Camp, Ireland, 21 April, 1893; educ. Oratory School, Birmingham, and New College, Oxford, at which latter he was a member of the Officer’s Training Corps; gazetted 2nd Lieut., 2nd Battn. Royal Scots, 7 Aug. 1914; served in France and Flanders, and was killed near Bethune, 13 Oct. 1914. Buried, Croix Barbée, near Bethune; _unm._

=KERR, HERMAN HENRY=, Private, No. 8/63, 10th (Otago Infantry), Battn. New Zealand Expeditionary Force, _s._ of the late (--) Kerr; _b._ Hamilton South, New Zealand, 5 Dec. 1893; educ. there; joined the 10th Battn. Otago Infantry after the outbreak of war, 2 Sept. 1914; left for Egypt with the Main Force in Oct., took part in the landing at the Dardanelles, 25 April, 1915 and died 19 May, following, of wounds received in action there; _unm._

=KERR, HUBERT RAYNSFORD GORDON=, Lieut., 1st Battn. (71st) Highland L.I., only _s._ of Frederick Kerr, of 27, Hereford Square, London, S.W., by his wife, Esther Barbara Nicloux, dau. of the late Robert Raynsford Jackson, of 31, Harrington Gardens, S.W.; _b._ at the British Consulate, Santiago, Chili, 16 March, 1892; educ. St. Cyprians, Eastbourne; Cheltenham College (Newick House, Mr. Scot Skirving), and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst; gazetted 2nd Lieut., 1st Battn. Highland L.I., 13 March, 1912, and joined 21 April following; left for India to join the regt., 12 Sept. 1912, was promoted Lieut. 21 Sept. 1914; went to France with his regt. in the Lahore Division, and was killed at Givenchy, 19 Dec. following. Col. (now Brig.-Gen.) R. W. H. Ronaldson wrote: “he was killed on the 19th Dec. gallantly leading his men in action against a machine gun. I fear not one of them escaped and all were shot down. Gallantly he led, and as gallantly he died with all the honours of war, a soldier’s death.... I hope it may be some consolation to you all to know that he was so absolutely happy here on service among us all, and that he went to his death without a moment’s hesitation, determined to do his duty, come what might. He spoke to me a few moments before and was full of life and go there in the thick of it all. He was seen to fall just as the dawn came up for we had made a night attack on the German trenches. It seems so hard such a young life should have been so quickly cut down but you must find consolation in that he did his duty without a thought for himself, and met his death like the fine young soldier he was.”

=KERR, WILLIAM JOHNSTON=, Stoker, 1st Class (R.F.R., Ch. B. 7865), S.S. 105934, H.M.S. Aboukir; lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.

=RAIT-KERR, SYLVESTER CECIL=, Capt., 22nd Trench Howitzer Battery, Royal Field Artillery, 2nd _s._ of Sylvester Rait-Kerr, of Rathmoyle, Edenderry, King’s co., Ireland, by his wife, Mary, dau. of the late Major-General Charles Scrope Hutchinson, C.B., R.E.; _b._ Rathmoyle, afsd., 14 Oct. 1887; educ. Arnold House, Llandulas, Rugby School, and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich; gazetted 2nd Lieut. R.F.A. 18 Dec. 1907, and promoted Lieut. 18 Dec. 1910; went to South Africa in Oct. 1910, with the 100th Battery, R.F.A. and afterwards proceeded to India and was home on leave from India when war broke out. He was employed for some weeks in training men in various places, being promoted Capt. 30 Oct. 1914, and on 6 Nov. left for France with “G” Battery, R.H.A., but was subsequently transferred to the 41st Battery, R.F.A. In April, 1915, he was given the command of a Trench Howitzer Battery, with which he went into the trenches near Wieltje on 6 May, and was killed in action on the 13th, being shot through the head by a German sniper whilst carrying bombs to his guns. Buried in the trenches close to the spot where he fell; _unm._ The General Officer Commanding the 11th Infantry Brigade, wrote: “I have been informed that you would like a few particulars of the gallant work done by your son and the 22nd Trench Mortar Battery while they were under me in the hard fighting of May 9 to 13, during the 2nd Battle of Ypres. Your son was posted in the trenches to the left of a building, named by the troops ‘Shelltrap Farm,’ which was about the hottest part of the line, and his duty was to assist the infantry in keeping back the enemy from sapping up to the farm buildings, and to endeavour to blow in their saps. The enemy’s shelling was so intense that time after time the trench mortars were silenced and the crews buried, but they were dug out and started on again, and they refused to be relieved. Cooke, the subaltern, was hit and his shoulder dislocated, but he refused to go to hospital, and the whole battery displayed a similar spirit all through the fighting, the severity of which may be judged from the fact that Shelltrap Farm was lost and retaken with the bayonet three times in twenty-four hours.” And the General Officer Commanding the 4th Division: “I remember Rait-Kerr and his 22nd Trench Mortar Battery well. It was the best battery of that sort that we ever had with the 4th Division, and under him it did invaluable service in the front trenches during the fighting from the 6th to the 13th of May (1915), which was some of the worst we had in France. I know he was a great loss to the Division and to the service.” The officer in charge of the Trench Howitzer School, 2nd Army Corps, wrote: “He had done magnificently with his Trench battery and had received the congratulations of the Divisional and Brigade commanders to whom his battery was attached. He was a great friend of mine, and without doubt the finest officer who had passed through the Trench Howitzer School. There was no officer in the British Army who could have done it better. He was a gallant fellow. He was the ideal British officer, a real tiger with his men, but loved and admired by them. In this Army (the 2nd) he _made_ trench howitzers. He was, of course, recommended for a decoration, and he richly deserved it,” and the subaltern under him in his battery wrote: “His death was a great blow to all of us in the battery. He was a splendid fellow, and did not know what fear was. He was recommended to General Commanding 4th Division for gallantry during the action by officer commanding the 2nd Monmouths, who told me he had upheld the best traditions of the Royal Artillery.” His brother, Capt. W. C. Rait-Kerr, was killed in action at Veldhoek, 10 Nov. 1914 (see following notice).

=RAIT-KERR, WILLIAM CHARLES, D.S.O.=, Capt., 57th Howitzer Battery, R.F.A. eldest _s._ of Sylvester Rait-Kerr, of Rathmoyle, Edenderry, King’s co. Ireland, by his wife, Mary, dau. of the late Major-General Charles Scrope Hutchinson, C.B., R.E.; _b._ Rathmoyle, afsd. 6 Aug. 1886; educ. Arnold House, Llandulas, Rugby School, and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich; gazetted 2nd Lieut. R.F.A. 23 July, 1907; and promoted Lieut. 23 July, 1910, and Capt. 30 Oct., 1914; went to France 16 Aug. 1914, with the 1st Division, commanded by Sir Douglas Haig, as Lieut. in 57th Howitzer Battery, 43rd Brigade, R.F.A.; took part in the Battle of, and retreat from, Mons, the Battles of the Marne and the Aisne, and the 1st Battle of Ypres, and was killed in action at Veldhoek, near Ypres, 10 Nov. following, whilst in charge of an advanced gun 250 yards from the enemy, being shot through the head by a German sniper. The rest of his battery had gone to the rear to rest and refit, having been out since the beginning of the war. Buried at Veldhoek, beside the gun “he had commanded so well”; _unm._ He was awarded the D.S.O. “For gallant conduct in bringing up a gun to within 250 yards of the enemy in a wood, and blowing down a house in which the enemy were working a machine-gun” [London Gazette, 1 Dec. 1914]; and was mentioned in F.M. Sir John (now Lord) French’s Despatch of 14 Jan. 1915. His Colonel wrote: “He was in charge of a gun which had for some days been placed in a forward position for a special purpose, to destroy some houses from which some German snipers were causing heavy losses in our trenches. He had been doing splendid work, which had been specially noticed by the General, and only the day before his death the Commander of the French troops on our left had sent a letter of thanks for one particularly useful lot of shooting which he had put in and destroyed some German trenches in front of them. He was a brave and excellent officer and man. He had just appeared in the Gazette as Capt. and was so delighted that I had been able to get him posted to one of my batteries.” Another officer wrote: “He was up in the infantry trenches with one gun close behind, in communication by telephone with him. He was there about a fortnight, and in that time did very fine work, knocking houses down with Germans and machine-guns in them, and various other jobs. He was highly praised by all the people up there, and by the General in command of the Infantry Brigade. He had a very rough time from both shell and rifle fire, but had done great execution in spite of it.” His brother, Capt. S. C. Rait-Kerr, was killed in action 13 May, 1915 (see previous notice).

=KERRAY, JAMES=, Leading Stoker (R.F.R., Ch. B. 3918), 284967, H.M.S. Cressy; lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.

=KERRISON, ARTHUR JAMES=, Boy Servt., L. 4831, H.M.S. Good Hope; lost in action off Coronel, on the coast of Chili, 1 Nov. 1914.

=KERWIN, ALBERT=, Stoker, 2nd Class, S.S. 115602 (Ports.), H.M.S. Hawke; lost when that ship was torpedoed in the North Sea, 15 Oct. 1914.

=KESSELL, HARRY=, Lieut., Commanding Machine-Gun Section, 15th Infantry Battn. (Queensland), Australian Imperial Force, only _s._ of Thomas Norman Kessell, of Leederville, Western Australia, by his wife, Sophia: _b._ Leamington Spa, co. Warwick, 13 Jan. 1874; went to New Zealand with his parents and was educ. at the Normal School, Dunedin, afterwards settling in Australia. He joined the Victorian Rangers, 11 Dec. 1892, as a gunner in the Nordenfelt Battery; became Senior Sergt. 17 April, 1893; Lieut. G Coy., 23 Nov. 1895, Acting Signalling Inspector, 1 May, 1896, and after obtained the Flag Signalling Certificate (No. 600) 1 Aug. 1896, Signalling Instructor. He passed for promotion to the rank of Capt. Victorian Rangers, 10 Oct. 1897, and for the Militia with Special Certificate, No. 78, and obtained the extra Musketry Certificate, No. 12, 22 Oct. 1898, and re-qualified as Flag Signaller, 17 Dec. 1898. He served through the South African War, was appointed Lieut. to the 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles: at Middleberg, 1901, acting as Troop Leader and Squadron Commander on various occasions, and was mentioned by Lord Kitchener in Despatches [London Gazette, 29 July, 1902] and awarded the Queen’s medal with four clasps. After the close of the campaign he acted as Adjutant for the returning Australian Troops on board H.M.S. Britannia. On the outbreak of the European War, in Aug. 1914, he joined the Australian Imperial Force, serving with the 15th Infantry Battn. (Queensland), and died at No. 1 General Hospital, Heliopolis, 3rd July, 1915, of shrapnel wounds received in action in Gallipoli on May 9; _unm._ Of Lieut. Kessell’s last hours an Army chaplain wrote as follows: “He was grand, a regular inspiration to some other patients, who ceased worrying over their own troubles in the presence of a man who suffered greater things and yet never ceased to be a cheerful pattern to them.”

=KETTERIDGE, JAMES WILLIAM=, Bombardier, No. 63852, 11th Battery, R.F.A., and First-Class signaller, _s._ of William Ketteridge, of Waggon Lane, Lower Tottenham, co. Middlesex, Munition Worker; _b._ there 5 Nov. 1891; educ. St. James’ School, Fore Street, Upper Edmonton, enlisted, 12 Jan. 1911; awarded 2nd Class Certificate at Army School, 27 June, 1914; served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders, and while reconnoitring at midnight on 21 Aug. 1914 at le Cateau was shot by the French by mistake. He _m._ at Kildare Parish Church, 1914, Mary Florence, dau. of Benjamin Robert Singleton, late of the Northamptonshire Regt., and had one child, Rosary Annie Le Cateau, _b._ 20 Dec. 1914.

=KIDBY, ARTHUR=, Rifleman, No. 2894, C Coy., 9th Battn. (Queen Victoria’s Rifles) The London Regt., 2nd _s._ of Frederick Arthur Kidby, of 19, Hertford Road, Hoddesdon, Clerk, Building Department, Hoddesdon Brewery, by his wife, Mary, dau. of Stephen Elkins; _b._ Hoddesdon, co. Herts, 4 Jan. 1896; educ. Hoddesdon Church of England School and Broxbourne, Herts; was Clerk in wholesale drapery trade; joined Queen Victoria’s Rifles, 2 Sept. 1914; went to France, 20 Jan. 1915, and was killed in action near Wulverghem 3 March following; _unm._ His company commander, Capt. Herbert Fleming, wrote: “He was shot through the head on the 3rd inst. during a heavy burst of fire from the German trenches. He had only been here a short time, but he proved himself a keen and brave soldier. I deplore his loss more than I can say. I was with your boy when he died; he was unconscious, and only lived for a few minutes after he was shot. He has been buried in the churchyard at Wulverghem, and I will see that a cross is erected to his memory.” Private Kidby was a good athlete, and was captain of his school football team. He had a good voice and was a member of the Hoddesdon Church choir.

=KIDD, GEORGE=, Stoker, 1st Class (R.F.R., Ch. B. 7865), 299560, H.M.S. Aboukir; lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.

=KILBEY, ALBERT JOHN=, Private, No. 2881, 7th Battn. The London Regt. (T.F.); only _s._ of John Charles Kilbey, of 11, Royston Street, Old Ford Road, Bethnal Green, Waterside Labourer, by his wife, Harriet Rossetta, dau. of George Frederick Walker; _b._ Bethnal Green, 29 March, 1895; educ. Wolverley Street School there; joined the 7th London, 23 Sept. 1914; left for France, 17 March, 1915, and was killed in action at the Battle of Festubert, 17 May following; _unm._

=KILBOURNE, FREDERICK=, Stoker, 1st Class, K. 16154, H.M.S. Good Hope; lost in action off Coronel, on the coast of Chili, 1 Nov. 1914.