1910-1920 First World War

On 22nd June 1911 King George V of the United Kingdom (age 46) was crowned V King of the United Kingdom. Victoria Mary Teck Queen Consort England (age 44) was crowned Queen Consort England Scotland and Ireland.

Dorothy Margaret Browne (age 23) bore Queen Mary's train.

Edward Knollys 2nd Viscount Knollys (age 16) carried the King's train

On 14th December 1911 the South Pole was reached for the first time by an expedition led by Roald Amundsen (age 39). The expedition led by Robert Falcon Scott reached the pole some thirty-four days later.

Roald Amundsen: On 16th July 1872 he was born. Around 18th June 1928 he died. He disappeared while flying on a rescue mission in the Arctic. His team included Norwegian pilot Leif Dietrichson, French pilot René Guilbaud, and three more Frenchmen. They were seeking missing members of Nobile's crew, whose new airship Italia had crashed while returning from the North Pole. Amundsen's French Latham 47 flying boat never returned.

On 15th April 1912 Hugh Woolner (age 46) was aboard the Titanic when it sank; he survived.

On 15th April 1912 Tyrell William Cavendish (age 36) drowned during the Sinking of the Titanic. His wife Julia Florence Siegel (age 25) and her maid Ellen survived the disaster. She later recalled: "I was in the second boat. My husband kissed me and bade me remain in the boat, declaring he was all right. There was no light, but the sky was clear. Bright skies illuminated the scene of the disaster. Just as the lifeboat was lowered I again kissed my husband. He assured me he would rather stay on the boat, thinking he would be safe... As the boat reached the water there were twenty-three women in the boat and two men to guide and row her. Many of us women implored men on the upper deck to come to our succour, but most of them said they could not row. One man there was about to get in the boat, but a sailor, after questioning him threw him aside. A Canadian, who stated that he could row turned to a group of men on the deck who were watching the proceedings and said: "I can row, but if there is room for one more let it be a woman."

After 15th April 1912. Grave at St Mary's Church, Tissington [Map] of Richard Allsop, and his sons James and Frank Richard, and James, the last of whom drowned on the Titanic

On 13th October 1914 Maximilian Friedrich Hesse-Kassel (age 19) died from wounds received in action at Saint-Jean-Chappelle, near Bailleul.

On 12th September 1916 Friedrich Wilhelm Hesse-Kassel (age 22) died from wounds received in action near Kara (Kurm) Orman, Dobroudja, Roumania.

On 9th September 1914 Captain Percy Lyulph Wyndham (age 26) missing presumed killed in action whilst serving with the 11 Guards Brigade at the 1914 Battle of Aisne.

On 16th December 1914 the German Navy bombarded Scarborough, North Yorkshire [Map], Hartlepool and Whitby. Around 137 were killed, around 600 injured.

On 28th October 1914 Charles Almeric Cholmondeley (age 34) was killed in action

On 29th October 1914 Arthur John Hamilton (age 31) was killed.

On 29th October 1914 Richard Wellesley (age 35) was killed in action.

On 1st November 1914 Arthur Orlando Wolstan Cecil Weld-Forester (age 37) died from wounds received in action at First Battle of Ypres.

On 1st November 1914 Peter Robert Heathcote-Willoughby-Drummond (age 28) was killed in the sinking of Monmouth at Coronel during the Battle of Coronel.

On the morning of 19th January 1915 two German Zeppelin airships, the L3 and L4, took off from Fuhlsbüttel in Hamburg, Germany, on the first Zeppelin raid over England. The airships had been heading for the Humber, but bad weather led them to reroute and discharge their bombs over Norfolk. Sheringham was hit by two bombs from a Zeppelin raid at 20:30 GMT on 18 January 1915, making it the first place in Britain to be attacked by Zeppelins. No one was killed. At St Peter's Plain, Great Yarmouth, the bombing's two fatalities were killed instantly. Samuel Smith, a 53-year-old shoemaker, was the first British civilian to be killed by aerial bombardment. He was said to be standing in the road when the bomb dropped. Martha Taylor, 72, lived at 22 St Peter's Plain, and was next to be killed in the attack. At King's Lynn bombs were killed Alice Gazeley, 26 – widowed just 3 months earlier after her husband had been killed on the Western Front – and Percy Goate, aged 14. A further 13 people were injured, as further bombs went on to destroy densely-packed terraced houses and damage the town's docks.

On 31st May 1915 the first bombs were dropped on London by Zeppelin LZ38; they killed seven people. The first bomb, an incendiary, was dropped on 16 Alkham Road. Moving south it dropped eight more bombs. Its ninth landed on 33 Cowper Road setting the house on fire killed 3-year-old Elsie Leggatt and her 11-year-old sister, Elizabeth May. The next incendiary set fire to 187 Balls Pond Road causing the death of the married couple, Henry and Caroline Good. Steering away from the Tower of London, and, over Whitechapel LZ 38 dropped another explosive on Christian Street: 8-year-old Samuel Reuben and 16-year-old Leah Lehrman were killed. The seventh and last victim was Eleanor Willis, 67, who died of shock two days later. In total Zeppelin LZ 38 dropped 91 incendiaries, 28 explosive bombs and 2 grenades.

The Gallipoli Campaign was a military campaign in the First World War on the Gallipoli peninsula (now Gelibolu) from 19th February 1915 to 9 January 1916.

From 25th September 1915 and 8th October 1915 the Battle of Loos was fought in France on the Western Front. The Zeppelin airships crossed the Norfolk coastline at about 8.30pm. The L3, captained by Captain Lieutenant Johann Fritz, then turned south east, towards Great Yarmouth, and the L4, under the command of Kapitanleutnant Count Magnus von Platen-Hallermund, turned north west, towards King's Lynn.

On 27th September 1915 John Kipling (age 18) was killed in action at the Battle of Loos.

On 27th September 1915 Captain James Harold Cuthbert (age 39) was killed in action at the Battle of Loos; his body was never found

On 27th September 1915 Fergus Bowes-Lyon (age 26) was killed in action during the Battle of the Hohenzollern Redoubt in the Battle of Loos. As he led an attack on the German lines, his leg was blown off by a barrage of German artillery and he fell back into his sergeant's arms. Bullets struck him in the chest and shoulder and he died on the field.

On 28th September 1915 Thomas Agar-Robartes (age 35) was wounded in the Battle of Loos.

On 29th September 1915 Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur George Edward Egerton (age 36) was killed in action at the Battle of Loos.

On 30th September 1915 Thomas Agar-Robartes (age 35) was killed by a sniper during the Battle of Loos after rescuing a wounded comrade under heavy fire for which he was recommended for the Victoria Cross. He was buried at Lapugnoy Military Cemetery, near Béthune. He is commemorated by a memorial in Truro Cathedral and in stained glass at Selsey Abbey [Map], St Andrew's Church, Wimpole [Map] and Church Norton.

On 30th September 1915 Lionel Petre 16th Baron Petre (age 24) died of wounds received in action at the Battle of Loos. His son Joseph (age 1) succeeded 17th Baron Petre.

Around 1st October 1915 Clement Freeman-Mitford (age 38) was killed in action at the Battle of Loos.

His death occurred in heroic circumstances, during an attack made by the 10th Hussars that also resulted in the deaths of the CO Lt-Col Shearman and Captain Gerald Stewart. Clem, as he was called by his fellow officers, lived at Batsford Park, Moreton-in-Marsh.

On 30th December 1915 the SS Persia was torpedoed near Crete without warning by the German U-boat U-38, commanded by Max Valentiner. It sank in five to ten minutes, killing 343 of the 519 aboard.

John Douglas-Scott-Montagu 2nd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu (age 49) survived. His mistress Eleanor Thornton (age 35) drowned.

Eleanor Thornton drowned.

On 2nd April 1916, at 14:20, a store of 200 tons of TNT exploded at a gunpowder mill at Uplees, near Faversham in Kent. As it was a Sunday, no women were at work. There were 115 deaths of men and boys, including all the Works Fire Brigade, in the explosion and in subsequent detonations. The bodies of seven victims were never found; 108 were buried in a mass grave at Faversham Cemetery on 6 April.

On 31st May 1916 Rear-Admiral Horace Hood (age 45) was killed during the engagement of HMS Invincible with SMS Lützow and SMS Derfflinger at the Battle of Jutland. A catastrophic explosion from "Q" turret's magazine, which blew the ship in half, which then sank quickly. Of Invincible's crew of 1,021, there were just six survivors, pulled from the water by attendant destroyers.

On 31st May 1916 HMS Black Prince was lost with her entire crew including Lieutenant-Commander David Shafto Douglas (age 32).

From 31st May 1916 to 1st June 1916 the Battle of Jutland was fought between the British and German fleets.

In 1916 Algernon William Percy (age 32) was killed during the Battle of Jutland.

Around 30th May 1916 Cecil Molyneux (age 16) was killed in action at the Battle of Jutland.

Oscar Parkes (age 30). HMS 'Southampton on the morning of the Battle of Jutland, 31st May 1916.

On 31st May 1916 Victor Alexander Ewart was killed at the Battle of Jutland serving on HMS Queen Mary.

After 31st May 1916 in the Battle of Jutland HMS Southampton torpedoed the German light cruiser SMS Frauenlob, which subsequently sank.

On 7th June 1916 Leading Seaman James Horace Wainscott died from wounds received at the Battle of Jutland whilst serving aboard HMS Southampton. Grave at All Hallows' Church Harthill [Map].

On 15th September 1916 Charles William Reginald Duncombe 2nd Earl Feversham (age 37) was killed in action at Flers-Courcelette, Somme during the Battle of Flers-Courcelette.

Note. Charles Duncombe 3rd Earl Feversham (age 9) succeeded 3rd Earl Feversham, 5th Baron Feversham of Duncombe Park in Yorkshire.

On 19th January 1917 the Silvertown Explosion was an explosion at a munitions factory that killed seventy-three people and injured four hundredn more.

On 21st April 1917 Henry Molyneux Paget Howard 19th Earl Suffolk 12th Earl Berkshire (age 39) was killed in action when a piece of shrapnel entered his heart. His son Charles (age 11) succeeded 20th Earl Suffolk, 13th Earl Berkshire.

On 31st July 1917 Albert Edward George Arnold Keppel (age 19) was killed in action at Passchendaele.