Scattered throughout the county are a number of what appear to be gravestones marking the last resting place of deceased servicemen. In this, however, they are misleading, for there is no body and they must be viewed as memorials. One such rather neglected example is in the churchyard of St Thomas's Church, Kendal where a stone commemorates Captain Evelyn Henry Le Mesurier Sinkinson, 24th Punjabis. He 'Fell Heroically' near Nazirieh (Nasariyah), Mesopotamia (Iraq), on July 4th 1915, aged 33. Why is the memorial here? The CWGC Debt of Honour register shows that his mother, Katharine Irene - the widow of Edward James Sinkinson of the Indian Civil Service, was remarried to a Mr Fisher by the time the Imperial War Graves Commision was gathering personal information in the early 1920s and living at 49 Haverstock Hill, Hampstead, London. Captain Evelyn was born in Allahabad. So, did they live in Kendal during the war years? Was Captain Evelyn married with a home in Kendal? http://cumbrianwarmemorials.blogspot.com/search/label/Great War
In Memory of Captain EVELYN HENRY LE MESURIER SINKINSON 24th Punjabis who died age 33 on 14 July 1915 Son of Katharine Irene Fisher (formerly Sinkinson), of 49, Haverstock Hill, Hampstead, London, and the late Edward James Sinkinson (Indian Civil Service). Born at Allahabad. Remembered with honour BASRA WAR CEMETERY
CAPTAIN E. H. Le M. SINKINSON 24th Punjabis The Park 96'-99' (?) Aged 33 July 14th 1915 Eldest surviving son of the late James Sinkinson, sometime Financial Secretary to the Supreme Government of India, and of his wife, Irene Sinkinson, now Mrs. Victor Fisher, and grandson of Colonel C. B. Le Mesurier, C.B., D.S.O., and of Contessa Zancarol. Godson of the late Lord Roberts. Captain Sinkinson joined the Militia in 1901, and volunteered for active service in South Africa. He was gazetted to the Liverpool Regiment in 1902. During operations in the Transvaal he was severely injured in the leg and was unable to rejoin his Regiment until 1904 : he received the Queen's Medal and three clasps. He then transferred to the Indian Army, and was gazetted Captain in 191 1. While in India, during 1 9 14, he was Recruiting Officer for the Sikhs and Dogras. His great ambition, however, was to see really active service, and this was gratified, when, in 191 5, he was sent to Mesopotamia and succeeded in getting into the firing line, "where every keen soldier must desire to be," as he wrote home. After the action of July 14th, 1915, he was reported * missing,' but two months later a telegram was received saying, "Captain Sinkinson's dead body has been found and buried where he fell by the Regiment." The following Royal message was received by his mother : — "The King and Queen deeply regret the loss you and the Army have sustained by the death of your son in the service of his country. Their Majesties truly sympathise with you in your sorrow," Major Cook- Young, of the Indian Expeditionary Force D, wrote - "The Regiment as usual did magnificently, but were attacked by Arabs behind the Turkish position in front . . . the operation was mostly in deep water, up to the waist and higher. Captain Sinkinson was not at first wounded, and, it appears, tried to rally the men. What is so sad is that he could have got out of it, but refused, and sent two men back for ammunition. These two Sepoys were grand men and tried forcibly to carry Captain Sinkinson out of action he would not permit it. . . . On returning to the place where they had left him he was not there. The obvious thing was that he had been killed, and his body lost in deep water. His loss to me is irreparable. I never had any affection for any individual in this world as I had for him, and I only wish 1 had been there to save him or to die with him." EVELYN HENRY LE MESURIER SINKINSON http://www.archive.org/stream/harrowmemorialso02warn/harrowmemorialso02warn_djvu.txt
Found this on Garens excellent website about the Granddad !! Screw Guns Proposed by Lieutenant-Colonel C. B. Le Mesurier in 1877, the new portable 'screw gun' saw its first action in the Afghan War during the Zaimukht expedition in December 1879. Le Mesurier wasn't there to see the guns in action, but he did serve in the Afghan War on staff at Kandahar. Rudyard Kipling's poem, 'Screw Guns' (1890) heightened their fame. http://www.garenewing.co.uk/angloafghanwar/sitestuff/did_you_know.php And this .... http://books.google.com/books?id=yE...uZu6JBOK9jejUxtHFc&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&
Here's somebody else who died on the same day .... wonder if they were together ?? GILBERT LESLIE - SMITH Captain 24th Punjabis who died on Wednesday 14 July 1915 . Age 32 . Additional Information: Husband of Ethel Leslie-Smith, of 3, Sydney Place, Bath. Cemetery: BASRA WAR CEMETERY Iraq Grave or Reference Panel Number: IV. S. 16. http://www.haileybury.herts.sch.uk/archives/roll/USC 1915.htm
Entirely off topic I know ... but Ethel Leslie-Smith lived at 3 Sydney Place Bath .... and Jane Austen lived at #4 !!!! ( not at the same time of course !!!!!!! )
