The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland declared war on the German Empire on 4 August 1914 following the invasion of Belgium by Germany, and thus participated for four years in the First World War, on the side of the Allies and against the Central Powers. Some 750,000 British men were killed in war during this conflict.
At the start of the war, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was the Liberal H. H. Asquith, who was reappointed following the December 1910 general election. He led a Liberal minority government, with the support without participation of Irish nationalist MPs from the Irish Parliamentary Party. Challenged for his management of the war, Herbert Asquith was forced into May 1915 to form a government of national unity including the Conservative Party and the Labour Party. The Prime Minister was forced by the Conservatives to resign in December 1916, and David Lloyd George succeeded him at the head of the coalition.
A total of 264 members of the House of Commons enlisted in the armed forces during the First World War. 23 members of the House of Commons were killed in the war (or died as a result of their participation), as were twenty members of the House of Lords and three former members of the Commons.[1] A memorial commemorates these forty-three men, as well as the staff of the two Chambers and the soldiers who died at the front who are sons of parliamentarians, in Westminster Hall, within the grounds of the Palace of Westminster where Parliament sits.[2]
List
editThese forty-three parliamentarians or former parliamentarians who died at the front or as a result of the war are, in chronological order.[3]
# | Name | Parliament | Party | Regiment | Birth | Death | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Arthur O'Neill | MP for Mid Antrim since January 1910 | Irish Unionist Alliance | Captain, 2d Life Guards Regiment (Cavalry) | 19 September 1876 | 6 November 1914, at the age of 38. Killed in action at Klein Zillebeke, Belgium.[4] | |
2 | Henry Parnell, 5th Baron Congleton | Hereditary peer in the House of Lords since 1911 | Uncertain | Lieutenant, 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards | 6 September 1890 | 10 November 1914, at the age of 24. Killed in action at Klein Zillebeke, Belgium.[5] | |
3 | Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts | Hereditary peer in the House of Lords since 1892 (knighted) | Uncertain | British Army field marshal | 30 September 1832 | 14 November 1914, at the age of 82. Died of pneumonia while visiting Indian troops on the front at Saint-Omer, France.[6] | Commander-in-Chief of the Forces from 1901 to 1904. Recipient of the Victoria Cross for his actions during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 in 1857. |
4 | Wyndham Knatchbull-Hugessen, 3rd Baron Brabourne | Hereditary peer in the House of Lords since 1909 | Liberal | 2nd Lieutenant, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards | 21 September 1885 | 11 March 1915, at the age of 29. Killed in action at the Battle of Neuve-Chapelle.[7] | |
5 | Will Gladstone | MP for Kilmarnock Burghs since September 1911 | Liberal | Lieutenant, Royal Welch Fusiliers | 14 July 1885 | 13 April 1915, at the age of 29. Killed in action near Laventie, France.[8] | Grandson of former Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone. |
6 | John Esmonde | MP for North Tipperary since December 1910 | Irish Parliamentary Party | Captain, Royal Army Medical Corps | 21 January 1862 | 17 April 1915, at the age of 53. Died of pneumonia and exhaustion.[9] | |
7 | Arthur French, 5th Baron de Freyne | Hereditary peer in the House of Lords since September 1913 | Uncertain | Captain, 3rd Battalion, South Wales Borderers | 3 July 1879 | 9 May 1915, at the age of 35. Killed at the Battle of Aubers.[10] | |
8 | Harold Cawley | MP for Heywood since January 1910 | Liberal | Captain, 6th Battalion, Manchester Regiment | 12 June 1878 | 23 September 1915, at the age of 37. Killed in action at the Battle of the Dardanelles.[11] | |
9 | Thomas Agar-Robartes | MP for St Austell since February 1908 | Liberal | Captain, 1st Battalion, Coldstream Guards | 22 May 1880 | 30 September 1915, at the age of 35. Killed by a sniper at the Battle of Loos while assisting a wounded comrade.[12] | |
10 | Lord Ninian Crichton-Stuart | MP for Cardiff since December 1910 | Conservative | Lieutenant-Colonel, 6th Battalion, Welch Regiment | 15 May 1883 | 2 October 1915, at the age of 32. Killed in action at the Battle of Loos.[13] | |
11 | Charles Mills | MP for Uxbridge since January 1910 | Conservative | 2nd Lieutenant, 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards | 13 March 1887 | 6 October 1915, at the age of 28. Killed in action at Hulluch, France.[14] | Baby of the House from January to December 1910. |
12 | William Walrond | MP for Tiverton since February 1906 | Conservative | Lieutenant, Railway Supply Detachment, Royal Army Service Corps | 22 May 1876 | 2 November 1915, at the age of 39. Repatriated after being wounded in action in France, and dying of his wounds.[15] | |
13 | Thomas Pakenham, 5th Earl of Longford | Hereditary peer in the House of Lords since 1887 | Conservative | Brigadier General, 2nd 2nd South Midland Mounted Brigade | 19 October 1864 | 21 August 1915, at the age of 50. Killed in action at the Battle of Sari Bair during the Gallipoli campaign.[16] | |
14 | Lionel Petre, 16th Baron Petre | Hereditary peer in the House of Lords since December 1908 | Uncertain | Captain, 4th Pioneer Battalion, Coldstream Guards | November 3, 1890 | 30 September 1915, at the age of 24. Died of his wounds at the Battle of Loos.[17] | |
15 | Thomas Trollope, 3rd Baron Kesteven | Hereditary peer in the House of Lords since July 1915 | Uncertain | Captain, Lincolnshire Yeomanry (Cavalry) | 1 May 1891 | 5 November 1915, at the age of 24. Wounded aboard the freighter SS Mercian torpedoed by a German submarine, and died at Oran in Algeria two days later.[18] | |
16 | George Venables-Vernon, 8th Baron Vernon | Hereditary peer in the House of Lords since September 1909 | Liberal | Captain, Derbyshire Yeomanry | 28 September 1888 | 10 November 1915, at the age of 27. Died of dysentery, contracted while participating in the Gallipoli campaign.[19] | |
17 | James Ogilvie-Grant, 11th Earl of Seafield | Hereditary peer in the House of Lords since 1897 | Uncertain | Captain, 3rd Battalion, Cameron Highlanders | 18 April 1876 | 12 November 1915, at the age of 39. Died of wounds received in Flanders.[20] | Scottish nobleman, 30th Chief of Clan Grant. |
18 | Gilbert Sackville, 8th Earl De La Warr | Hereditary peer in the House of Lords since 1896 | Uncertain | Lieutenant, Royal Naval Volunteer Service | 22 March 1869 | 16 December 1915, at the age of 46. Died in Messina, Italy, of rheumatic fever and dysentery contracted while serving in the Navy.[21] | |
19 | Michael Hicks Beach, Viscount Quenington | MP for Tewkesbury since February 1906 | Conservative | Captain, Royal Gloucestershire Hussars Yeomanry | 19 January 1877 | 23 April 1916, at the age of 39. Died of wounds received at Qatia in the Egyptian Sinai.[22] | |
20 | Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener | Hereditary Peer in the House of Lords since 1898 (knighted) | Unaffiliated | British Army field marshal | 24 June 1850 | 5 June 1916, at the age of 65. Died on board HMS Hampshire, sunk by a German mine.[23] | Secretary of State for War since 1914 |
21 | Duncan Campbell | MP for North Ayrshire since December 1911 | Unionist | Lieutenant-Colonel, Duke of Wellington's Regiment | 28 April 1876 | 4 September 1916, at the age of 40. Seriously wounded in the left arm at the First Battle of Ypres in November 1914, he returned to the front a year later. Wounded by a mine on the western front, he was repatriated once again and died of his injuries.[24] | Born in Ontario, Canada; decorated with the Distinguished Service Order |
22 | Tom Kettle | MP for East Tyrone from July 1906 to December 1910 | Irish Parliamentary Party | Lieutenant, Royal Dublin Fusiliers | 9 February 1880 | 9 September 1916, at the age of 36. Killed in action at the Battle of the Somme.[25] | Also economist, lawyer, journalist and poet |
23 | Guy Baring | MP for Winchester since February 1906 | Conservative | Lieutenant Colonel, 1st Battalion, Coldstream Guards | 26 February 1873 | 15 September 1916, at the age of 43. Killed in action at the Battle of the Somme.[26] | |
24 | Charles Duncombe, 2nd Earl of Feversham | MP for Thirsk and Malton from February 1906 to February 1915, then hereditary peer in the House of Lords | Conservative | Lieutenant-Colonel, 21st Battalion of the Royal Corps of the King's Rifles | 8 May 1879 | 15 September 1916, at the age of 37. Killed in action at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette.[27] | |
25 | Gerald Arbuthnot | MP for Burnley from January to December 1910 | Conservative | 2nd Lieutenant, Grenadier Guards | 19 December 1872 | 25 September 1916, at the age of 43. Killed in action at the Battle of the Somme.[28] | |
26 | John Rolls, 2nd Baron Llangattock | Hereditary peer in the House of Lords since 1912 | Uncertain | Major, 1st Monmouthshire Battery, Royal Field Artillery | 25 April 1870 | 31 October 1916, at the age of 46. Died of his wounds at the Battle of the Somme.[29] | Older brother of Charles Rolls, the co-founder of Rolls-Royce. |
27 | Auberon Herbert, 9th Baron Lucas | Hereditary peer in the House of Lords since 1905 | Liberal | Captain, Royal Flying Corps | 25 May 1876 | 3 November 1916, at the age of 40. Wounded by a German fighter plane over German lines, aboard his plane, and died of his wounds.[30] | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for War from 1908 to 1911, and for the Colonies in 1911. |
28 | Henry Barnes, 2nd Baron Gorell | Hereditary peer in the House of Lords since 1913 | Uncertain | Major, 19th London Battery, Royal Field Artillery | 21 January 1882 | 16 January 1917, at the age of 34. Killed in action at Ypres, Belgium.[31] | |
29 | Henry Howard, 19th Earl of Suffolk | Hereditary peer in the House of Lords since 1898 | Liberal | Major, Wiltshire Battery, 3rd Wessex Brigade, Royal Field Artillery | 13 September 1877 | 21 April 1917, at the age of 39. Killed in action at the Battle of Istabulat during the Mesopotamia campaign.[32] | |
30 | Valentine Fleming | MP for Henley since January 1910 | Conservative | Major, C Squadron, Oxfordshire Hussars | 17 February 1882 | 20 May 1917, at the age of 35. Killed by German bombardment near Épehy, France.[33] | Posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Order. Father of writers Peter and Ian Fleming. |
31 | Shelley Scarlett, 5th Baron Abinger | Hereditary peer in the House of Lords since 1903 | Uncertain | Commander, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve | 1 April 1872 | 23 May 1917, at the age of 45. Died in London in unspecified circumstances, but listed by Parliament as a casualty of war.[34] | Adoptive grandson of Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley. |
32 | Willie Redmond | MP for Wexford from 1883 to 1885, for Fermanagh North from 1885 to 1892 and for Clare East from 1892 | Irish Parliamentary Party | Major, 6th Battalion , Royal Irish Regiment | 13 April 1861 | 7 June 1917, at the age of 56. Died of a wound sustained during the Battle of Messines.[35] | Prominent personality of the Irish nationalist movement. |
33 | Francis McLaren | MP for Spalding since January 1910 | Liberal | 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps | 16 June 1886 | 30 August 1917, at the age of 31. Died in a flight accident during training.[36] | |
34 | Neil Primrose | MP for Wisbech since January 1910 | Liberal | Captain, Royal Buckinghamshire Yeomanry | 14 December 1882 | 18 November 1917, at the age of 34. Died of wounds sustained in the Third Battle of Gaza.[37] | Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs (February to May 1915). Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (December 1916 to March 1917).
Son of former Prime Minister Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery. |
35 | Philip Glazebrook | MP for Manchester South since March 1912 | Conservative | Major, King's Shropshire Light Infantry | 24 December 1880 | 7 March 1918, at the age of 37. Killed in action at Al-Bireh in Palestine.[38] | Decorated with the Distinguished Service Order two months before his death. |
36 | Percy Clive | Member of Parliament for Ross from 1900 to 1906, and again from January 1908 | Conservative Party(Liberal Unionist Party until 1912.) | Lieutenant Colonel, Lancashire Fusiliers | 13 March 1873 | 5 April 1918, at the age of 35. Wounded twice. Killed in action at Bucquoy in France.[39] | Decorated with the National Order of the Legion of Honour and the Croix de Guerre |
37 | William Parsons, 5th Earl of Rosse | Hereditary peer elected to the House of Lords as a representative peer by his Irish peers in 1911. | Uncertain | Major, 1st Battalion, Irish Guards | 14 June 1873 | 10 June 1918, at the age of 44. Died from war wounds.[40] | |
38 | William Poulett, 7th Earl Poulett | Hereditary peer in the House of Lords since 1899 | Uncertain | Captain, Warwickshire Royal Horse Artillery | 11 September 1883 | 11 July 1918, at the age of 34. Died in service, of the Spanish flu.[41] | |
39 | Francis Bennett-Goldney | MP for Canterbury since December 1910. | Independent Unionist | Major, Royal Army Service Corps | 1865 | 27 July 1918, at the age of 51. Military Attaché at the British Embassy in Paris; died in a car accident in Brest.[42] | |
40 | Oswald Cawley | MP for Prestwich since January 1918 | Liberal | Captain, Shropshire Yeomanry | 7 October 1882 | 22 August 1918, at the age of 35. Killed in action near Merville, France.[43] | Third of four siblings to die in the war, after John in 1914 and Harold, also a Liberal MP, in 1915. |
41 | Lord Alexander Thynne | MP for Bath since January 1910 | Conservative | Lieutenant Colonel, Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry | 17 February 1873 | 16 September 1918, at the age of 45. Killed in action at Béthune, France.[44] | Decorated with the Distinguished Service Order and the Croix de Guerre |
42 | Charles Lyell | MP for East Dorset (1904-1910), then Edinburgh South (1910-1917) | Liberal | Major, Fife Royal Garrison Artillery | 18 May 1875 | 18 October 1918, at the age of 43. Died of pneumonia in Washington, D.C. while on duty.[45] | |
43 | Victor Conyngham, 5th Marquess Conyngham | Hereditary peer in the House of Lords since 1904 | Uncertain | Lieutenant, South Irish Horse | 30 January 1883 | 9 November 1918, at the age of 35. Aide-de-camp to Lt. Gen. John Maxwell; died on duty, of pneumonia resulting from the 1918 flu.[46] |
References
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