Thomas Geoffrey Rawstorne BA

• Matriculated: 1898

• Born: 29 September

• Died : 31 July 1917

• Regiment: Lancashire Hussars

• Grave/Memorial: Bard Cottage Cemetery: I.M.9

Family background

b. 29 September 1879; he was, at the time of his death, the only surviving son of Lawrence R. Rawstorne JP DL (1842–1938) and Edith Elizabeth Rawstorne (née Fermor-Hesketh) (1852–1931) (m. 1871). At the time of the 1881, 1891 and 1901 Censuses, the family was living at Hutton Hall, Hutton, three miles south-west of Preston, south-west Lancashire (nine, six and eleven servants respectively). By the time of the 1911 Census, Rawstorne’s parents had moved to 12, The Mount, Parkstone, Dorset (three servants).

 

Parents and antecedents

Rawstorne, described by one obituarist as the heir to “a very good position”, came from a semi-feudal, landowning family which had strong local and military connections and whose line can be traced back to the mid-sixteenth century. His grandfather, Laurence Rawstorne (1776–1850), lived first at Penwortham Hall (now Priory), a mile or so south-west of Preston, South Lancashire, until 1832, when, having rebuilt Penwortham Hall, he moved the family seat about two miles south-westwards to Hutton Hall, near Lancashire. He was appointed High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1814 and became the Lieutenant-Colonel of the 1^st Battalion, the Royal Lancashire Militia, in November 1819. A committed landowner, he published Gamonia, or the Art of Preserving Game (1837) and The Cause of the Potato Disease ascertained by Proofs and the Prevention proved by Practice (1847).

Rawstorne’s father took over the family estate.

Rawstorne’s mother was the eldest daughter of Sir Thomas George Fermor-Hesketh MP of Rufford Hall (1825–72), who became the 5^th Baronet in 1843 and added the Fermor to his name in 1868. He, too, served a term as High Sheriff of Lancashire (1848) and from 1861 to 1872 was one of Preston’s two MPs. He was also a Lieutenant-Colonel in the 6^th Battalion (1^st Manchester), the Lancashire Rifle Volunteers, and served as the Colonel of the 2^nd Battalion of the Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster’s Own Militia) from 1852 to 1872.

 

Siblings and their families

Brother of:

(1) Marjory Rawstorne (1872–1966) (later Marson after her marriage [1895] to Charles Marson JP [1859–1934]), two sons;

(2) Lawrence Rawstorne (1874–1908).

Charles Marson was a full-time officer in the 3^rd Battalion, the Prince of Wales’s Volunteers (also known as the South Lancashire Regiment and the Royal Lancashire Militia). He was promoted Lieutenant (1884), Captain (1890) and Major (1903), finally becoming Lieutenant-Colonel and the CO of the Battalion from 1909 to 1912.

Lawrence also began his military career in the 3^rd Battalion, the Prince of Wales’s Volunteers, and was transferred to the 7^th (Queen’s Own) Hussars in 1894. Like Charles Marson, he served in this Regiment during the Second Boer War and in 1901 was transferred into the Egyptian Army. In December 1908, on his way back from South Africa, he died in Gibraltar of typhoid fever.

Wife

Rawstorne married (1907) Margery Portal (1881–1962) (later Evan-Thomas after her marriage [1918] to Charles Henry Evan-Thomas [1865–1943]). Rawstorne and his wife lived at Dolwen, Newbridge-on-Wye, Radnorshire (now Pontnewydd-ar-Wy, Powys) (three servants plus a land agent and his wife).

Margery was the elder daughter of Sir William Wyndham Portal JP, 2^nd Baronet (1850–1931), the scion of a Huguenot family who, since 1724, have manufactured notes for the Bank of England at Laverstoke Mill, Whitchurch, near Basingstoke, Hampshire. Sir William became High Sheriff of Hampshire in 1886; like his father he was a Director of the South-Western Railway (1902) and he became its Deputy Chairman in 1910; he was also a prominent magistrate and a Captain in the Hampshire Artillery Militia. He must have been extremely wealthy, since his hobby was sailing and he owned several steam-yachts and a ketch rig.

Charles Henry Evan-Thomas was the youngest son of Charles Evan Thomas (1817–1902) and the younger brother of Admiral Sir Hugh Evan-Thomas (1862–1928). He was also a graduate of King’s College, Cambridge, a member of the Inner Temple, a land agent living in Builth Wells, and a member of the Appeal Tribunal for the County of Brecknock.

 

Education

From c.1886 to 1893 Rawstorne attended The Evelyns School, Colham Green, Hillingdon, Uxbridge, Middlesex, whose Headmaster was Godfrey Thomas Worsley (1842–1920); (cf. R.A. Perssé, C.A. Gold, R.P. Stanhope, E.G. Worsley, F.W.T. Clerke, J.F. Worsley). He then attended Eton College from 1893 to 1898 and matriculated at Magdalen as a Commoner on 19 October 1898, having passed Responsions in September 1898. He took the First Public Examination in October 1898 and Hilary Term 1899. He then began to read for a Pass Degree (Groups A1 [Greek and/or Latin Literature/Philosophy], Michaelmas Term 1900, B3 [Elements of Political Economy], Trinity Term 1901, and B4 [Law], Trinity Term 1902), gaining his BA in 1901. In 1900, he ran in the School Mile against Cambridge. Magdalen’s President Warren wrote of him: “He was a young fellow of specially good looks and fine physique, and with plenty of capacity.”

 

 

Military and war service

Rawstorne joined the part-time cavalry as a Second Lieutenant in 1908, when The Lancashire Hussars Imperial Yeomanry, a Regiment whose origins went back to 1798, became the Lancashire Hussars Yeomanry (Territorial Forces), and he was promoted Lieutenant on 1 July 1911. When war broke out, the Regiment was attached to the Welsh Border Mounted Brigade, part of the 55^th (West Lancashire) Division (Territorial Forces), and Rawstorne was promoted Captain on 22 August 1914. Once the four Squadrons of the Regiment were ready in various locations, it moved to a concentration area at Knowsley Park, Prescot, Lancashire, where most of the 55^th Division were already encamped, where it was reorganized into the Regimental Headquarters and three Squadrons, each of 135 men, and where it had to live in congested quarters under canvas on ground that was frequently sodden. It stayed here until November 1914, when the entire 55^th Division was moved to Canterbury, Kent, and took over the camp of the Surrey Yeomanry on the cavalry training ground. Although the Regiment trained hard in case of invasion and practised musketry on the golf links at Deal, hutted accommodation was not available until after Christmas, the training ground was in a very exposed location, and the men experienced considerable discomfort. During summer 1915, each Squadron was sent in turn to Oxted, Surrey, and attd to one of the 55^th Division’s infantry Brigades for training. In October 1915, when the Regiment was stationed on Salisbury Plain, its three Squadrons were reassigned for deployment as divisional cavalry: the Regimental Headquarters and ‘B’ Squadron were attached to 31^st Division; ‘C’ Squadron was attached to 35^th (Bantam) Division (see G.G. Miln) and ‘D’ Squadron, in which Rawstorne was an officer, was attached to 30^th Division. At about the same time, the Regiment was ordered to send one of its Squadrons to France: ‘D’ Squadron was selected and proceeded to the cavalry school at Netheravon, Somerset, where it was completely re-equipped. In the first week of November, ‘D’ Squadron marched to Amesbury Station, where it entrained for Southampton, embarked, and disembarked at Le Havre on 10 November 1915.

On the following day, the Squadron travelled south by train to Pont-Remy, on the Somme just south-east of Abbeville, and then marched six miles eastwards to Villers-sous-Ailly, where they stayed for a week. On 18 November 1915, the Squadron moved north-eastwards to Gorges and trained there until 9 January 1916, and for three-and-a-half months after that, it rode in circles around Amiens until, from 13 to 26 April, it was attached to the 2^nd Indian Cavalry Division. In April 1916, it was decided that Corps cavalry Regiments should replace Divisional cavalry and on 24 April 1916, Rawstorne was promoted Major and given command of ‘D’ Squadron. Finally, on 11 May 1916, all three Squadrons were reunited as the Cavalry Regiment of VIII Corps, commanded by Lieutenant-General Aylmer Hunter-Weston, KCB DSO (1864–1940), a fiery officer who, in 1915, had performed less than magnificently during the Battle of Krithia on the Dardanelles.

 

 

The first two weeks of June 1916 were spent training at St-Riquier, three miles east-north-east of Abbeville, well away from the Somme, and the second two weeks were spent in billets at Orville, just to the south-east of Doullens, where the Regiment was also based from 4 to 28 July, i.e. during the first two weeks of the Battle of the Somme, mainly policing, controlling traffic, and guarding German prisoners. At some point during this period behind the front line, Rawstorne was injured in an accident which is not mentioned in the Regiment’s War Diary and invalided home. According to one obituarist, the accident occurred during the Battle of the Somme; it is unlikely that this is the case since, although the Regiment moved forward to a position of readiness on 1 July 1916, it was withdrawn after three days and played no active part in that Battle because the infantry were unable to create a situation where cavalry units could be used to make a serious breakthrough.

 

Between 28 and 31 July 1916 VIII Corps marched northwards into the Ypres Salient. Rawstorne’s Regiment found itself near Proven, just to the north-west of Poperinghe in Belgium, where it established its headquarters at the St-Louis Château and stayed until 7 May 1917 for “training and exercise” and doing all kinds of odd jobs (such as guarding prisoners, collecting bricks and burying cables). On 7 May 1917, the Regiment marched to Wissant, on the French coast below Calais and in full sight of England, and trained there in tactical manoeuvres until 2 July 1917. It was an extremely pleasant spot and a pleasant change from the Ypres Salient, and whilst there a point-to-point race was held near Cap Griz Nez – mostly over stone walls with a few artificial fences – and practically all of the officers turned out for it. It was probably the biggest field that the Regiment had ever had for its point-to-point, but the winning horse, which had originally been hunted in Cheshire, was killed at Ypres by a shell shortly afterwards. Rawstorne rejoined the Regiment from Britain on 3 July 1917 at nearby Framezelle and took command of ‘D’ Squadron once again. More exercises and tactical schemes followed until 13 July 1917, when the Regiment returned to Proven, via Alembon (14 July) and Arnèke (14 July), on the Franco-Belgian border near Cassel, in order to become the Cavalry Regiment of XIV Corps, commanded by Lieutenant-General Earl Cavan (1865–1946).

The Third Battle of Ypres (31 July–10 November 1917) was the unsuccessful attempt, during the second half of 1917, to break through the German lines north-west of Ypres and push forward into the open country beyond towards Germany itself. The larger battle is nowadays sub-divided by historians into eight phases/smaller battles of differing lengths and went on until 10 November, when Passchendaele was finally captured after two weeks of bloody fighting in the most terrible weather conditions. The first phase has become known as the Battle of Pilckem Ridge and lasted from 31 July to 2 August 1917. When it started, XIV Corps was positioned in the north of the Ypres Salient between the First French Corps on its left and XVIII Corps on its right, with the 38^th (Welsh) Division on the right of the Corps’s sector, the Guards Division on the left of the Corps’s sector, and 20^th (Light) and 29^th Divisions in Reserve. Two cavalry patrols, each comprising two Squadrons, were needed by each of the Divisions in the front line, and Rawstorne’s ‘D’ Squadron was assigned to the 1^st Guards Brigade in the Guards Division. The cavalry’s task was to reconnoitre forwards by stages, send forwards small parties under officers to establish contact with the advanced infantry units, discover which key positions were occupied by the Germans, and call up infantry to occupy those positions if they were unoccupied or if there was a possibility of getting through. ‘D’ Squadron’s mission began at 03.50 hours on 31 July 1917, but a German reconnaissance aircraft soon spotted them moving north-eastwards, from the bank of the Ypres Canal towards Pilckem crossroads and the heavily defended Pilckem Ridge, and called down artillery fire. The Squadron suffered several casualties, and Rawstorne was severely wounded in the head by a high-explosive shell and died of wounds received in action later on 31 July 1917, aged 37. His Squadron was prevented from reconnoitring in depth by wire entanglements and returned to the west bank of the Ypres Canal at about 09.30 hours.

Rawstorne is buried in Bard Cottage Cemetery, near Ypres, Grave I.M.9. He is commemorated on the wooden War Memorials in All Souls Parish Church, Pontnewydd-ar-Wy (Newbridge-on-Wye), Powys and Pentref Baptist Church, Pontnewydd-ar-Wy (Newbridge-on-Wye), Powys; also on the War Memorials at Hutton, Preston, Lancashire, and Penwortham, Preston, South Lancashire, and on an individual brass plaque in St Mary’s Parish Church, Penwortham, Preston, South Lancashire.

 

 

 

Even allowing for the formulaic sentiments and triumphalist religious rhetoric that were so typical of the time, one is left with the impression that Rawstorne was an exceptionally good-natured man who embodied the gentlemanly virtues that permitted his class to retain power for such a long time. Writing to his parents, Rawstorne’s Commanding Officer remembered him as “a very gallant officer, and the most loyal of comrades” and his “manly, generous nature, and the chivalry that marked all he did”. In another letter, the non-commissioned officers and Other Ranks of his Battalion marked him out as “an ideal gentleman, kind, courteous, and fair to all”; his batman described him as “the kindest master and friend that I ever had” and as “a gentleman and a friend, tremendously cool in everything that was set before him”, who, “in this battle […], always looked to the comfort of those under him” and “saved several lives”; and to the workmen on his family’s estate in Wales, he was “the nicest gentleman they ever spoke to” and “so kind to everybody”. And in the Penwortham Parish Magazine, the Vicar concluded his account of Rawstorne’s memorial service as follows:

After the address [that was given by the Bishop of Whalley], the Hymn ‘Abide with me’ was sung, followed by the ‘National Anthem.’ At the conclusion of the Service, the bells rang out a triumphant peal, speaking to all who heard them the glorious truth of our faith, that “Death is swallowed up in Victory”, and that Thomas Geoffrey Rawstorne, soldier and gallant gentleman, who had given his life for the only cause worth dying for – the cause of honour, truth, and righteousness, had simply passed on to that more glorious and fuller life which awaits Christ’s faithful soldiers and servants.

He left £6,356 15s 6d.

 

Bibliography

For the books and archives referred to here in short form, refer to the Slow Dusk Bibliography and Archival Sources.

 

Printed sources:

[Anon.], ‘Major Thomas Geoffrey Rawstorne’ [obituary], The Times, no. 41,551 (8 August 1917), p. 4.

[Anon.], Extract from Penwortham Parish Magazine, Lancashire (September 1917); copy in Magdalen College Archives: PR/C/3/988.

[Thomas Herbert Warren], ‘Oxford’s Sacrifice’ [obituary], The Oxford Magazine, 36, no. 1 (19 October 1917), p. 9.

[Anon.], ‘Sir William Portal’ [obituary], The Times, no. 45,942 (1 October 1931), p. 14.

 

Archival sources:

Francis Nicholas Blundell, BA (1880–1936), [The Lancashire Hussars in World War 1], typescript ms. of 8 pp., in The Museum of the King’s Royal Hussars in Lancashire, Preston, Lancashire. A Lancashire landowner, Blundell was the Conservative MP for Ormskirk from 1922 to 1929.

MCA:  Ms. 876 (III), vol. 3.

MCA: PR/C/3/986-988 (President Warren’s War-Time Correspondence, Letters relating to T.G. Rawstorne [1917]).

OUA: UR 2/1/37.

WO95/828.

WO95/2321.