Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Bookto hold to the foremost ground to which we got that day, and indeed although we have been here a month to-day, we have never got back on the actual ground on which your son was killed. I am being perfectly honest with you, as I judge you wish me to be. We know where your son fell, in the forefront of the battle, but we do not know as yet where he lies. The Germans, doubtless, have buried him, and when we move forward we shall, I hope, be able to give you fuller particulars. I am very pleased to be able to tell you that I have heard to-day that the President of the French Republic has awarded your son the Legion of Honour. For this he was recommended previous to his death. It will be, I am sure, a solace to you to know that his worth has received this recognition. Like many of his forbears, he has given his life for his country, and has not lived in vain.... No! It was not at Moulines. The action was fought between a place called Vendresse and Cerney, and your son was killed just on the edge of the latter place. He was with Mr. Dashwood in a farmhouse with the machine guns when the building was destroyed by a shell.... Mr. Dashwood tells me that his death was instantaneous, and that he was struck by a piece of shell and was thus saved from suffering." He was awarded the Croix de Chevalier of the Legion of Honour "for conspicuous gallantry in the field between 23 Aug. and 31 Aug." [Illustration: =Hon. Herbert L. Pelham.=] =PELLETT, GEORGE ALBERT VICTOR=, Stoker, 1st Class, K. 10403 (Ports.), H.M.S. Hogue; lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914. =LEIGH-PEMBERTON, THOMAS EDWARD GEOFFREY=, Lieut., 13th Battn. (Princess Louise's Kensington) The London Regt. (T.F.), only _s._ of Wilfred Leigh-Pemberton, of Wrinsted Court, Sittingbourne, Barrister-at-Law, by his wife, Alice Augusta, dau. of the late Capt. David Rolland Erskine, 92nd Highlanders [2nd _s._ of Sir David Erskine, of Cambo, 1st Bart.], and grandson of Sir Edward Leigh-Pemberton, of Torry Hill and Wrinsted, co. Kent, K.C.B.; _b._ Wrinsted Court aforesaid, 15 Nov. 1893; educ. Rugby and Christ Church, Oxford, where he was in the O.T.C.; was, at the outbreak of war, learning business with the firm of Antony Gibbs & Sons; appointed 2nd Lieut. in the Kensingtons, 12 May, 1914, and promoted Lieut. 1 Sept. following; volunteered for foreign service on the outbreak of war in Aug.; went to France at the beginning of Nov., and was killed in action near Laventie, 11 Jan. 1915; _unm._ Buried at Estaires. His commanding officer, Lieut.-Col. F. G. Lewis, wrote: "I feel I must write and tell you how all my officers will mourn his loss most deeply. His capacity and his popularity made everybody like him; he was a real good fellow in every way, and he has made a gap which we can never quite fill. I am sorrier than I can say"; and Major-Gen. Sir A. Turner: "He was a most excellent and conscientious young officer, and a great loss to his battn., in which he was a great favourite." Capt. Thompson also wrote: "He was a really good officer, always cheerful, and of the very greatest assistance to me in the trying work of the trenches. The battn. has lost a good officer and all the officers a valued friend"; and Sergt. Stiles: "Lieut. Leigh-Pemberton was very much liked and respected by every man he came in touch with. One of our bravest officers; he considered his men; in fact, he used to take four hours duty whilst his sergeant slept, and the sergeant used to take two hours' duty whilst he (the Lieut.) slept. He would at any time carry the pack of any man who was knocked up. I'm sure any of our men would have followed him through fire and water. His death was a great shock to the whole battn." He was fond of sports of all kinds and hunted a small pack of harriers of his own. [Illustration: =T. E. G. Leigh-Pemberton.=] =PENDALL, WILLIAM ALBERT=, Private, No. 13657, 13th (Service) Battn. The Royal Scots (T.F.), eldest _s._ of Albert Pendall (now serving in France as a Gunner with the R.G.A.), by his wife, Mary Jane (14, Usk Road, York Road, Battersea), dau. of Henry Brown; _b._ Wandsworth Common, 8 Dec. 1898; educ. St. John's Schools, Battersea; was a Butcher; enlisted, 17 April, 1915; went to France, 4 Oct. 1915, and was killed in action there, 9 Dec. 1915; _unm._ =PENDER, JAMES (HAMISH) GRANGER GEILS=, 2nd Lieut., 3rd. attd. 2nd Battn. The Gordon Highlanders, eldest _s._ of Major James Pender, of Ardnoe, St. Catherine's, co. Argyle, 8th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, by his wife, Janet Helen Maude, dau. of the late Thomas Geils, of Geilston and Ardmore, Dumbartonshire; _b._ St. Catherine's, 19 July, 1892; educ. Larchfield Academy, Helensburgh; Edinburgh Academy, and Edinburgh University; gazetted 2nd Lieut. to the 3rd (Reserve) Battn. Gordon Highlanders, 17 Oct. 1914; went to France, 13 Feb. 1915, and was killed in action at Neuve Chapelle between 11-13 March, 1915; _unm._ A brother officer wrote: "He was shot through the head on the morning of the 11th trying to urge his men to keep their heads down and take cover, and his death was instantaneous. He died for his country and no mistake, and long will we all remember his cheery face"; and another: "He died thinking only of his men's safety and not of his own, and was one of the most gallant among many gallant officers who died that day. As we were being enfiladed the men were in a very dangerous position, he shouted to them to get right in, as they could not hear, he stood up and signalled to them. He was shot through the head." [Illustration: =James G. G. Pender.=] =PENFOLD, GEORGE HENRY=, Acting Chief Petty Officer, 164841, H.M.S. Hawke; lost when that ship was torpedoed in the North Sea, 15 Oct. 1914; _m._ =PENGELLEY, HAROLD=, Private, No. 9707, 1st Battn. East Surrey Regt., _s._ of Samuel Pengelley, of 2, York Road, Uxbridge; served with the Expeditionary Force in France, etc.; died 6 Nov. 1914, of wounds received in action. =PENMAN, WILLIAM=, Private, No. 10614, 2nd Battn. Scots Guards; _b._ Falkirk, enlisted 8 Sept. 1914, aged 24; served with the Expeditionary Force in France, etc.; killed in action, 16 May, 1915. =PENN, ALFRED EDWARD=, A.B., R.N.R., 2453A, 3rd _s._ of Stephen Penn (died 1 March, 1912), by his wife, Elizabeth; _b._ Deal, 17 Sept. 1891; lost with his brother on H.M.S. Cressy, 22 Sept. 1914: _unm._ =PENN, JOSEPH LIVELY=, Private, No. 2879, 1st Battn. Coldstream Guards, 5th _s._ of William John Penn, of Leamington Spa, by his wife, Elizabeth, dau. of Patrick Lively of Liverpool; _b._ Leamington Spa, 23 Feb. 1882; educ. there; enlisted in the Coldstreams in Aug. 1899; served for a short period in the South African War, and with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from early in Sept. to 29 Oct. 1914, on which latter date he was killed in action at Ypres. He _m._ 1906, Anne, dau. of William Oldham, of Sheffield, and had two sons: Joseph, _b._ 1 June, 1907, and Ernest, _b._ 1 Sept. 1910. =PENN, LEWIS SYDNEY=, A.B., R.N.R., 2451A, 2n |