Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Booktd. to the 1st King's Royal Rifle Corps; created a Knight of the Legion of Honour by the President of the French Republic "for gallant conduct from 21 to 28 Aug. 1914," and decorated with the Victoria Cross [London Gazette, 16 Nov. 1914] "for tending wounded in the trenches under rifle and shrapnel fire at Hautevesnes on 19 Sept. and on 20 Sept., continuing to attend to wounded after his thigh and leg had been shattered"; died of his wounds at Braisne, 25 Sept. 1914; _unm._ The Times History of the War, Pt. 41, p. 44, says: "It is a safe statement that no man ever won the Victoria Cross more nobly than did Capt. Harry Sherwood Ranken, R.A.M.C. Capt. Ranken was severely wounded in the leg whilst attending to his duties on the battlefield. He arrested the bleeding from this, and bound it up, and then continued to dress the wounds of his men, sacrificing his chances of salvation to their needs. When finally he permitted himself to be carried to the rear, his case had become almost desperate. He died within a short period." Col. Northey, commanding 1st Battn. King's Royal Rifle Corps, wrote to his parents of his personal loss and the loss the whole Battn. has sustained. Several other of his brother officers wrote in the same strain. The P.M.O. of the Egyptian Army regarded his death as a great loss to science. Sir William Leishman deplored the loss of a friend, and wrote of him as a man who thought nothing of doing three men's work. In collaboration with Dr. H. E. Plimmer and Capt. Fry he prepared a series of "Reports on the Experimental Treatment of Trypanosomiasis." [Illustration: =Harry S. Ranken.=] =RANKEN, JOHN=, Corpl., No. 1839, A Coy., 1/4th Battn. The Royal Scots (T.F.), 3rd _s._ of William Ranken, of 11, Spence Street, Edinburgh, Glass Manufacturer, surviving partner of John Ford & Co., of Edinburgh, by his wife, Pauline Catherine, elder dau. of the late William Ford, of Ferreyside, Liberton, Midlothian; _b._ Edinburgh, 13 March, 1881; educ. George Watson's College there (1886-98); was apprenticed to Messrs. Belfrage & Carfrae, C.E., Edinburgh, later seeking further professional experience in the west of Scotland and in the north of England, and eventually became Director and Joint Manager of the firm of Firth, Dunlop, and Ranken, Leeds, one of the largest steel stock firms in the north of England. He joined the Queen's Edinburgh Rifle Volunteer Brigade, Royal Scots, on 16 Nov. 1899; served with them till 6 Jan. 1904, and on the outbreak of war, rejoined his coy. on 5 Aug. 1914; went to the Dardanelles 13 June, and on 28 June brilliantly led a bombing party in a successful attack on the Turkish trenches, and for his conduct was mentioned in Gen. Ian Hamilton's Despatch [London Gazette, 5 Nov. 1915]; wounded in this attack he might, with honour, have sought hospital shelter, but he hung on and subsequently died before reaching the Hospital Ship, 29 June, 1915; _unm._ The following passage occurs in "The Story of the Royal Scots" (p. 243), "Bomb-throwing played an important part in the action, and is shown by the account of Private Herbert T. Grant, of B Coy.: 'I noticed a communication trench at right angles to the one we held, and a little further down choked with Turks, so I grabbed the bag of bombs again and went down to the place. Fortunately Corpl. Ranken (Grenade Corpl.) was there, and we threw them at the Turks as fast as I could light them. There was an explosion which sent me flying. I managed to crawl up the trench a bit, and a fellow bandaged me up.'" Buried in Gulley Beach Cemetery. As a school boy he was a keen cyclist; captained his school club, and carried off its chief awards at the sports, under the auspices of that club, held at Powderhall in 1898. He was a well-known International runner in Scottish cross-country championships; captained the first Scottish cross-country International team, and represented his country on five or six different occasions; twice won the Scottish cross-country championship, and several times ran for Scotland in the International athletic championship against Ireland in the one mile and four miles events. [Illustration: =John Ranken.=] =RANKIN, JAMES=, Officer's Steward, 1st Class, L. 4351 (Dev.), H.M.S. Good Hope; lost in action off Coronel, on the coast of Chili, 1 Nov. 1914. =RANKING, JAMES GABRIEL LANCASTER=, Capt., Assistant Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, Indian Political Department, late Indian Army, elder surviving _s._ of Lieut.-Col. George Speirs Alexander Ranking, late I.M.S. now R.A.M.C., (T.F.), Administrator, 3rd Southern General Hospital, Oxford, by his wife, Elizabeth Maunsell, yr. dau. of the late John Duncan, Assistant Inspector General, Royal Irish Constabulary, Commandant of the R.I.C. Depôt, Phoenix Park, Dublin; _b._ Tunbridge Wells, 14 Oct. 1883; educ. Tunbridge and Aldenham Schools, and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst; gazetted 2nd Lieut. (unattd.) Indian Army, 21 Jan. 1903; served his first year with the 2nd East Lancashire Regt.; posted to 46th Punjabis, 23 April, 1904; and promoted Lieut. 21 April, 1905, and Capt. 21 Jan. 1912; selected as probationer, Indian Political Department, 17 Dec. 1908; confirmed as Political Assistant, 5 Oct. 1911; appointed H.M. Consul at Ahwaz, and Assistant to Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, 26 April, 1914; killed in action there, near Bushire, 12 July, 1915; _unm._ On that day, information having been received at the Residency that a concerted attack was to be made on the Residency that night, a reconnoitring party of 26 Sepoys and 6 Sowars, under the command of Major Oliphant, 96th Infantry, and Capt. Ranking, set out to verify the report. The cavalry party under Capt. Ranking came suddenly upon a strong body of the enemy (Tangistanis) in a garden, who opened fire at close range. The horse ridden by one of the Sowars was brought down. Capt. Ranking pulled up and dismounted to extricate the Sowar who lay pinned beneath his fallen horse. This he did, but it cost him his life, as he was shot down and killed. Major Oliphant coming to his rescue was also shot dead. The bodies of the two officers were recovered on the following day and brought into Bushire, and buried in the Telegraph Cemetery at Sabzabad. The Foreign Secretary to the Government of India wrote to Lieut.-Col. Ranking: "His Excellency desires me to say that the Political Department of which he is the Head, have lost in your son a most keen and promising officer, and one who had already done much good work for the Empire in remote and isolated parts of Persia," and Major Trevor, Resident, Persian Gulf: "Your son and I went through some stormy times together in Arabistan at the beginning of the year, and then we both came here, and found things getting very lively. In the circumstances. I got to know your son very well and felt his loss a very great deal myself. I found him a most excellent assistant, and think that in addition to your having lost a dear son, his friends ha |