Captain, "A" Company, 1st Battalion, Cambridgeshire Regiment. Killed in action 16th September 1916. Aged 22. Son of Adela Marion Adam, M.A, of 29, Barton Rd, Cambridge, and the late James Adam, Litt.D Scholar of Winchester College, and of Balliol College, Oxford. 1st Class Honour Moderations, 1914. Buried in ACHIET-LE-GRAND COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION Pas de Calais, France. Plot IV. Row Q. Grave 12. See also Cambridge Guildhall and Cambridge, St Faith's School

From the Balliol College War Memorial Book, Volume 1 - Arthur Adam Innes

ARTHUR ADAM was born at Cambridge on April 25, 1894. Alike from his father Dr. James Adam, the distinguished Platonic scholar and Tutor of Emmanuel, and from his mother, a Classical Lecturer at Girton, he inherited the tradition of classical scholarship. As a boy of three he used to read Job and Jeremiah on the nursery sofa, and in July 1907, when he was elected to the senior scholarship at Winchester, the examiners noted that he “showed remarkable classical ability.” His Winchester days brought him many prizes, culminating in the Goddard Scholarship in July 1912. He came to Balliol in October of that year as the first Classical Scholar, and at the end of his first term was awarded the Warner Exhibition: in March 1914 he obtained his first in Honour Moderations, and had already made a most promising start in Greats when the war broke out.

In September he was commissioned as 2nd Lieut. In the 1st Cambridgeshire Regiment. He had great fears that his eye- sight would not be good enough for Foreign Service, but he was passed in May 1915, and went to France in June to join the 1st Battalion. He was at first near Armentières and moved to the Somme in September: after a period the First Army Training School he returned to his battalion as Temporary Captain in February 1916. On September 3rd he took part in the battle near Hamel, and on the night of September 15 was reported wounded and missing or captured. No further news was ever received and it is presumed that he was killed that night.

At Balliol he was a conspicuous figure, the life and soul of his circle. Thin and wiry, with a head of exceptionally fair hair, sharp features and a rather high-pitched voice he seemed naturally to attract nick-names to his friends he was “The Mouse,” to the irreverent spirits of the Boys’ Club “Scare- crow,” and afterwards to his company “Parson Snowy” each name appropriate enough. Though he was above average as a as a classical scholar, he was never a pedant, and had quite the finer touch in composition which wins University scholarships. The classics were always literature to him, and with a deep love of Homer and Plato and Pindar he united a certain impatience of pedantic analysis. His mind was intensely versatile, and his thinking full of vitality and always connected with action. He spoke often in the Union and was deeply interested in the "social problem,” but showed his interest not so much in theorizing as in the practical work of the Boys’ Club, where he was always a favourite and had a great influence on the boys. His real passion was music he was a good amateur violinist and an enthusiastic member of the Bath Choir, but he was just as much at home at the old piano in the Boys’ Club, trying to teach an unruly audience songs from Gaudeamus. His eyesight prevented him from taking much part in games or athletics, but he was devoted to the country and loved nothing better than his rambles on reading—parties in Somerset and Wales. It was perhaps in this spirit as well as from a high sense of duty that he joined the Cavalry Squadron of the O.T.C.

The impression left by Arthur Adam on his contemporaries is one of intense vitality: he was always alert and his ready and whimsical wit and his high laugh were infectious. Below this, as his friends knew, was a deep and serious outlook on life, and an eager desire to help his generation. To them he was unique, and the impression could hardly be better summed up than in a sentence from the letter of a friend who came across him in France: “In October I met the one and only Adam at Abbeville; he was lost in his uniform and George Meredith.”

COATES, BASIL MONTGOMERY, 2nd Lieut., 10th (Service) Battn. The Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort’s Own), only s. of the late W. Montgomery Coates, Graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and Fellow Bursar and Assistant Tutur of Queens’ College, Cambridge; b. Cambridge, 10 Sept. 1893; educ. Perse School, Cambridge; Oundle School, and Queens’ College Cambridge (where he was in the athletic team that won the International Cup); volunteered shortly after the outbreak of war, and was gazetted 2nd Lieut. to the 10th Rifle Brigade 22 Sept. 1914: served with the Expeditionary Force in France and was killed in action while on patrol duty 7 Sept. 1915. Lieut.-Col. S. J. Loftus. Commanding 10th Battalion, wrote to Mrs. Montgomery Coates: “ Your son was killed yesterday (7 Sept.) while on patrol duty, and unfortunately we were unable to recover his body, which the Germans have taken into their lines, and which they will no doubt give an honourable burial. He was out patrolling with a Corpl. Fenton, crawling about in the crops, was seen by the enemy, fired on and killed, and the corporal crawled home about 300 yards with three bullet wounds. . . . A young officer called Everard went out with a man, and at very great personal risk got up to your son, but was fired at so persistently that he was unable to do anything towards moving him. As soon as it was dark another party, under Lieut. Sanstone, went out to the place to try to bring the poor boy in, but only found tracks through the corn, showing the way the enemy had taken him into their lines.” Lieut. C. Warren also wrote: “Coates was one of the bravest men I’ve known. . . . He had become very keen about day patrolling, which is risky work, and had done several good patrols. One day be was very keen to go out, and although Capt. Lascelles was very unwilling to let him go, he got his permission and started with one other man. The next that was heard were cries for help coming from outside the trenches; his platoon sergeant, who was devoted to him, an old man of 53, dashed out as he was, in a white guernsey, which, of course, was a most conspicuous thing in the bright light, and he found Corpl. Fenton struggling through our wire. The corporal was wounded in five places, but had managed to get back to got assistance, as Coates had been hit. He described the place, and Everard, one of his best friends, started off with two men to find him; this was a most heroic deed, as he was only 80 yards from the German wire and the Germans were firing machine guns over the place. Our Machine Gun Officer managed with great skill to silence these guns, and Everard got to the spot, but found poor Coates dead. It was a terrible shock to us all, as we were all immensely fond of him. He was so good-natured and had such charming manners, and was always cheerful and considerate.” Unm.

From Andy Pay's research into the Marquis de Ruvigny' s Roll of Honour the following:

Volume 1, Part 1, Page 218.

LAIDLAW, Charles Glass Playfair. Private, number 3375, D Company, 1/14th ( the London Scottish ) The London Regiment ( TF ). 5th son of the late Dr Robert Laidlaw, M.D., F.R.C.S.E.,sometime medical Government Officer in the Seychelle Islands, by his wife, Elizabeth ( Woodside, Grantchester Meadows, Cambridge ), dau of Patrick Playfair of Ardmillan, co Ayr.

Born Stoke Newington, London N, 13-12-1887, Educated the Purse school, Cmbridge, from which in 1906 he was elected to an entrance scholarship for natural science at St Johns college. At school he was football captain, sergeant in the cadet corps, a member of the cricket team and head of the school. While still at school he played water polo for the university when the team was one short. Later he played lacrosse for his college and sometimes for the university.

He commenced residence in Oct 1907 , he obtained a first class in part 1of the Natural Science tripos in 1909 and in june of that year was elected a foundation scholar of the College. He took the second part of the tripos in 1910 obtaining a first class for Botany.

In june 1911 he was elected a Hutchinson student of the college, and took up research in Plant Physiology at the Botany schoolof the University, under the direction of Mr.F.F.Blackman, the university reader in Botany.

The subject of his research was an electrical method of determining carbon dioxide in relation to photo-synthesis. In 1912 he was elected by the governing body of Gonville and Caius College to a Frank Smart Studentship, a recognition of the promising nature of his investigations. At the same time he was offered a research scholarship by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, after some hesitation he accepted the latter offer, which necessitated his removal to London. From the autumn of 1912, until the outbreak of war, Laidlaw worked at the Imperial College of Science and Technology, under the direction of Prof. V.H.Blackman . Here he entered an investigation of the Physiological conditions of plants forced under glass, working also at the effect on temperature on the rate of growth of a fungus, Sclerotinia Libutiana.

On the outbreak of war he volunteered and joined the London Scottish as a Private 21-10-1914, and after a period of training, embarked at Southampton with a draft of some 600 officers and men for the 1st Battalion , 10-3-1915.

On good friday (2-4-1915) , his (D) Coy were in some barricades at Richebourg l'Avoue, south of Neuve Chapelle. After having been in the trenches all night , he was smoking after breakfast in what seemed a perfectly safe place, when a stray bullet passed through a sandbag and penetrated the right side of his chest. To his comrades the wound seemed a slight one, and after first aid was given , he was removed to number 3 Field ambulance, near Bethune. There it was discovered that internal haemorrage had set in, and he died in the early hours of the morning on 3rd April 1915, and was buried in Bethune Cemetery.

[Listed as Richard Ernest ISNDALL elsewhere] Captain, 1/1st Battalion (Territorial Force), Cambridgeshire Regiment. Died of wounds 1st July 1915. Age 26. Son of William and Henzell Margeret Sindall, of "The Elms," Great Shelford, Cambridge. In the 1911 census he was the son of William and Margaret Sindall, aged 21, a Builder and Confectioner, born Cambridge, resident with his parents at Wordsworth Grove, Newnham, Cambridge. Buried in BAILLEUL COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION (NORD), Nord, France. Plot I Row D Grave 30.

Extract from de Ruvigny's Roll of Honour Volume 1, Part 1, Page 328

SINDALL, RICHARD ERNEST, Capt. (Shelford Detachment), 1st Battn. Cambridgeshire Regt. (T.F.), 2nd s. of William Sindall, of The Elms, Shelford, Cambridgeshire, Contractor, and a Member of the Cambridge Town Council, by his wife, Henzell Margaret, dau. of Thomas Usher Crass ; b. Cambridge, 11 April, 1889; educ. Perse School, Cambridge; gazetted 2nd Lieut. Cambridgeshire Regt., 1 Oct. 1908, promoted Lieut. 1 March, 1910, and Capt. 23 June, 1913 ; left for the Front with his regt., 14 Feb. 1915, was seriously wounded by the bursting of a shell on 26 June near Armentièrcs, and died from his wounds, 1 July, 1915; buried at Bailleul; vnm. The 1st Battn. of the Cambridgeshire Regt. was warnily congratulated by Brig.-Gen. Longley for the part it took in the Battle of St. Eloi. He stated that the way that they advanced under very heavy shell and rifle fire towards St. Eloi was splendid and that they were of the greatest assistance in holding the village when the German attack was at its worst. Col. Copeman in a letter published by the Cambridge Daily News, said “We were in the thick of the great fight last Sunday, and I am proud to tell you that the regt. did very well, so the General told me, It was an unexpected attack, and we were hurled into the midst of terrific shell and rifle fire which lasted from 4.30 on Sunday to about 5 am. Monday” A special correspondent with the Cambridgeshire Regt. wrote: “The people of Camhridgeshire must not be allowed to forget that She 1st Cambridgeshires took part in what has been reported as the greatest engagement of the present war and the world’s history. At 10 p m. amid the dull boom of our artillery and the terrific, earsplitting explosions of the French 75’s, we went out ready to do our part. The officers in charge of the company were Capt. R. F. Sindall, Capt. Keenlyside, Lieut. Shaw, and Lieut. Bates., Lieut. Seaton and Lieut. Sir H. G. Butlin, also officers of the company, were already gaining experience in the trenches, and had a rough time of it, After drawing tools and sandbags, w e went forward. Ceaseless numbers of ‘flares’ were sent up, and when passing a gate, the man with the biggest laugh in our company, L.-Corpl. E. Vawser, was hit. He was promptly attended to, and hopes were expressed that he would soon be better. An R.E. officer took charge of us, and we were allotted our job. All the while bullets and shells were flying around us, and one could mark the passage of the shells through the air by a streak of light from them. It was rather a terrifying experience for us to be baptized with such a hail of bullets, and I must say that I iiever saw one case of funk in the whole company. The boys may be heartily congratulated on their sang froid, and the ‘Cambridgeshire people have good reason to be proud of them After our ‘spelt close up, we manned some reserved trenches, eventually arriving home’ at 8 a.m after a good hard night’s work.” His brother, Capt. H. T. Sindall, of the same regt., was invalided home from the Front on 6 April, 1916.

From Andy Pay's research into the Marquis de Ruvigny' s Roll of Honour the following:

Volume 2, Part 4, Page 212 -

TILLEY, John - Captain, 7th (Service) Battalion, The Norfolk Regiment. Only son of Arthur Tilley, of 2, Selwyn Gardens, Cambridge, Fellow and lecturer of Kings College, Cambridge, by his wife, Margaret, dau.of John Alan Chutton-Brock; Born Cambridge 5th Oct. 1895; educated at Fonthill School and Marlborough College, and had entered Kings College, Cambridge; was gazetted 2nd Lieut. 26th Aug. 1914; promoted Lieutenant the following Dec, and Captain in Aug.1915; served with The Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders; was wounded on 3rd July, 1916, during the Battle of the Somme, and sent home to England on sick leave, on his recovery rejoined his Regiment 6th Nov, and was killed in action near Arras, 28th Nov. 1916. Buried there. His Commanding Officer wrote: "We shall all miss him most terribly, and personally, in addition to losing in him , my best Company Commander, I am also losing a very dear friend." And the Adjutant: " Ever since he joined the Battalion he was beloved by both officers and men." A brother officer also wrote: "He was one of the best fellows that ever stepped, and one of the bravest." Unm.

1939 – 1945

Trp. 46th (The Liverpool Welsh), Royal Tank Regiment, R.A.C. Died 7 November 1943. Aged 21. Buried in SANGRO RIVER WAR CEMETERY Italy. Son of Harry Manasseh Pratt, and Edith May Pratt, of Cambridge. See also Cambridge Guildhall

Extract from Cambridge Daily Press in 1943:

KILLED IN ITALY
Well-Known Local Sportsman

A well known Cambridge sportsman, Driver Francis Leonard Prattl, of the Royal Tank Regiment, has been killed in action in Italy.

Aged 21, he was the youngest son of Mrs. E. M. Pratt, of 7; King's Road, Cambridge. He was educated wa at St, George's School, and. in his early years was a member of St. Mark's choir and 2nd Cambridge Scouts. A keen swimmer, he was a member of the University Press, Cormorant and Granta Swimming Clubs. He also played cricket and soccer for the University Press, and had also appeared for Cambridge Town F.C.

He was among the first troops to be landed on the beaches at Sicily. Corming through this campaign, he went on to Italy. Before being called up he was employed at the University Press, where ever since a schoolboy he had been known as “Snowy” and was one of the Press “mascots.”