Second Lieutenant, 8th Battalion, Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own). Killed in action 30 July 1915. Aged 25. Son of 1st Baron Desborough and Lady Desborough, of Taplow Court, Bucks. One of the war poets. His brother Julian Henry Francis also fell (see below). No known grave. Commemorated on YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Panel 46 - 48 and 50.

Extract from De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour 1914-1918, Volume 1, page 162:

GRENFELL, HON. GERALD WILLIAM, Lieut., 8th (Service) Battn. The Rifle Brigade, 2nd (and at the time of his death elder surviving) s. of William Henry, 1st Baron Desborough, K.C.V.O. by his wife, Ethel Anne Priscilla, Lady of the Bedchamber to H.M. the Queen, dau. of the Hon. Julian Henry Charles Fane, and grand-dau. of John, 11th Earl of Westmorland ; b. 4, St. James's Square, London, S.W., 29 March, 1890 ; educ. Eton (where he gained an entrance scholarship and the Newcastle scholarship) and Balliol College, Oxford (where he obtained the Craven scholarship in 1911), and was about to be called to the Bar; volunteered after the outbreak of war and was gazetted 2nd Lieut. 8th Rifle Brigade, 12 Sept. 1914 ; served with the Expeditionary' Force in France and Flanders from May, 1915, and was killed instantaneously by machine gun fire at Hooge, Flanders, 30 July, 1915, while leading a counter-attack ; unm. Capt A. C'. Sheepshanks wrote : " lie died splendidly, leading his men over open ground up hill in the face of a tremendous fire from machine guns. His Platoon Sergt. saw him pitch forward with a bullet in the head, and thinks he was hit again in the side as he fell. He must have been killed instantaneously as he was not seen to move afterwards. Both as his company commander and his friend I shall miss hint enormously. His platoon all loved him, and he had somehow inspired them with a fighting spirit, and it was only a few days ago that I told the Col. that Bill's platoon was the best lighting platoon I had " ; and A. A. Tod, second in command of the 8th Battn.: " We were great friends, and though I didn't know him before he joined, I, like all the others, was immediately drawn to him by his delightful personality. I know you must be inundated with letters, so feel rather diffident about adding to the number, but somehow it seems to help to write about a dear friend that has gone. We all loved Billy, and his men, to my certain knowledge, adored hint. It couldn't have been otherwise, because ever since he went to France he was always to the fore, and what the men always like, never expected them to do anything he couldn't do himself. Ills gallantry was remarkable, and fear was a word he didn't know the meaning of. As you know, he died at the head of his men leading a counter-attack. It's but poor consolation, but I am positive that of all deaths It is the one he would have chosen.. That was a fearful day, and no one can describe the horror of seeing 20 officers and well over 500 men fall In one Battn. in about 14 hours." His elder brother, Capt. J. H. F Grenfell, and twin cousins, Capt. F. Grenfell, V.C., and Capt. R. N. Grenfell, were also killed in action, and his yst. and only surviving brother, the Hon. Ivo G. W. Grenfell, is now with the Coldstream Guards. His sister, the Hon. Monica Grenfell, is a Red Cross Nurse in France.

Captain, 1st (Royal) Dragoons. Died of wounds 26 May 1915. Aged 27. Son of Lord and Lady Desborough of Taplow Court, Taplow, Bucks., and "Panshanger," Hertford. One of the war poets. Author of "Into Battle". His brother Gerald William also fell (see above). Awarded the Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O.). Buried in BOULOGNE EASTERN CEMETERY, Pas de Calais, France. Plot II. Row A. Grave 18.

Extract from De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour 1914-1918, Volume 1, page 162:

GRENFELL, HON. JULIAN HENRY FRANCIS, Capt., 1st (Royal) Dragoons D.S.O., eldest s. and h. of William Henry, 1st Baron Desborough, K.C.V.O., by his wife, Ethel Anne Priscilla. Lady of the Bedchamber to H.M. the Wen. dau. of the Hon. Julian Henry Charles Fane, and granddau. of John, 11th Earl of Westmorland ; b. 4, St. James's Square, London, 30 March, 1888; educ. Eton and Balliol College, Oxford ; gazetted 2nd Lieut. 1st Dragoons, 15 Sept. 1909 (24 Aug. 19101; and promoted Lieut. 6 Oct. 1911 ; temporary Capt. 15 Nov. 1914, and Capt. 3 1 Jan. 1915 ; served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from 7 Oct. 1914 ; was mentioned in F.M. Sir John French's Despatch of 20 Nov. 1914-14 Jan. 1915 [London Gazette, 17 Feb 1915] for gallant conduct in the field ; was severely wounded in the head by shrapnel, 13 May, while reconnoitring near Ypres. and died in hospital at Boulogne, 26 May, 1915 unm. He had made a special study, of reconnaiassance work, and was awarded the D.S.O.' [London Gazette, 1 Jan. 1915] for having on 17 Nov. "succeeded in reaching a point behind the enemy's trenches, and making an excellent reconnaissance, furnishing early information of a pending attack of the enemy. A poem. " Into Battle," written by him in the trenches appeared in "The Times," and of it Sir W . Raleigh, Professor of English literature at Oxford. wrote: " I don't know if you really know that Julian's poem is one of the swell things in English literature. It is safe for ever, I know it by heart, and I never learned it. It has that queer property which only the best poems have, that a good many of the lines have more meaning than there is any need for, so that now things keep on turning up in It." At Eton he ran well in the steeplechase 1905 and at Oxford rowed in the college crew. In 1907 and 1908 he was three in the Balliol eight in the Ladies Challenge Plate, and in the following year he was bow in the Balliol four which won the Wyfolds at Henley, and rowed for the O.U.B.C. coxwalnless fours. He was a member of the Belsize Boxing Club and proved himself a formidable opponent. His chief sport was shooting. His next brother, Lieut. G. W. Grenfell. and his cousins, Capt. F. Grenfell, V.C., and Capt. R. N. Orenfell, were also killed in action (see their notices).