Field Marshal Lord Roberts was a governor of Wellington from 1899 until his death in 1914.

The son of a General, Lord Roberts of Kandahar Pretoria and Waterford was born in Cawnpore and educated at Eton and Sandhurst before joining the Indian Army. Nicknamed ‘Bobs Bahadur’ (Bobs the Lion) and later just ‘Bobs’.

He served during the Mutiny, was awarded the Victoria Cross at Khudaganj, assisted in the siege and capture of Delhi, the relief of Lucknow, and the battle of his birthplace, Cawnpore. In the 2^nd Afghan War he took Kabul, entering the city in 1879. It was from there that he led the famous march to Kandahar to relieve the city.

He retired in 1904 and continued to serve the Country: he founded the Pilgrim Society in 1902, was a member of the National Service League, he promoted rifle shooting through his presidency of the National Smallbore Rifle Association (whose targets have a facsimile of his signature to this day), and became vice-president of the Public Schools Alpine Sports Club in 1903. Many of these actions were founded on a belief that there was a need to instil a sense of military training and skill, teamwork, and personal fitness into the population ahead of what he regarded as the inevitable war in Europe

He was initiated into Khyber Lodge No 582 in 1850, a military lodge founded in Peshawar and was made an honorary member of the OW Lodge at our second meeting in 1910. He also joined the Aldershot Army & Navy Lodge No 1971, then ruled by the Duke of Connaught & Strathearn, and Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary’s Chapel) No 1 (under the Scottish Constitution).

Lord Roberts died of pneumonia at St Omer, France, on 14 November 1914 whilst visiting Indian troops on the Western Front in the early days of the Great War. He was one of only two non-Royals to lie in state at Westminster in the 20^th century, the other being Winston Churchill, and was given a state funeral.

Lord Roberts was sometimes called ‘Kipling’s General’, as the author and mason dedicated two poems to him: ‘Bobs’ and ‘Lord Roberts’.

He was one of five Field Marshals to join the Lodge.

HH Prince Maurice of Battenberg was the fortieth and youngest of Queen Victoria’s grandchildren. At Wellington he was in the Benson, a Lance Corporal in the OTC, reputedly one of the finest marksmen at College and a member of the [Shooting] VIII, fitting for a future officer in the Kings Royal Rifle Corps. He was also keen on polo, aviation and fast cars.

He did enjoy fast cars, being fined for speeding at least twice. When caught driving on Hampton Court Road in May 1914 at the heady speed of 34mph, he was reported as remarking:  “You fellows are always out trapping on race days” (he was fined £3). On another occasion when caught at 42mph, he was fined £5 – this offence whilst a cadet at Sandhurst.

He was initiated into the Lodge by special dispensation in June 1912 aged just 20 in truly ‘grand’ style, with the Grand Secretary and the GDC acting as WM and JD respectively.

At the outbreak of the Great War he went to the Western Front and was twice Mentioned in Despatches for gallantry in the field at the crossing of the Aisne. He was first over the bridge by which his battalion had to pass, under heavy fire. When Major Armytage led the line forward in a splendid charge Battenberg was in the thick of the fray. Cpl J Jolley remembered that “His name and that of Major Armytage were on every man’s lips in the battalion”.

He died of wounds received in action leading his platoon near Zonnebeke on 27 October 1914, in the Ypres Salient. Knowing he was mortally wounded by a shell blast he had the presence of mind to bid farewell to his men. He was carried back to a field dressing station where he died.

He was buried at Ypres, with the ceremony conducted by a brother mason, the Reverend Captain Edmund Kennedy, Past Provincial Grand Chaplain of Hampshire. Captain W. Dyer recalled “not far away the German big guns were firing on our trenches, and our men were doing their best to put them out of action. The guns were making such a noise that you could not hear the Chaplain’s voice. It was a soldier’s funeral amidst the noise of battle”.

He was one of 18 OWs serving in the Regiment to die on active service and the first member of the Royal Family to die in the Great War.

c.f. Masonic Great War Project and individual report for Battenberg

Lt Col Knight was the Commanding Officer of the 1^st Battalion the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, and fell leading his battalion in September 1914 at the Battle of the Marne which halted the German advance outside Paris. He died of wounds received in action on 11 September 1914 at Priez, France, where he is buried.

The battalion suffered horrendous losses in the battle, with nine officers killed, five wounded and 500 other ranks killed or wounded. Among the dead was Lt Col Lloyd, Knight’s successor as CO of the battalion. They were the first two infantry battalion commanding officers to be killed in action. They lost their third commanding officer, Major A J Carter DSO, who was killed at Ypres in November 1914, 2 months later.

During the battle and the following days 21 other OWvs died, including Captains Reginald Heywood and Richard Howard-Vyse, Knight’s Adjutant. In all 10 OWs serving in the regiment would be killed during the war, including Thomas Wilkinson who received a VC.

Guy Cunninghame Knight was born at Ajaccio, Corsica. At Wellington he was in the Beresford and Combermere (a joint house then). He went from Wellington to the RMC where he played rugby for Sandhurst. He was commissioned into the North Lancashire Regiment.

In 1898 he raised the 1^st New South Wales Mounted Rifles, which he commanded in the South African War, under fellow Lodge member Lord Roberts, and was ‘slightly wounded’. In one famous incident he captured De Wet’s artillery gun at Rensburg drift, a Krupps 75mm gun, which is now on display at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.

His wedding to Miss Marnie Cross Thompson was the subject of a detailed Court & Social article in the Sydney Morning Herald which if nothing else does give a wonderful insight into  the fashions of the day.

Knight was a member of the Naval and Military Club and a proficient sportsman: a strong rider, he was keen on polo and hunted with the North Staffordshire. All his leave in India was spent in big-game shooting, and he had many tigers to his credit.

Lodge Members who gave their lives for King and Country 1914 – 1919  &  1939 – 1946
Lt Col	Guy Cunninghame Knight	The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment	Sept 1914	C & Bd
Lt	HH Maurice Prince of Battenberg	Kings Royal Rifle Corps	Oct 1914	Benson
FM	Lord Roberts	Royal Artillery	Nov 1914	Governor
Lt	Denys George Stephenson	Scots Guards	May 1915	Stanley
Cpl	Richard Frederick Ince Currie	Royal Fusiliers (The City of London Regiment)	Jul 1915	Benson
2nd Lt	Alfred Vivian Stanfield	The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment)	Aug 1916	Benson
Maj	Harry William Crippin MC	Royal Artillery	Sept 1916	Talbot
Capt	Alexander Neville Blair	The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)	Mar 1917	Hill
Cmdr	Shelley Scarlett, Baron Abinger	Royal Navy attached to the Bedfordshire Regiment	May 1917	Anglesey
2nd Lt	Thomas Ramsay Stoney	King’s Own Scots Borderers	Apr 1918	Murray
Lt Col	Cyril Dudley Hely Corbett	Royal Army Medical Corps	Dec 1918	Benson
Maj	Edward Frederick Kelaart	Royal Artillery	Jun 1919	Blucher
Maj	Henry J Brougham	Royal Artillery	1923	Stanley
Maj	Sir Henry Burrows Shiffner Bt	Royal Artillery	Nov 1941	Benson
Maj	Henry George Cashel Garratt	Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers	Aug 1943	Beresford
Mr	Godfrey Jackson Carter	Test & Dispatch Flight, Hatfield	Aug 1943	Hill
Absent Brethren
1340 old boys, staff, and servants of Wellington College are known to have given their lives on active service for their Country

As a Lodge for all Old Wellingtonians we also remember those OW Freemasons who were not members of our Lodge.

If you are visiting the battlefields click here for a guide to where some of these fallen brethren are remembered: [coming soon]

The Masonic Great War Project – Roll of Honour 1914 -1918 is a valuable resource for people researching Freemasons that gave their lives for their country in the Great War.