William Gray Rawlinson
William Gray Rawlinson. Lt. 2nd Bn. Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. Killed in Action, 14th March 1915, Belgium, age 24.
William Gray Rawlinson was the only son of Rosetta Ellen Rathbone (née Rigge, formerly Rawlinson), of Aynsome House, Cartmel and the late William Millers Rawlinson of Duddon Hall, Cumberland. The Rigges, (later Grayrigge), were a very well known family in this area. They owned a large house at Wood Broughton, now converted into several dwellings, and a substantial estate, relatives still live in the area. Mr Rathbone was a musician and composer, well known at the time, and fondly remembered by older Cartmel inhabitants.
W. G. Rawlinson was educated at Lockers Park, Shrewsbury and Sandhurst, he was commissioned into the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (DCLI) in 1910 and joined his regiment in South Africa. The regiment remained there for about three years and he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant in 1912. During his stay in Africa he spent a leave on a big game hunting expedition up the Zambesi and brought home many trophies. He was reputed to be a fine shot and polo player, also to be a keen motorist. The 2nd DCLI were in Hong Kong at the outbreak of war, arriving in England in the early part of November 1914, where they joined 82nd Bde, 27th Division at Winchester. They landed at Havre on 21st December of that year, and entered the trenches at St. Eloi, situated in the Salient just south of Ypres, where they took over from the French Army.
On March 14th 1915 at 5:30pm, the Germans launched a surprise attack on St Eloi and "The Mound", a 10 metres high heap of spoil from the local brickworks, which provided a vantage point for whoever controlled it. The Germans exploded two mines under the British position, disabling the two machine guns posted there, and stormed the trenches forcing the troops back through St Eloi. They were in control of the village by nightfall and defensive positions were quickly established. The British counterattacked at 2am, pushing the German troops back out of the village itself, although they were left in possession of The Mound, at the end of the fighting dead from both sides littered the ruined streets of St Eloi.
A British trench map showing St Eloi and The Mound. British trenches blue and German shown in red.
Above ground the sector settled down to the routine of trench warfare for the remainder of 1915, below the surface miners were hard at work. The front lines changed little by the end of the year, but 33 mines and 31 camouflets (charges used to destroy opposing mines) had been exploded, The Mound becoming much lower as a result.
The DCLI remained in Flanders and France until 27th November 1915 when the division left Marseilles for service in Salonika.
Reverend Smith, Cartmel vicar in April 1915, said that Lt. Rawlinson was killed, "on March 15th, in a newly captured trench which the enemy had mined, and exploded from a distance. From his childhood, as Miss Heywood has told me, he was everybody's friend, and as a man he was, as well, utterly fearless. Wolfe & Nelson both died in their hour of victory, and partly because of the glory of their end they stand out so vividly among our country's heroes. We shall never forget those thousands who now are following in their steps, until they reach the topmost one of sacrifice, and leave us."
Cartmel Parish Magazine of May 1915 contained a letter, "Lieut. Rawlinson was killed about 5pm on 14th March, at St. Eloi, and I (Sgt. Parsons, DCLI) was with him at the time. Our trenches had been blown up and the survivors, consisting of Lieut. Rawlinson and myself and a few of the men, retired into a support trench, all the time being subject to heavy fire. Lieut. Rawlinson obtained some hand grenades in this trench, and stood up on the parapet throwing these with one hand and firing his revolver with the other. It was then that he was shot in the head. I examined him to make sure he was dead and then we had to continue our retirement. We would have brought his body in had it been possible, but we were under heavy fire and we had to cross a trench six feet wide which was full of water. So far as I know the body has not been brought in since.
“Lieut. Rawlinson was one of the bravest men I ever knew and was beloved in the regiment. He never expected his men to do anything he would not do himself. I consider he was worthy of the V.C. for his bravery on the day he was killed”
He is commemorated on the Menin Gate at Ypres, Panel 20. Lieut. Rawlinson is also commemorated in Cartmel and Grange-over-Sands, as well as Field Broughton and in Cumberland.
The Rawlinson family had a long military tradition, one ancestor having fought at Marston Moor (1644). Lt. Rawlinson's grandfather served throughout the Crimean War and took part in the Charge of the Heavy Brigade. His uncle, who lived at Broughton Bank died in 1913, "as a direct consequence of having served in the Boer War".