Herbert Branston de Montmorency

a Soldier of the Border Regiment / Remembered with Honour
Herbert Branston de Montmorency
Herbert Branston de Montmorency
Herbert Branston de Montmorency
Military
Rank Lieutenant / 1 September 1915
2nd Lieutenant / 30 January 1915
Regiment 6th Battalion Border Regiment / January 1915
Transferred Royal Air Force / 7 March 1918 [1]
Former Unit 79th Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders / 7 August 1914 [2]
Theatre(s) of War Gallipoli 1915 / Helles and Suvla
France and Flanders 1916 / Somme, Arras, Messines, Third Battle of Ypres
Personal
Full Name Herbert Branston de Montmorency
Born 9 December 1892 / Appleby, Westmorland [1]
Spouse(s) Olive Kathleen de Montmorency (nee Spendlove) [1][3]
Parents Harvey Francis William de Montmorency / Physician and Surgeon [2]
Sibling(s) Frederick Harvey de Montmorency
Nationality English
Remembrance
Casualty Type Survived WW1 / Died WW2
Died 4 June 1944
Cause of Death Died on active service
Reference Number Mil. Sec. Grave 202.
Resting Place Johannesburg West Park Cemetery, Gautang, South Africa
Coordinates Latitude: -26.1637 / Longitude: 27.9901
Media
Biography
Herbert was born at Appleby, a market town in Westmoreland, north west England. Following his schooling at Appleby Grammar School he entered the service of the Canadian Bank of Commerce, 1 May 1912.[2] In 1914 he enlisted with the 79th Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders from the Winnipeg branch.[2] His medal card states he enlisted as a private into the 16th Canadian Scottish Battalion.[4] The Canadian Scottish battalion, however, was composed of recruits from the 79th Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders and three other battalions, these being the 91st Canadian Highlanders (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders), the 72nd Seaforth Highlanders of Canada and the 50th Regiment (Gordon Highlanders)[5] so the distinction into which battalion he enlisted can be a little hazy.


Herbert then transferred to the 6th Border Regiment on 30 January 1915 with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant[4] and promoted to Lieutenant on 1 September of the same year.[2] He was twice wounded, first on 8 August 1915 in Gallipoli[6] with three machine-gun bullets in the right thigh[2] and second, on 4 October 1917 in France, with a high explosive shell-wound in the back[2] one month after he was promoted to Captain on 4 September 1917.[2] The following year he transferred to the Royal Air Force where, on 1 April 1918, he attained the rank of Major. He died on active service on 4 June 1944 whilst serving with the South African Air Force (service number, 102927V).[3]

Images
References and notes
The information in our Rolls of Honour have been compiled using two primary sources: HMSO's Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-19, Volume 39, The Border Regiment and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database. These have been used for consistency to ensure that any transcriptions are as accurate as possible, with the exception of discrepancies between the two sources and typos that occur from time to time. Additional sources, where used, have been referenced separately below. For soldiers that survived the war, their details do not contain the memorial scroll and are not listed in the Rolls of Honour. However, each individual has his own remembrance page to be remembered with honour.

For the Lonsdale Battalion Roll of Honour a secondary and carefully researched source, The Lonsdale War Grave Project, has been used to fill in some gaps with information not available in the aforementioned sources. Permission has been kindly granted by the owner for use here. For further information about the fields used above see Notes and definitions for soldier remembrance pages.

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 De Montmorency, Herbert Branston. Officers' Service Records. The National Archives. Ref. AIR 76/353/151. Accessed 3 May, 2020.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Letters from the front. Being a record of the part played by officers of the Bank in the Great War, 1914-1919. Canadian Bank of Commerce. Volume 2 online. p.16 of 53. Accessed 3 May, 2020.
  3. 3.0 3.1 De Montmorency, Herbert Branston. South Africa War Graves Project. Accessed 3 May, 2020.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Medal card of De Mont Morency, Herbert Branston. The National Archives. Ref. WO 372/5/144408. Accessed 3 May, 2020.
  5. "16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish), CEF". Wikipedia: The free encyclopaedia. Accessed 3 May, 2020.
  6. 6th Battalion War Diary, August 1915. The entry for 8 August reads: "Work of consolidating Youghlin Bornu position proceeded with. About 9am orders were received that we had to withdraw into Divisional Reserve again at Lala Ba. Casualties 2 officers 2nd Lt. W.S. Ross & 2nd Lt. H.B. de Montmorency wounded."
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