Major
Aubrey Webster BUCKINGHAM
Infantry
Died: 17th November 1914 - Age: 44

Commemorated:

1. Grave:Ypres Reservoir CemeteryXI.D.33 Flanders
2. Book:The (1921) Masonic Roll of Honour 1914-1918Pg.118
3. Memorial:The (1940) Scroll - WW1 Roll of Honour37B GQS
    

Awards & Titles:

 

Family :

Son of Joseph Hicks Buckingham of Lancaster Gate London. Husband of Mabel Buckingham Harrietsham Manor Maidstone.

Education & Career :

Harrow 1884-87

Service Life:

Campaigns:

Unit / Ship / Est.: 5th Battalion Gordon Highlanders 

1/5th (Buchan and Formartin) Battalion August 1914 : at Peterhead. Part of Gordon Brigade in the Highland Division. Moved to Bedford. 3 May 1915 : landed at Boulogne. 12 May 1915 : formation retitled to 153rd Brigade in 51st (Highland) Division. 2 February 1918 : transferred to 183rd Brigade in 61st (2nd South Midland) Division. 1 June 1918 : transferred to 44th Brigade in 15th (Scottish) Division and absorbed 8/10th Bn a week later.

Action : The Battles of Ypres 1914 (First Ypres) 

19 October - 22 November 1914. Following the failure of the German Schlieffen Plan in August and September 1914, both sides engaged in a series of linked battles as they sought to outflank each other. The climax of these manouvres was at Ypres in November 1914 when the might of the German Army attempted to break the much outnumbered British Expeditionary Force. The political importance of Ypres, being the last town of any size in Belgium that remained in allied hands, established its importance for both sides and ensured a series of battles over four years.

The First Battle of Ypres in 1914 is characterised by a series of linked heroic stands by outnumbered British soldiers in conditions of confusion and weary endurance. The Germans never knew how close they had come to winning - at one point just the clerks and cooks were the last line of defence for the BEF. By the end of the battle the magnificent original BEF, composed of professional regular soldiers, had been all but destroyed and already the Territorial battalions were called into battle. From the end of 1914 a 'Regular' battalion was in terms of its compostion little different to a Teritorial or later Service Battalion. The professional soldiers had all but vanished.

BUCKINGHAM, Aubrey Herbert, Major, 1/5 Gordon Highlanders Aubrey BUCKINGHAM wa the third son of the late Joseph Hicks and Lucy Webster Buckingham, of Lancaster Gate, London. He was a past member of the London Stock Exchange. Before joining the Gordon Highlanders he was a Captain in the London Scottish (1/14 London Regiment). He was also a member of the LONDON SCOTTISH RIFLES LODGE No. 2310. Major Buckingham saw service in South Africa from 1899 to 1902. He was present at operations in Natal, 1899, in command of volunteer details, and afterwards Garrison Adjutant, Green Point Camp, obtaining Queen's medal with three clasps and King's medal with two clasps. Attached to the 1st Battalion, he went to the Front in September, 1914, and was killed at Hooge, near Ypres, on November 17th. Major W. Baird, Commanding 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders, wrote to Mrs. Buckingham: It is with the greatest sorrow that I write to tell you of your husband's death. It was on November 17th, and our position was being heavily shelled by German Artillery. Your husband, with two officers of the Wiltshire Regt., was taking shelter in a dug-out, when suddenly a German shell fell right on top of the dug-out, killing your husband and one other officer, and very dangerously wounding the third. I need not tell you how deeply the whole Regiment, officers and men alike, have felt and will feel his loss. We have lost a sterling friend and splendid officer, whose whole heart was in his duty. We have buried him in a wood, close to where he fell. The place has been enclosed and marked with a wooden cross. The spot where he lies is in a little wood, not far from the road which leads from Ypres to Menin, S.E. of the village of Hooge. After the war his body was recovered and interred in the Ypres Reservoir Cemetery.

Masonic :

TypeLodge Name and No.Province/District :
Mother : London Scottish Rifles' No. 2310 E.C.London

Initiated
Passed
Raised
21st May 1896
19th November 1896
21st January 1897
 

Source :

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Additional Source:

Last Updated: 2017-05-06 18:49:29