Gulval Parish Church

Story

Lieutenant William Torquil MacLoed Bolitho, B Squadron, 19th Hussars (Queen Alexadria's Own Royal), 9th Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division was killed in action near Ypres on May 24th. He was the elder son and only surviving son of Mr WET Bolitho DSO and Mrs Ethel G Bolitho, York House, Trevelloe, Penzance and nephew of Captain MacLoed of Cadboll. He was educated at Warren Hill School, Eastbourne, passing from there into the Royal Naval College at Osborne, and then into the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, leaving head of each college. He then joined the cadet cruiser HMS Cumberland, and passed out first, taking all three prizes, as many as were allowed for one boy. He then served in HMS Commonwealth, HMS Cochrane and HMS Bellerophon. As midshipman in the latter ship he won the Stoddart cup for boat-sailing for his ship, presented by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, KCB, KCVO. He reluctantly left the navy in 1912, in the rank of midshipman, due to chronic seasickness, passing into the Army, through the Special Reserve, and joining the 19th Hussars on Jun 23, 1913 at Hounslow. On August 23, 1914 he crossed to France with B Squadron, acting as divisional cavalry for the first part of the war, but in Arpil the cavalry were reformed, and the regiment mad up with the 9th Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. He was killed in action by a shell on Monday May 24, 1915 aged 22. Both the 18th Hussars and the 19th Hussars had been gassed at dawn. B Squadron were moving to support the 18th Hussars, when they cam under heavy shell fire and encountered a zone of poisonous gas fumes at Chateau Hooge during the second battle of Ypres. He was awarded the 1914/15 Star, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal. His commanding officer wrote to his family: "Your son is a great loss to us. His name had been sent in for special mention after the operations on the 13th inst. when he found himself in temporary command of the squadron, and made very good use of his opportunity."