=AUSTIN, GEORGE=, Stoker, R.N.R., 514 V., H.M.S. Cressy; lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.
=AVELING, LANCELOT NEVILLE=, Lieut., 1st Battn. Connaught Rangers, only _s._ of Neville Clifford Aveling, temporary Capt. R.F.A., by his wife, Evelyn Mary, of St. Germans Hall, Norfolk, dau. of Capt. Hurton Barker, of Needham House, near Wisbech, and grandson of Stephen Thomas Aveling, of Restoration House, Rochester; _b._ Rochester, 20 March, 1892; educ. Gresham’s Holt School; was for four years in the O.T.C., and shot at Bisley for school; joined the Surrey (Queen Mary’s Own) Yeomanry 1911, and the Special Reserve of Officers (3rd Connaught Rangers) 13 June, 1913, and passed third in qualifying examination for Regular Army on mobilisation, being gazetted 1 Sept. He left with the Expeditionary Force for the Front at the end of August; was wounded (two bullet wounds) at the Battle of the Aisne, 14 Sept.; again at Ypres, 7 Nov. (mentioned in Despatches, Feb. 1915); and a third time at the same place, 26 April, and _d._ in hospital at Hazebrouck three days later, being buried in the cemetery there; _unm._ His colonel wrote: “He was such a splendid officer and so charming a fellow. He is, indeed, an almost irreparable loss to my battalion.... He came to us with a very high reputation from the 2nd Battalion, and more than made it good. Gen. Egerton had especially asked for your boy’s services for the day as orderly officer.”
[Illustration: =Lancelot Neville Aveling.=]
=AVERILL, ALBERT=, Private, No. 9974, 1st Battn. North Staffordshire Regt., _s._ of Alfred John Averill, Officer’s Waiter, 11th South Staffs. Regt., by his wife, Hannah, dau. of Hiram Pritchard; _b._ Hanley and Stoke (N. Stafford), 6 Aug. 1891; educ. Cauldon Road Elementary School there, enlisted in Sept. 1913; served with the Expeditionary Force in France, and was killed in action at Armentières, 2 Nov. 1914; _unm._
=AVIS, HARRY=, Stoker, 1st Class (R.F.R., B. 4659), S.S. 103859, H.M.S. Good Hope; lost in the action off Coronel, on the coast of Chili, 1 Nov. 1914.
=AVIS, RALPH CUTTS=, Yeoman of Signals (R.F.R., Ch. B. 6683), 191425, H.M.S. Cressy; lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.
=AVIS, WILLIAM=, Sergt., R.M.L.I., Ch. 10913, H.M.S. Pathfinder; lost when that ship was sunk by a mine, about 20 miles off the East Coast, 5 Sept. 1914.
=AWDRY, CAROL EDWARD VERE=, 2nd Lieut., 2nd Battn. Royal Munster Fusiliers, _s._ of the Rev. Vere Awdry, Vicar of Ampfield, Romsey, by his wife, Mary Louisa, dau. of Edward Desborough Man; _b._ Broad-Hinton Vicarage, co. Wilts, 11 June, 1894; educ. Marlborough House School, Hove (April, 1903–Dec. 1907), Marlborough College (Foundation Scholar, Jan. 1908–June, 1912), and Royal Military College, Sandhurst (G Coy., June, 1912–June, 1913); gazetted 2nd Lieut. to the Munster Fusiliers, Sept. 1913; joined the 2nd Battn. at Aldershot, 15 Oct. 1913; went to the Front with them 13 Aug. 1914, and was killed in action near Etreux, 27 Aug. 1914, during the retreat from Mons. Writing to his father, the senior surviving officer, Capt. H. S. Jervis, who was himself taken prisoner, said: “Your boy lost his life that day while leading his men against overwhelming odds. The Army was at the time withdrawing, and the battn. was occupying an important position covering the movement. In order to better safeguard the retreat of the remainder our withdrawal was delayed by some hours. We were attacked on three sides, and when we moved off finally it was found that the greatly superior forces of the Germans had enabled them to cut us off from our main body. Faced by odds of 6 or 8 to 1 we put up the best fight we could until compelled by fire from all sides to surrender. C Coy--to which your son belonged, of course--was chosen to watch our right rear (on the north-east) as the battn. withdrew to the south, and Capt. Rawlinson selected your son to take his platoon (No. 9) out to an exposed position the far end of a village named Fesmy, through which our line of retreat lay. He performed the duty in a most able manner, and although harassed with a nasty fire, he held on until the battn. withdrew, and then rejoined with his little force intact. It was a commendable performance, worthy of one of far greater age and experience than your son. His company then continued the withdrawal until we came to the next village (Oisy), when it was detailed to act as rearguard. Again they were sharply engaged by largely increased forces this time, but they gallantly held their own, your son again holding a detached position at an important cross roads, and again the battn. was able to withdraw in safety. Your boy’s party was the last to come in, and though he lost a few men he saved many more. It was now six o’clock (p.m.), and it was now discovered that we were cut off from the main body. The battn. shook out to the attack in an endeavour to break through, every officer doing good work, your son no less than the others. With sword drawn he led his men in support of the attack which was in progress in front (to the south), and as he advanced he fell shot through the lungs. His death was painless and practically instantaneous. He was buried with his eight brother officers who fell the same day, 28 Aug. 1914. I write as a prisoner in German hands. The grave is near the railway station of Etreux, 400 yards to north of the level-crossing, right-hand side of the road.” It seems clear that from the first the situation was so critical that to enable the Army to escape the sacrifice of a regt. might possibly prove to be inevitable. Major Charrier, in command of the Munsters, fully recognised this, and, according to a survivor, in the absence of definite orders to retire, felt it his duty to hold on to the last at all costs. Though they had had two little “scraps” with the Germans lasting a few minutes on 24 and 26 Aug., the Munsters’ first serious fighting was on the 27th. The morning was very misty, and while waiting for the Germans a German aeroplane came over them, quite close, about 10 a.m. It flew back at once, and shortly afterwards a heavy fire was opened on them, rendering their position untenable. They therefore retired through Fesmy, where Awdry with his platoon held a detached position and succeeded in holding the Germans back till the regt. was safe, and then rejoined. He received a slight flesh wound here. Next they came to Oisy. Here they had to cross a canal, a little distance in rear of which was an important cross roads. Attacked in flank, in danger of being cut off in front, a cavalry attack now threatened them in rear, and Awdry was sent to the cross roads with his platoon. He left about 12 men under a sergt. at the canal bridge while he with the rest went forward and succeeded in holding the Germans at bay for some three-quarters of an hour. The sergt. and nearly all the detachment at the bridge were killed, and a corpl. went forward to get instructions, and as he got up he saw Awdry put his hand up to his chest and fall. Private C.... says he was hit high up on the left side. The corpl. thought he was killed, and as nearly all that party were _hors de combat_ he returned to the bridge, where, finding no one left, he thought all was over and escaped as best he could with a few stragglers who joined him and worked round to St. Quentin, where they eventually joined the remnant of the regt. (about 260) who had escaped destruction or capture. Awdry was not, however, killed then, and held on; but his numbers were so reduced that he signalled for reinforcement, and though none could be sent then, he refused to leave the post till assured that the battn. was safe. Eventually a few men from another platoon came to his help, and finally they retired and rejoined, his party being the last to come in. Then about 6 p.m. the battn. found themselves attacked on three sides, and it was now in the last desperate attempt to break through that Awdry got his fatal wound, in the forehead. Private C. ... was again close to him, and though himself slightly wounded managed to get him back near the road, and was putting his own field dressing on the wound when his left shoulder was shattered and he fell over and Awdry fell on the top of him, and so about an hour later died in his arms. They lay there all night till a burial party composed of captured men of the Munsters under German guards brought them in. The nine officers of the Munsters who fell that day were buried in one grave, and the N.C.Os. and men in another, side by side, near the railway station of Etreux, on the right hand side of the road, 400 yards north of the level-crossing. A German Pastor read a funeral service over them and the Germans put up crosses to mark the spot. Two memorial windows have been put up in St. Mark’s Church, Ampfield, in memory of 2nd Lieut. Awdry and officers, N.C.O.s and men of the Munsters who fell that day.
[Illustration: =Carol Edward Vere Awdry.=]
=AXON, WALTER HENRY=, Ship’s Corpl., 1st Class, R.F.R., A. 1230, late Ports., A. 2045, 128826, H.M.S. Hawke; lost in action in the North Sea, 15 Oct. 1914; _m._