=BILLING, CHARLES GEORGE=, Capt., Royal Marine L.I., Chatham, attached to Deal Division, eldest _s._ of the late Rev. George Billing, M.A., sometime (1871–88) missionary under the S.P.G. at Ramnad, Madras and Calcutta, afterwards vicar of Sturry and Platt, by his wife, Caroline Flora (28 Bromley College, Bromley), dau. of the Rev. Joseph Gabbett, co. Limerick, Ireland; _b._ Ramnad, Madura District, Madras, 15 May, 1882; educ. King’s School, Canterbury, Dover College and Greenwich. He received his commission in the Royal Marines, 1 Jan. 1901, and was promoted Lieut., 1 Jan. 1902, and Capt., 1 Jan. 1912. Served on the China Station, 1903, West Indies, 1906, the Mediterranean, 1908, the Pacific, 1912, etc., and received pilot’s certificate in Flying Corps, Oct. 1913. He was appointed to the H.M.S. Doris, 1914, and was stationed near Ascension Island till April, 1915, when he came home. He left Plymouth for the Dardanelles, 10 May, 1915, and was killed in action, 13 June following; _unm._
[Illustration: =Charles George Billing.=]
=BILLING, SAMUEL ALFRED=, No. 2449, 16th Battn. (Queen’s Westminster Rifles) The London Regt. (T.F.), _s._ of George Timothy Billing, of 22, Ribblesvale Road, Hornsey, Inspector, Finsbury Borough Council; _b._ London, 16 Feb. 1896; educ. Stationers’ School, Crouch End, was an articled clerk to the Borough Accountant of Hornsey, but on the outbreak of war enlisted, 27 Aug. 1914, and was killed in action at Houplines, near Armentières, France, 27 Feb. 1915; _unm._ A comrade wrote: “His grave is here ... a mile from the firing line, a simple white cross with the simplest inscription, and the plaque bearing the regimental arms and the grand old Latin phrase, ‘Dulce et decorum est pro patriâ mori.’”
=BILLINGTON, LESLIE CHARLES=, 2nd Lieut., 4th, attached 2nd, Battn. Lancashire Fusiliers, only _s._ of Charles Billington, of Heimath, Longport, co. Stafford, Metallurgist, by his wife, Annie Jane, dau. of George Richard Cockhead; _b._ Wolstanton, co. Stafford, 25 Dec. 1895; educ. Bishop’s Stortford College, and entered Manchester University as an engineering student in Oct. 1913. He was in camp with the University O.T.C. at the outbreak of war, and was gazetted 2nd Lieut. to the 4th Battn. of the Lancashire Fusiliers, 14 Oct. 1914. On going to the Front he was attached to the 2nd Battn., and was killed in action during the taking of German trenches at Pilken, near Ypres, 6–9 July, 1915; _unm._ Writing on Aug. 1, Major Bowes said: “I have been making enquiries from the N.C.Os. and men of his platoon, and from what I can gather he was leading a party of men up to the German trenches during the violent attack which lasted from July 6 to the 9th. His party was told off as bomb throwers. He fell on the parapet of the trenches and nothing was recovered from his body. One thing I can say and that is, he showed the greatest courage, and never flinched when he was told off for the dangerous job. It was a most ghastly time for us all, and during those three days and four nights we lost ten officers killed and eight wounded, including the Commanding Officer and Adjutant, and all the captains except one, and eighty-five men killed and 234 wounded and missing. The place where this fight took place is called Pilken, about three miles N. of Ypres. It was brought about this way. One of the German trenches was in such a position as to enfilade the front trench occupied by the Rifle Brigade. This regt. with the Somersets were told off to take this trench, which they did on the morning of 6 July. My battn. relieved these two regts. on the 6th (midnight) and occupied the captured German trench. We had orders to hold the trench at all costs. The Germans counter attacked on the morning of the 7th with heavy artillery and bomb throwers, but in spite of heavy odds against us we held that trench for three whole days, until we were relieved at midnight on the 9th by another brigade. The regt. covered itself with honour in those three days, and it was due to such fine young fellows as your boy that we were able to hold our own”; and a few days later Corpl. Brereton wrote: “We were holding some trenches captured from the Germans, and our platoon, which was ably commanded by your son, were in support to the firing line. We were subjected to a very heavy shell fire, and early on your son inspired confidence in his men by the way he assisted in digging several of our men out who had been buried with debris, thereby saving, I know, two men’s lives from suffocation, for which we all admired him. It is the most nerve-trying time you can get, to be under heavy shell fire, especially fresh out from England, but your son seemed to overcome it straight away, and turned out a brick, as it were. On the afternoon of the 7th we were ordered to reinforce the front line, and when we arrived there learned that our bomb throwers had retired from the advanced saphead temporarily, being short of bombs. The Germans had occupied it, so your son was ordered by Capt. Blencowe, who was in command (the Col. and several of our senior officers having got wounded), to retake the trench. I was the corpl. in charge of the section he selected to go with him. He led us up fearlessly, he himself yards in front of any of his men, and I saw him get up to the parapet and empty his revolver, then jump in the trench, and after the trench was retaken, he was most unfortunately hit with a shell, dying a brave soldier’s death, staunch and fearless to the end. His platoon greatly feel the loss of so gallant an officer, and offer you their most sincere sympathy in your sad loss.”
[Illustration: =Leslie Charles Billington.=]
=BILNEY, EDWIN ARTHUR=, Private, No. 2975, 4th Battn. Suffolk Regt. (T.F.), eldest _s._ of A. Bilney, of Brandeston, Suffolk; was a Gardener; volunteered for foreign service after the outbreak of war; served with the Expeditionary Force in France, etc.; died in the Clearing Hospital, 17 May, 1915, of wounds received in action, aged 22.
=BILTON, JOSEPH=, Private, No. 6030, 3rd Battn. Coldstream Guards, _s._ of Septimus Bilton, of 73, Arundel Street, Holderness Road, Hull, formerly of the N.E.R. Coy., by his wife, Mary, dau. of Samuel Seague, Naval Pensioner; _b._ Hull, 1 Nov. 1887; educ. Fish Street Council School there; enlisted in 1903 and served for eleven years, then became Labour Master at the York Workhouse and held this position when called up on the outbreak of war; killed in action at Soupir, 16 Sept. 1914; _unm._ His brother, Septimus, enlisted after the outbreak of war and is now (1916) on active service.
[Illustration: =Joseph Bilton.=]
=BINDLEY, HORACE=, Private, No. 15594, 1st Battn. The Middlessex Regt., _s._ of William Bindley, of 104, Ber Street, Norwich; served with the Expeditionary Force in France, etc.; killed in action, 1 Sept. 1915.
=BINGHAM, CHARLES HENRY=, Private, No. 9057, 2nd Battn. East Kent Regt. (The Buffs), _s._ of Henry Bingham of 1, Park Road, Beaver, near Ashford; served with the Expeditionary Force in France, etc.; killed in action 14 Feb. 1915.
=BINGHAM, CHARLES JEFFREY SLADE=, Private, No. 20745, 10th Battn. Canadian Expeditionary Force, 3rd _s._ of the late Richard Charles William Bingham, of Bingham’s Melcombe, co. Dorset, J.P., Lieut.-Col., Dorsetshire Regt., by his wife, Georgina (28a, Barons Court Road, West Kensington), dau. of William Stuckey Wood, of Charlton Musgrove, Wincanton, late Capt. 7th Dragoon Guards, and grandson of Col. Charles Bingham, Royal Artillery Dep. Adj.-Gen.; _b._ Bingham’s Melcombe, co. Dorset, 12 Dec. 1893, and was educ. at Clifton College, from which he went to Canada in 1910, and at the outbreak of the war joined the 10th Battn. Canadian Expeditionary Force. While in camp at Valcartier he contracted cerebro-spinal meningitis and was landed at Plymouth on 15 Oct. 1914, in a very serious condition, and taken to the 4th Southern Military Hospital, where he died on 6 Jan. 1915; _unm._ Four of his brothers are now (1916) on active service, Richard Charles Otho with the Ceylon Engineers in Ceylon; John Richard, 2nd Lieut., R.F.C., late H.A.C.; Humphrey Richard, Lieut., R.F.A. (awarded the Military Cross, in Jan. 1915); and William Philip, 2nd Lieut., R.F.C., all with the Expeditionary Force in France.
[Illustration: =Charles Jeffrey Slade Bingham.=]
=BINGHAM, FRANK MILLER=, Capt., 5th K.O.R. Lancaster Regt., 2nd _s._ of the late John Joseph Bingham, M.D., by his wife, Kate Laura, dau. of John Yardley Robinson; _b._ Alfreton, co. Derby, 17 Sept. 1874; educ. St. Peter’s, York, and obtained medical degree of M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. at St. Thomas’s Hospital, London. He joined the Territorials in 1909, being gazetted Lieut. 26 Nov. 1910, and was promoted Capt. 2 May, 1914. He took part in the fighting round Ypres in the early part of May, and had three days furlough to visit his wife and children, and was killed the day after returning to the Front while on reconnoitring work near Ypres, 22 May, 1915. He was buried in Sanctuary Wood. Capt. Bingham was a well-known practitioner in Lancaster, and formerly played cricket for Derbyshire County and Rugby football for Blackheath. He _m._ at St. Margaret’s, Westminster, 12 Dec. 1900, Ruth Morley (Lindow Cottage, Lancaster), dau. of Alfred Evans Fletcher, late Chief Inspector of Albrali Works, and had three children: Thomas Fletcher, _b._ 8 July, 1902; Joan Fletcher, _b._ 15 July, 1905; and Jill Fletcher, _b._ 22 April, 1911.