[Illustration: =William Brass.=]
=BRATTLE, WILLIAM=, Chief Stoker, 277368, H.M.S. Cressy; lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.
=BRAY, CECIL HERBERT=, Private, No. 2801, 1/9th Battn. (Queen Victoria’s Rifles) London Regt., _s._ of Thomas Bray, Engineer’s Draughtsman, by his wife, Frances, dau. of John Drewry Codling; _b._ Harringay, N., 22 Nov. 1892; educ. Haverstock Hill Orphanage; enlisted two days after the declaration of war, 7 Aug. 1914; served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders, and was killed in action at Voormezeele, near St. Eloi, 17 July, 1915; _unm._
[Illustration: =Cecil Herbert Bray.=]
=BRAY, GEORGE=, A.B., 216585, H.M.S. Pathfinder; lost when that ship was sunk by a mine, about 20 miles off the East Coast, 5 Sept. 1914.
=BRAY, DERRICK REGINALD PAMPHILON=, Corpl., No. 1553, 1st Battn. (Royal Fusiliers) The London Regt. (T.F.), only _s._ of Reginald Alfred Bray, of 49, Orlando Road, Clapham Common, S.W., formerly of Jersey, by his wife, Lissa, dau. of the late Stephen Algir Pamphilon, of Lea Hall, Hatfield Broad Oak, Harlow, co. Essex; _b._ Clapham Common, 20 Sept. 1895; educ. private school, and Wix’s Higher Grade School; joined the 1st City of London Regt. 7 April, 1913; on the outbreak of war volunteered for foreign service, was sent to Malta for five months, and proceeded to France, 10 March, 1915. He was killed in action at Aubers Ridge, 9 May, 1915, and was buried in Rue Pettilon, near Picantin; _unm._ His commanding officer wrote: “At the time he was gallantly leading his section in an advance under very severe fire, and by his death, we all realise that we have lost a brave comrade, who has done his duty and whom we all miss dreadfully. His sense of duty was most real, as events have proved.” Corpl. Bray was very proud of the fact that every man of his family of fighting age joined the colours early in the war. His uncle, Lieut. Ede, Royal Marine Artillery, was mentioned in Despatches while serving with the Egyptian Army in 1896.
[Illustration: =Derrick R. P. Bray.=]
=BRAY, HORACE=, Private, No. 9241, 3rd Battn. The Middlesex Regt.; served with the Expeditionary Force in France, etc.; killed in action, 16 April, 1915; _m._
=BRAZIER, ALFRED=, Private, No. 9499, 2nd Battn. East Surrey Regt., _s._ of James Brazier, of 22, Stewarts Lane, Battersea; served with the Expeditionary Force in France, etc.; killed in action, 25 April, 1915.
=BRAZIER, BENJAMIN WILLIAM=, Corpl., No. 8949, 2nd Battn. Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire L.I., eldest _s._ of Wallace Brazier, Lieut. and Quartermaster 6th Service Battn. and late Regimental Sergt.-Major 2nd Battn. Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire L.I., by his wife, Mary Jane (4, Pentland Villas, Juniper Green, Midlothian), dau. of William Paddon, late R.N.; _b._ Bareilly, N.W.P., India, 30 Nov. 1893; educ. Cowley, and East Oxford Council School, Oxford; joined the 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire L.I. in Sept. 1908, attended the Kneller Hall Royal School of Music from Oct. 1913 till Aug. 1914, and on the outbreak of war rejoined his battn., served in France and Flanders; was twice wounded, the second time at the Battle of the Aisne, and was killed in action during the night attack, 15–16 May, 1915, at Richbourg L’Avoue; _unm._ His company commander wrote: “During the time I was out in France he was in my company, and I looked upon him as a promising N.C.O. He was always cheerful, ready to help in anything there was to be done, and during the three rather hard days fighting, 21–23 Oct., he did a lot of most excellent work, and looked after the men round him admirably. Everyone who knew him will miss him, and the regt. has lost a N.C.O. who would in time have risen to the highest rank. He was a gallant lad,” and the Quartermaster: “He was a brave lad, the best of soldiers, and would, I am certain, had he been spared, have risen to a high position. There is not one but will mourn his loss.” Corpl. Brazier was a keen sportsman and football player, in which latter sport he won two medals.
[Illustration: =Benjamin W. Brazier.=]
=BRAZIER, FREDERICK OWEN=, Private, No. 3198, 5th (Cinque Ports) Battn. Royal Sussex Regt. (T.F.), _s._ of Frederick Brazier, of 29, St. George’s Road, Hastings; served with the Expeditionary Force in France, etc.; killed in action, 9 May, 1915.
=BRAZIER, JAMES=, Private, No. 6282, 1st Battn. East Surrey Regt.; served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders; killed in action, 26 Oct. 1914; _m._
=BRAZIER, WALTER ERNEST=, Stoker, 1st Class, Chatham, 311704, H.M.S. Laertes; killed in action in Heligoland Bight, 28 Aug. 1914.
=BREACH, JOHN=, Private, No. 4770, 5th Dragoon Guards, 3rd _s._ of William Breach, of Lowestoft, Fishing Smack Owner, by his wife, Sarah; _b._ Lowestoft, 5 April, 1879; educ. at the Board and Technical Schools there; joined the Army, 16 April, 1898; served with his regt. in India, and went through the Boer War, for which he was awarded the medal. At the outbreak of the European War he was farming in Canada, and was recalled to join his regt. He died of wounds received in action at Hill 60, in 13 General Hospital, Boulogne, 11 June, 1915. He _m._ at Kirkley Parish Church, Lowestoft, 28 March, 1910, Agnes Maud (Ivydene, Kitchener Road, Ipswich), yst. dau. of John William Hadenham, of Ipswich, District Superintendent Insurance Company; _s.p._ Private Breach was a lifelong abstainer, a keen football player, and an expert cricketer, and held several good conduct medals. His three brothers are all now (1916) on active service.
[Illustration: =John Breach.=]
=BREAM, CHARLES=, Drummer, No. 7248, 1st Battn. Northamptonshire Regt., _s._ of Charles William Bream, of Nassington, co. Northants; _b._ Nassington, 5 Dec. 1883; educ. there; joined the 1st Northamptons (D Coy.), 1903, and saw active service on the Indian Frontier in 1904, for which he received two medals and two bars. He afterwards became a Police Constable in the Durham County Constabulary, and was stationed at South Moor, in the Lancashire and Consett Petty Sessional Division, when he was called up on the outbreak of war. He left with his regt. for France, 17 Aug. 1914, taking part in the retreat from Mons and several other engagements, and was killed in a bayonet charge at Festubert, 21 Dec. 1914. In a letter to a friend at South Moor he said: “You will have heard about the battle on the Aisne. We were in the trenches for a month, and the first week it never ceased raining, and we had to stick it.” Later, writing from Festubert, he said that they had had several engagements with the Prussian Guard, but had got through them, doing six bayonet charges in ten days. He _m._ at Yarwell, Nassington, 8 Oct. 1913, Carrie, dau. of (--) Mould, of Nassington.
=BRECKELL, RALPH LEICESTER=, 2nd Lieut., 3rd Battn. (Prince of Wales’ Volunteers) South Lancashire Regt., attd. 2nd Battn. Lancashire Fusiliers, 2nd _s._ of Edward John Blease Breckell, of Holmdene, Alexandra Road, Waterloo, near Liverpool, by his wife, Emilia Mary, only child of the late Charles Oddie, of Everton, Liverpool; _b._ West Derby, near Liverpool, 16 April, 1890; educ. Ellesmere College, Shropshire; was Resident Secretary in Liverpool for the British Crown Insurance Company, but on the outbreak of war joined the 18th Service Battn. King’s Liverpool Regt. in Sept. 1914, and was gazetted 2nd Lieut. to the 3rd South Lancashires, 20 Feb. 1915, being later attached to the 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers at the front; killed in action on the canal between Pilkem and Boesinghe, during the severe fighting between 5 and 9 July, 1915; _unm._ His orderly, Private E. Murphy, wrote: “He died fighting like a true English gentleman, being in charge of a party of bomb throwers who held on to such a purpose that they were piling themselves on top of one another, and I am very pleased to tell you that he did not suffer more than a minute, just calling my name like this, ‘Oh, Murphy’; then I caught him and laid him down and as near as I could make out he said a few prayers, and then passed peacefully away looking as if he had gone to sleep,” and added that he was killed by a piece of shrapnel in line with his left shoulder striking his heart.
[Illustration: =Ralph L. Brecknell.=]
=BREED, GEORGE ALFRED=, Private, No. 444310, 55th Battn. Canadian Expeditionary Force, _s._ of the late William Breed, Farm Labourer, by his wife, Julia (Papworth Everard, Cambridge), dau. of James Paine, of Croydon, co. Cambridge; _b._ Hatley St. George, co. Cambridge, 14 Feb. 1892; educ. there, and at Papworth Everard; went to Canada, 1 March, 1912; volunteered for service overseas on the outbreak of war, and died in the Military Hospital at Bramshott, Liphook, Hants., 10 Dec. 1915, of influenza contracted while going through his course of training; _unm._
[Illustration: =George Alfred Breed.=]
=BREEZE, JOHN=, Private, No. 10505, 1st Battn. South Wales Borderers, _s._ of John Breeze, of 6, Durham Street, Grangetown, Cardiff, Labourer, by his 1st wife, Caroline, dau. of Thomas Morris; _b._ Tenbury, co. Worcester, 9 March, 1887; educ. National School, Monmouth; enlisted in 1911; killed in action at Langemark, 21 Oct. 1914; _unm._