ROBERT BUCHANAN

 

THE DEAD SOLDIER

ROBERT BUCHANAN (1893-1912)

 

By

BARRY VAN-ASTEN

 

‘How shall I know if my love lose his youth,

Who never for a day hath left my sight?

He, who but yesterday was my delight.

I needs must love to-day if love be truth,

And if I love to-day, to-morrow’s light

Against our love will e’en forbear to fight.’

[‘Love’s Immortality’. Strato. Translated by Sydney Lomer.*]

 

 

 

A MOST CURIOUS DEATH

I have been looking into the death of the young bandsman, Robert Buchanan of the 2^nd Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps. and found several inconsistencies with the manner in which the evidence was presented. Robert, born 9^th May 1893 in Carlow, Ireland was the 6^th child of Sgt. Major Thomas George Buchanan (1850-1925) who had served more than 31 years in the King’s Royal Rifle Corps. and Mary Susannah Dicks (1864-1959) who had been a teacher in the regimental school – the Buchanan’s had seven sons in the KRRC, six of which served in the First World War. (1) Robert was on short leave in June 1912 which he spent at the home of Captain Sydney Frederick Mcillree Lomer (1880-1926) in Chesterfield (2); on Wednesday 12^th June, 19 year old Robert was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head in Captain Lomer’s bedroom.

 

CAPTAIN SYDNEY F. M. LOMER

Sydney lomer’s father, Cecil Wilson Lomer (January 1842-1912) married Frances (Fanny) Margaret Sydney Mcillree, (born the daughter of Robert Henry Mcillree (1803-1886) and Catherine Sidney Jennings (1824-1864) on 13^th March 1849 in Oughaval, County Mayo, Ireland) in 1873 in Dublin. The first child born to Cecil and Frances was Robert Edward Mcillree Lomer, born 24^th August 1874 in Southampton; Robert served in the army during the Boer War (1899-1902) and attained the rank of Major. He married Mary Rouse in 1899 and died on 21^st March 1955 in Cork, Ireland. Tragically, Frances died 18^th September 1874 in Southampton, aged 25, perhaps due to complications during childbirth. Cecil re-married in 1876, in Dublin, to Ella Mcillree, the daughter of Dr. Surgeon-Major John Drope Mcillree (1812-1894) and Anne Wilson (1828-1875); Ella, a Cousin of Frances Margaret Sydney Mcillree’s, was born on 9^th July 1853 in Newcastle, Jamaica, West Indies (she died 23^rd January 1943 aged 89).  The next child to arrive was Cecil John Mcillree Lomer, born 1897 in Southampton, (he attained the rank of Captain in the 8^th Hussars) and married Maude Antoinette Messum in Kensington on 16^th November 1904 (they had one child: Elizabeth Antoinette Lomer, born 1911, Ruthin, Denbigshire; she married Arthur Barrett in Kensington in 1935). Cecil died on 24^th August 1915 in Denbigshire, Wales, aged 37. The next child, and third son to enter the military is Sydney Frederick Mcillree Lomer born 21^st May 1880 in Southampton before a daughter is born – Annie Margaret Mcillree Lomer, born 1882 in Southampton; she married Charles Henry Leveson (1868-1953) in 1915 (Charles was a Major in the Hussars and attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel; he was awarded the DSO in 1912) and Annie re-married in 1958 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, to John Thompson. She died in 1964 in West Hartlepool, Durham, aged 81. In 1911 Ella Lomer, 54, married of ‘private means’ is at the family home in Badgeworth, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire with her daughter Annie Margaret. Mcillree, 28 and they have and army of domestics: Butler, Cook, two Housemaids, Kitchen Maid, Footman, Lady’s Maid and a Groom.

Sydney Frederick Mcillree Lomer was educated at Rugby School (September 1894-1896) before he entered the army: served with First Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers, First Battalion Sherwood Forrester’s and King’s Royal Rifle Corps.; Commission in August 1899-2^nd Lieutenant; 12^th August 1899-15^th May 1900, Lieutenant 16^th May 1900-July 1904, Captain 4^th Battalion KRRC 15^th July 1904-1^st September 1915 and Adjutant in 1905. Captain Lomer served in France during the First World War from 26^th February 1915 (he was sent home in March with pneumonia); September 1915 attained the rank of Major. In March 1916 he was attached to the Egyptian Army till 1917 and attained the rank of temp. Lieutenant-Colonel and discharged and awarded the OBE in 1919. Captain Lomer wrote poetry and translated Greek verse which may be termed homo-erotic or ‘uranian’ (3) and he was on familiar terms with many other uranian writers and artists including the poet Edmund John (1883-1917), poet and author E F Benson (1867-1940), artist’s model, Leo Marshall (4) and the painters Henry Scott Tuke (1858-1929), known for his depictions of nude boys (Lomer commissioned him to paint a nude portrait of his ‘batman’, Leo Marshall) and Captain James Philip Sydney Streatfield (1879-1915) who may have studied under Tuke, and the young playwright and intimate friend of Streatfield, Noel Coward (1899-1973). In fact, Streatfeild, Coward and Lomer went on a two-week motoring holiday through Devon and Cornwall in Lomer’s car in May 1914 and the fifteen year old Noel became a sort of ‘regimental mascot’ when Lomer and Streatfeild took him to the army training camp. Lomer and his friend, Captain Charlton, an ‘aristocratic, Catholic, homosexual’ (5) also took Coward to the theatre on occasion. And so a picture is drawn of Captain Lomer as a man who enjoyed the finer things in life and was also fond of the company of young men, of which, Robert Buchanan was surely a youthful soldier probably flattered by Lomer’s attention and acts of kindness. But let us look at the case.

THE INQUEST

The Inquest was held on the afternoon of Thursday 13^th June 1912 in the Board-room at Chesterfield Mortuary, in attendance was the District Coroner, Dr. A. Green, Police Inspector Lee, Detective Sergeant Parkin, the deceased’s father, Thomas Buchanan of Carlow, Ireland and a brother of the deceased along with Captain Sydney Lomer, his chauffeur, John Frankland and valet, Philip McLennan along with members of the jury; the inquest took over four hours to reach a verdict. At the inquest Robert who had been a bandsman since the age of 15, was described by his father, Thomas Buchanan, a retired Sgt.-Major and painter as ‘most cheerful and quite contented’, a young man who was ‘always joking, laughing and making fun wherever he went’, in fact, a ‘jolly and contented lad’. Thomas had not seen his son since Christmas 1910 but he received frequent letters from him, the last on Friday 7^th June informing his father that he would be staying in Chesterfield at the home of Captain Lomer from 7^th – 11^th June, and there was nothing to indicate there was any cause for concern as to Robert’s condition. Thomas did add that Robert had suffered from somnambulism as a child and was sometimes found sleep-walking but was always unaware of his actions on waking; he did not know if Robert still suffered from somnambulism since becoming a soldier.

 

JOHN FRANKLAND – CHAUFFEUR

Captain Lomer’s chauffeur, John Frankland, (6) said that Robert arrived in Friday 7^th June and seemed in good spirits and cheerful. He went on to say that he last saw Robert before Robert went to bed between 12 and 1 a.m. on Wednesday morning (12^th June); asked why Robert went to bed so late Frankland replied that the deceased was ‘going away the morning after’. Relating the events which led up to Robert’s death Frankland said he met Robert just after 10 p.m. on Monday night at The Angel Hotel, Frankland had gone there with the valet, Philip McLennan and the groom (unnamed) – Robert entered around ten minutes after them, alone and they all stayed only five minutes before going across the road to The Peacock where they stayed until closing time at 11 p.m. Frankland stated that Robert drank beer at The Angel and at The Peacock but was not the worse for it and after closing they returned to Spital Lodge, Captain Lomer’s home where the chauffeur, valet and groom worked and slept and where Robert was staying, for supper and a glass of beer.

 

PHILIP MCLENNAN – VALET

Philip McLennan, a ‘civilian’ of Hornsey, London entered Captain Lomer’s service just three days before Robert’s death. Robert helped Philip look after Captain Lomer’s clothes. On the morning of Tuesday 11^th June Robert and McLennan were in town together and then spent the afternoon at Spital Lodge. At 9 p.m. McLennan, Frankland and the ‘unnamed’ groom went out and arrived at The Angel Hotel at 10 p.m. Robert entered approximately ten minutes later, alone, and after five minutes, all four of them went to The Peacock. At The Peacock, Robert, who drank three or four glasses of beer, said ‘have a drink with me, you won’t see Robin again!’ This was said in a cheerful manner and McLennan took it to mean that Robert was leaving Chesterfield tomorrow to return to Shorncliffe Camp. McLennan added that Robert had two glasses of beer during supper before he [McLennan] and the groom retired to bed, leaving Robert and Frankland in the servant’s hall.

 

CAPTAIN LOMER’S EVIDENCE

Captain Sydney Frederick Mcillree Lomer (1880-1926) of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps, said that Robert had written to him requesting to stay from 7^th-11^th June as he was on a short leave from Shorncliffe Camp in Kent. Lomer had known Robert since February 1909 when Robert was drafted to India for a period of about twelve months until February 1910, serving under Captain Lomer, so it was not unusual for the deceased to ask to stay as he (and Robert’s brothers) had stayed on several occasions – Robert’s father lived in Ireland and time did not permit travelling there so staying at Spital Lodge, Chesterfield was agreeable to Robert and Captain Lomer. On the morning of Tuesday 11^th June Robert asked Captain Lomer to extend his leave which expired at 6 a.m. on Wednesday 12^th June, this was granted by the Bandsman at Shorncliffe Camp (the Captain received a letter from the Bandsman on Wednesday morning and a ‘telegram’ at 2 p.m. Tuesday confirming it which he gave Robert that evening – this telegram was found in the drawer of the bedroom of the deceased. Captain Lomer said he last saw Robert at 7.45 p.m. on Tuesday night when hearing that Robert was going out, asked Robert to get him some cigarettes and tobacco; if this was the last time the Captain saw Robert presumably he never received the cigarettes or tobacco – where was Robert from around 8 – 10.10 p.m. when it was stated he entered The Angel Hotel alone?

 

THE MYSTERIOUS MIRROR MESSAGE

Captain Lomer did not sleep in his room that night, in fact he states that he was a ‘bad sleeper’ since the death of his father and often read himself to sleep in the sitting-room. It is a fact that the Captain’s father had recently died, a few weeks previously on 21^st May 1912. The Captain says he woke around 5.30 a.m. on the morning of Wednesday 12^th June and went upstairs to sleep in his own room; he noticed that Robert’s bedroom door which was adjacent to Captain Lomer’s bedroom, was open and that his bed had been slept in but was unoccupied. The Captain then noticed his own bedroom door was open and on looking inside could see Robert’s lifeless body lying on his back, wearing a pyjama suit upon the Captain’s bed. In Robert’s left hand was the Captain’s Colt revolver and Robert’s face, the bed and the floor was covered in blood. There was a wound on Robert’s forehead. The Captain noticed something written upon one of the oblong mirrors in soap (the mirror was presented as evidence at the inquest) – ‘Dear …. (the name was missing and Captain Lomer explained that it read ‘Dear Sir’ but that he had rubbed-out the ‘Sir’ and said the message seemed to be ‘something about a woman’ and he started to rub it out before deciding to leave the message); the message went on to say: ‘Goodbye and good luck. Please tell all especially Miss E. Cross, 3 Trinity Square, Folkestone, Kent’. In the left hand corner of the mirror were the words: ‘I was not fit to live’. Why had Captain Lomer wilfully destroyed evidence? Why would Robert write upon the mirror with soap when there were two pencils and a notebook in his bedroom? It is my belief that the missing word did not read ‘Sir’ but something perhaps more intimate and incriminating and Robert’s request to ‘tell all’ seems to me to mean more than ‘tell all’ meaning ‘everyone’ but ‘tell all’ meaning ‘confess’ to some secret that Robert and the Captain both shared; and who is Miss E. Cross? It is stated that Robert posted a letter to her and posted it the night before – Folkestone Police investigated the claim and the letter was presented at the inquest and shown to be a ‘simple sweetheart’s message’ informing her that he was enjoying his holiday in Chesterfield and there was no indication in the letter that he was suffering from depression or not his usual cheerful self. But there are just too many inconsistencies! Captain Lomer says that he woke the groom and chauffeur, Mr. Frankland just before 6 a.m. saying ‘come, I think Robin has committed suicide’ and then the Captain asked the groom and Mr. Frankland to call Dr. Shea (7) and the police; Police Sergeant Francis Pain answered the phone just after 6 a.m. Captain Lomer then woke the valet, Mr. MacLennan who was asleep in the room next door to the tragedy. Why was there a delay of between ten to fifteen minutes before informing the authorities? Why had no-one been awoken by the sound of the gunshot?

 

THE REVOLVER

Captain Lomer’s Colt revolver, which he had owned for 13 years and not fired in 8 years, was kept unloaded in an unlocked wardrobe (a clothes cupboard) in his bedroom. When Captain Lomer entered the scene of the tragedy, the door to the cupboard was found open. He says it had not been fired in eight years except when he recently found someone in his employment fooling around with it and firing – the member of staff was dismissed. Strangely, during the night, nobody heard the revolver fired; the Captain, Mr. McLennan who was in the room next to Captain Lomer’s bedroom where the tragedy occurred; Mr. Frankland and the unnamed groom denied hearing a gunshot. There were apparently two cartridges for the revolver kept in a drawer in the sitting-room where Captain Lomer slept, according to the housekeeper who found the drawer open and its contents ‘ruffled’, at midday on Tuesday – would Robert have been aware of these cartridges and did he load the revolver? It is also stated that the revolver was found in Robert’s left hand (Robert was right-handed); only the valet, Philip MacLennan said that when he came upon the scene, the deceased ‘had the barrel of the revolver gripped in his left hand and the butt just out of the grasp of the right hand’; MacLennan was re-called due to the discrepancy in the position of the weapon but remained convinced of his description given in the evidence. Police Sergeant Francis Pain who arrived at the house following the call found the revolver in the left hand.

 

ARTHUR WILSON SHEA – PHYSICIAN

Dr. Arthur Wilson Shea (1866-1947) arrived at the house about 6.45 a.m. and explained to the jury at the inquest that the wound had a ‘certain amount of brain substance in the extrudation. The skin around the wound was blackened.’ On turning the head round, he found a ‘smaller exit wound just at the back of the head.’ Dr. Shea said it was a case of ‘impulsive suicide’ and the Jury returned a verdict of ‘suicide whilst of unsound mind’.

 

FULL MILITARY HONOURS

‘Several thousand people witnessed the funeral at Chesterfield, on Saturday [15^th June, at 3 p.m.], of Bandsman Robert Buchanan of the 2^nd Battalion King’s Royal Rifles, whose death occurred in such tragic circumstances while he was a guest at Captain S. F. Mcillree Lomer at Spital Lodge. Full Military Honours, firing party by 6^th Battalion Notts & Derby Regt. and battalion band (muffled drums). Coffin draped with Union Jack, surmounted by large cross of white flowers from Capt. Lomer was borne on a gun carriage from the Sheffield Barracks of the Royal Field Artillery – mourners Robert’s father, and four soldier brothers, all King’s Royal Rifles and Capt. Charlton.’ (8) The Vicar and Venerable Archdeacon of Chesterfield, Edmond Francis Crosse (1858-1941) conducted the Last Rites at the cemetery and three shots were fired over the grave by the firing party before closing with the ‘Last Post’. Floral tributes were from Captain Lomer and his sister, Miss Lomer, Captain Charlton and the Servants at Spital Lodge (‘His Friends’). (9)

 

CONCLUSION

After looking at the evidence and reading the statements there are many things which seemed to be overlooked, such as why was the groom not named and why was he not present at the inquest to deliver his evidence? this is not explained. Dr. She mentioned that there was an exit wound but he does not mention the final resting place of the cartridge which would determine the position the weapon was fired and he seems to suggest that ‘somnambulism’ may play a part in Robert’s death but cannot be substantiated, this of course is a flimsy deduction as Robert had no history of actually handling objects while sleep-walking as a child and there is no evidence to support he walked in his sleep as an adult; Dr. Shea was a close friend of Captain Lomer and of course would wish a ‘happy outcome’ for all involved; he also suggested that it was a case of ‘impulsive suicide’ which if the housekeeper is to be believed, and there is no reason why she should not be, the cartridge was taken sometime before midday on Tuesday 11^th June so some deliberate intention to fire the weapon is the only conclusion, whether in an act of murder or suicide is the only plausible reason. But despite the inconsistencies during the inquest my own opinion is that it was suicide and the only criminal offence was committed by Captain Lomer in destroying vital evidence which would have surely shown the actual nature of the relationship between Lomer and Buchanan to be a homosexual relationship, a criminal offence at the time; perhaps Robert deliberately wrote upon the mirror in soap knowing it was easily removable? As to the cause of the suicide I believe it was Robert’s sense of Catholic shame and guilt which drove him to such extremes – ‘I was not fit to live’ and his attempt to eradicate his true homosexual feelings by entering a romantic relationship with Miss E. Cross of Folkestone, not far from Shorncliffe Camp. I should add that perhaps the fear of discovery and dishonour upon the family name was a driving force behind the suicide and it would be unwise to rule out a ‘forced exposure’ through an attempt at blackmail which of course would almost certainly set Robert’s mind towards suicide, being still very young with a sense of family duty and honour, to silence such suggestions. This is only my conclusion from the evidence and others may see something different but perhaps time will never reveal the true cause of Robert’s death, and perhaps it is not meant to!   

Two years after the death of Robert, Lomer published his translation of the Greek Anthology (1914) under the pseudonym ‘Sydney Oswald’ and a preface to the verse hints at a depth of love which shall remain secret – ‘To…. Here in this book I will not write thy name, / for this sad world shall never know the might / of our grand love; so let it hidden stay, / graved in my heart; and though men deem it shame / that thou and I should love, the very sight / of thy dear face shall charm their scorn away.’ Was Lomer perhaps also thinking of Robert when he wrote his poem ‘The Dead Soldier’ published in ‘Soldier Poets’ in 1916:

 

Thy dear brown eyes which were as depths where truth

Lay bowered with frolic joy, but yesterday

Shone with the fire of thy so guileless youth,

Now ruthless death has dimmed and closed for aye.

 

Those sweet red lips, that never knew the stain

Of angry words or harsh, or thoughts unclean,

Have sung their last gay song. Never again

Shall I the harvest of their laughter glean.

 

The goodly harvest of thy laughing mouth

Is garnered in; and lo! the golden grain

Of all thy generous thoughts, which knew no drouth

Of meanness, and thy tender words remain

 

Stored in my heart; and though I may not see

Thy peerless form nor hear thy voice again,

The memory lives of what thou wast to me.

We knew great love…. We have not lived in vain.

 

 

SOURCES:

 

The Derbyshire Courier. Saturday 15^th June 1912.

Sheffield Daily Telegraph. Friday 14^th June 1912.

Sheffield Daily Telegraph. Monday 17^th June 1912.

Dundee Evening Telegraph. Thursday 13^th June 1912.

The Evening Telegraph and Post. Thursday 13^th June 1912.

The Gloucestershire Echo. Tuesday 29^th June 1926.

 

NOTES:

 

1. Thomas George Buchanan (1850-1925) fought in the Boer War (Ladysmith, Mafeking), was at the taking of Afganistan in 1879 and spent a few years in India and aged 30 he married sixteen year old Mary Susannah Dicks on 27^th December 1880 in Meerut, Bengal, India. They had the following children: Thomas Buchanan (probably born 1880-83, Bengal, India), Sgt. Thomas Buchanan served with the KRRC; he was taken prisoner in September 1914 and liberated in 1918; William Buchanan, born 1883, Carlow, Ireland. Sgt. Major William Buchanan D.C.M. M.M. (Somme, 1916) served with KRRC; Alfred Edwin Buchanan, born 20^th May 1885, Army Barracks, Carlow, Ireland. Daisy Buchanan, born 3^rd May 1887, Carlow Barracks; Archibald Buchanan, born 7^th May 1889, Carlow Barracks, served with KRRC; Robert Buchanan, born 9^th May 1893, Carlow Barracks; Charles Leslie Buchanan, born 13^th March 1895, Haymarket, Carlow; Mary Victoria Buchanan, born 5^th June 1897, Haymarket, Carlow; Sydney Claude Buchanan, born 23^rd September 1899, Haymarket, Carlow; Donald Christian Buchanan, born 27^th December 1902, Carlow Barracks, died 27^th January 1905, aged 2 of acute bronchitis at Carlow Barracks; Eileen Violet Hope Buchanan, born 22^nd July 1906, Carlow Barracks (married John Ward, 4^th February 1924, Carlow, Ireland); George Buchanan, born 18^th April 1891, Lance-Corporal George Buchanan served in 2^nd Battalion KRRC and was killed in action at the Battle of Mons in August 1914, aged 23. In the 1911 census he is at Shorncliffe Camp, Cheriton, Kent, aged 19, single and a ‘musician’; his younger brother Rober is also there, aged 17, also a ‘musician’ as they were both bandsmen. Their father, Thomas George Buchanan died on 10^th March 1925 in Carlow, Ireland.
2. Sydney Frederick Mcillree Lomer (1880-1926). Lomer died on 26^th June 1926 in Gloucestershire (he is buried at Southampton’s Old Cemetery) and his obituary appeared in ‘The Gloucestershire Echo’. Tuesday 29^th June 1926. p. 3: ‘Lieutenant-Colonel S. F. Mcl. Lomer. Death Saturday at Perrott’s Brook, North Cerney, residence of his mother (Mrs Cecil Wilson Lomer) Lt.-Col. Sydney Frederick Mcillree Lomer, OBE in 47^th year. Joined Lancashire Fusiliers in 1899 and reached Captain’s rank in 1904. 3 years he was adjutant of his battalion and later transferred to the King’s Royal Rifle Corps, from which he retired with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in 1919. During the Great War he was for a long time employed with the army in Egypt and awarded the OBE.’
3. see ‘The Greek Anthology: Epigrams from Anthologia Palatina XII, translated into English verse’* by Lomer under the name ‘Sydney Oswald’, privately issued (1914) and several of his poems published in ‘Soldier Poets: Songs of the Fighting Men’. Erskine Macdonald. London. 1916. as ‘Sydney Oswald, Major King’s Royal Rifle Corps’.
4. Leo Philip Marshall (12^th October 1899-1972), born in Crediton, Devon, Leo posed nude for the artist Henry Scott Tuke in pictures such as ‘The Diving Place’ (1907) and ‘After the Bathe’ (1921) in Falmouth, Cornwall. Leo enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1915-1916, served in the army in the KRRC 1918 where he served as Captain Lomer’s batman (and possibly served him in the same roll in civilian life too) before entering the Air Force in 1918; he married Madeline W Briggs in 1927.
5. Noel Coward: A Biography. Philip Hoare. Simon & Schuster. 1995. p. 36. Also see note 8.
6. John Frankland. In the 1911 census John Frankland, born 1888 in Bradford, is a boarder living in Taptan, Chesterfield; he is 23 years old, single and a ‘chauffeur domestic’. In 1908, John Frankland, chauffeur of Bradford, was ‘summoned for obstructing highway at Esholt, left large stone there.’ On 21^st September 1908, he was seen driving up Hollings Hill. The car came to a stop and Frankland got out and placed a ‘large stone from the roadside under the back wheel of the car.’ He started the car again and drove off, leaving the stone in the middle of the road. The police stopped him and he said he forgot about the stone and admitted leaving it and that it was dangerous. He was fined one shilling and costs. [‘A Careless Chauffeur’. The Wharfedale & Airdale Observer. Friday 9^th October 1908. p. 3]
7. Dr. Arthur Wilson Shea D.S.O. (1866-1947), born 27^th March 1866, Dublin, Ireland. He studied medicine at the University of London and served with the Derbyshire Territorials, 2^nd Lieutenant 1^st Battalion Nottinghamshire ‘Sherwood Forresters’ (where he probably met and became acquainted with Sydney Lomer who was also in the Regiment); Surgeon Captain (April 1908) and Surgeon Major (5^th August 1914); he was in France from February 1915-December 1918 and awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal on 3^rd June 1918. He married Annie Florence Craig in Dublin in October 1903 and died in Chesterfield on 7^th January 1847, aged 81. [During the 1891 and 1901 census Shea was at the home of his adopted brother, John Goodwin Shea, also a physician, in Chesterfield; he is in Chesterfield during the 1911 census with his wife Annie and one servant]. Shea was in command of the 6^th Battalion Notts & Derby Regiment till 1908 (Chesterfield camp) and then became regimental surgeon.
8. Captain Lionel Evelyn Oswald Charlton (1879-1958). Charlton was a fellow uranian and friend of Captain Sydney Lomer; rank of Lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers (where he probably knew and befriended Lomer); Captain in 1901 and later achieved the rank of Air Commadore. He was an author of many books such as: ‘A Hausa Reading Book’ (1908), ‘Charlton’ an autobiography (1931), ‘Near East Adventure’ (1934), ‘War from the Air, Past, Present and Future’ (1935), ‘War over England’ (1936), ‘The Flying Photographers’ (1936), ‘The Secret of Lake Tana’ (1936), ‘The Military Situation in Spain after Teruel’ (1938), ‘The Air Defence of Britain’ (1938), ‘The Royal Air Force from September 1939 to December 1940’ (1941), ‘The Taking of Quebec’ (1941), ‘Deeds that Held the Empire: by Air’ (1941), ‘The Recollections of a Northumbrian Lady, being the Memoirs of Barbara Charlton’ (Barbara & Leo Charlton. 1949) and ‘Squint Hollow’ (1951).
9. Chesterfield Tragedy. Military Funeral for the Victim. Sheffield Daily Telegraph. Monday 17^th June 1912. p. 5.