Second Lieutenant Roland La Fontaine Whittall , Interpreter, died at Gallipoli 1915
Part of the War Memorial Display, “a Village at War” in the lane approaching the church.
Second Lieutenant Roland La Fontaine Whittall (Picture)
Roland La Fontaine Whittall was the third son of Frederick Edwin and Adelaide Whittall of Constantinople. At Cape Helles, in the Dardenelles, he was wounded in four places by a high explosive shell and died six days later on 6 August 1915, aged 22. The General of the 52nd Division wrote: “He was a plucky lad, who would have made a good soldier had he lived. I saw him immediately after he was wounded and he showed great courage.”
That officer on the Commonwealt War Graves Commission website is:-
WHITTALL, ROLAND WILLIAM
Rank:……………………........Second Lieutenant
Date of Death:……………06/08/1915
Regiment/Service:……..Special List
…………………………….........attd. 52nd Div. H.Q.
Panel Reference:……….Panel 202.
Memorial:…………………..HELLES MEMORIAL
CWGC: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/682272/WHITTALL,%20RO...
SDGW records that 2/Lt Roland William Whittall Died of Wounds on the 6th August 1915 whilst serving on the Special List. As with all officers no place of birth or residence is shown.
The Medal Index Card for Second Lieutenant Roland William Whittall, Special List, is held at the National Archive under reference WO 372/21/142667
discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D5848573
A distant relative who retained the Turkish connection mentions him very briefly in her writings.
www.levantineheritage.com/testi18.htm
The Catalogue entry for his Service Records at the National Archive lists him as 2nd Lieutenant Roland William La Fontaine Whittall, Interpreters Corps, (which, given his families Turkish connections would make a lot of sense).
discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1090495
No match on Picture Norfolk, the County Image Archive.
There is no obvious match for Roland on any of the likely censuses of England and Wales. Nor are there any birth records in England and Wales. However, given the information contained in the “levantineheritage” piece above, it seems likely that Roland could well have been born in Turkey and educated at an International School.
His Division
The Lowland Division was a formation of the Territorial Force. It was formed as a result of the reforms of the army carried out in 1908 under the Secretary of State for War, Richard Burdon Haldane and was one of 14 Divisions of the peacetime TF.
1914
The units of the Division had just departed for annual summer camp when emergency orders recalled them to the home base. All units were mobilised for full time war service on 5 August 1914 and moved to their allotted positions on the Scottish coastal defences by mid August 1914.
Several of the Division’s units left in the period November 1914 – March 1915,
1915
On 5 April the Division was warned that it would go on overseas service; on 7 May this was confirmed, with the destination being Gallipoli. The units embarked at Liverpool and Devonport between 18 May and 8 June. Two of the field artillery brigades and the heavy battery remained on the Forth defences. The first units landed on Gallipoli (Cape Helles) on 6 June. The Division was then involved in the following moves and engagements:
Gully Ravine (28-29 June)
Achi Baba Nullah (12-13 July)
www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions...
From “The Fifty-Second Lowland Division 1914-1918” by R. R. Thompson.
(Page 133) The Turks must have known about the arrival at Mudros of the army destined for Suvla Bay, and they probably regarded the last two battles as the preliminaries to larger assaults on the Achi Baba position. The Turks were expecting the landing of fresh divisions at Cape Helles, and, accordingly, they shelled the beaches, the roads, and the “Rest Camps” regularly, particularly the two former. The fire from the Asiatic guns, (the ones on the other side of the Dardenelles that overlooked much of the Allies positions), was deadly, and casualties among men of the administrative and non-combatant services became numerous. Usually the while of the road or track could be seen by the Turks, but they seemed to watch definite lengths, and when a gharry, with its pair of mules and an Indian driver, reached one of these areas they would put a large H.E. shell into it. In a moment the gharry and mules would disappear in the huge black cloud of smoke and dust which burst up from the explosion. Very often, when the cloud had drifted on, the driver with his mules and gharry would reappear, still jogging along, quite uninjured. But sometimes they did not, and many of these brave Indians paid the utmost price for the faithfulness with which they stuck to their duty.
lib.militaryarchive.co.uk/library/divisional-histories/Fi...
The commanding officer of 52nd Lowland Division at the time was Major General G Egerton. His private diaries for the period June to September 1915 are held at the National Archive.
discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C628075
EGERTON, MAJOR GENERAL GRANVILLE (1859-1951) CB. Egerton commanded the 52nd Lowland Division , Territorial Force, in 1914. He had been commissioned into the 72nd Highlanders in 1879 and subsequently saw active service in the Afghan War of 1879-80 in which he took part in Roberts's march to Kandahar where he was wounded. He saw further action in Egypt 1882 as adjutant of the Seaforth Highlanders at the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, in the Sudan (battles of Atbara and Omdurman) before returning to England where he took command of the 1st Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards). He was commandant of the School of Musketry at Hythe 1907-09 where he introduced a number of innovative training methods to improve rifle shooting in the army. After commanding an infantry brigade in Malta he returned to command the Lowland Territorial Division. On arrival at Helles his troops, totally unacclimatised and many still wearing their winter serge uniforms, were pitched piecemeal into a series of costly attacks. When he openly voiced his discontent at their handling by the acting corps commander (De Lisle) he was first reprimanded by Hamilton, then removed from his command; he was Inspector of Infantry 1916-19 when he retired, to spend the rest of his life waging a campaign against Hamilton's handling of the 52nd Division.
www.gallipoli-association.org/campaign/whos-who/
Second Lieutenant Roland La Fontaine Whittall , Interpreter, died at Gallipoli 1915
Part of the War Memorial Display, “a Village at War” in the lane approaching the church.
Second Lieutenant Roland La Fontaine Whittall (Picture)
Roland La Fontaine Whittall was the third son of Frederick Edwin and Adelaide Whittall of Constantinople. At Cape Helles, in the Dardenelles, he was wounded in four places by a high explosive shell and died six days later on 6 August 1915, aged 22. The General of the 52nd Division wrote: “He was a plucky lad, who would have made a good soldier had he lived. I saw him immediately after he was wounded and he showed great courage.”
That officer on the Commonwealt War Graves Commission website is:-
WHITTALL, ROLAND WILLIAM
Rank:……………………........Second Lieutenant
Date of Death:……………06/08/1915
Regiment/Service:……..Special List
…………………………….........attd. 52nd Div. H.Q.
Panel Reference:……….Panel 202.
Memorial:…………………..HELLES MEMORIAL
CWGC: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/682272/WHITTALL,%20RO...
SDGW records that 2/Lt Roland William Whittall Died of Wounds on the 6th August 1915 whilst serving on the Special List. As with all officers no place of birth or residence is shown.
The Medal Index Card for Second Lieutenant Roland William Whittall, Special List, is held at the National Archive under reference WO 372/21/142667
discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D5848573
A distant relative who retained the Turkish connection mentions him very briefly in her writings.
www.levantineheritage.com/testi18.htm
The Catalogue entry for his Service Records at the National Archive lists him as 2nd Lieutenant Roland William La Fontaine Whittall, Interpreters Corps, (which, given his families Turkish connections would make a lot of sense).
discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1090495
No match on Picture Norfolk, the County Image Archive.
There is no obvious match for Roland on any of the likely censuses of England and Wales. Nor are there any birth records in England and Wales. However, given the information contained in the “levantineheritage” piece above, it seems likely that Roland could well have been born in Turkey and educated at an International School.
His Division
The Lowland Division was a formation of the Territorial Force. It was formed as a result of the reforms of the army carried out in 1908 under the Secretary of State for War, Richard Burdon Haldane and was one of 14 Divisions of the peacetime TF.
1914
The units of the Division had just departed for annual summer camp when emergency orders recalled them to the home base. All units were mobilised for full time war service on 5 August 1914 and moved to their allotted positions on the Scottish coastal defences by mid August 1914.
Several of the Division’s units left in the period November 1914 – March 1915,
1915
On 5 April the Division was warned that it would go on overseas service; on 7 May this was confirmed, with the destination being Gallipoli. The units embarked at Liverpool and Devonport between 18 May and 8 June. Two of the field artillery brigades and the heavy battery remained on the Forth defences. The first units landed on Gallipoli (Cape Helles) on 6 June. The Division was then involved in the following moves and engagements:
Gully Ravine (28-29 June)
Achi Baba Nullah (12-13 July)
www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions...
From “The Fifty-Second Lowland Division 1914-1918” by R. R. Thompson.
(Page 133) The Turks must have known about the arrival at Mudros of the army destined for Suvla Bay, and they probably regarded the last two battles as the preliminaries to larger assaults on the Achi Baba position. The Turks were expecting the landing of fresh divisions at Cape Helles, and, accordingly, they shelled the beaches, the roads, and the “Rest Camps” regularly, particularly the two former. The fire from the Asiatic guns, (the ones on the other side of the Dardenelles that overlooked much of the Allies positions), was deadly, and casualties among men of the administrative and non-combatant services became numerous. Usually the while of the road or track could be seen by the Turks, but they seemed to watch definite lengths, and when a gharry, with its pair of mules and an Indian driver, reached one of these areas they would put a large H.E. shell into it. In a moment the gharry and mules would disappear in the huge black cloud of smoke and dust which burst up from the explosion. Very often, when the cloud had drifted on, the driver with his mules and gharry would reappear, still jogging along, quite uninjured. But sometimes they did not, and many of these brave Indians paid the utmost price for the faithfulness with which they stuck to their duty.
lib.militaryarchive.co.uk/library/divisional-histories/Fi...
The commanding officer of 52nd Lowland Division at the time was Major General G Egerton. His private diaries for the period June to September 1915 are held at the National Archive.
discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C628075
EGERTON, MAJOR GENERAL GRANVILLE (1859-1951) CB. Egerton commanded the 52nd Lowland Division , Territorial Force, in 1914. He had been commissioned into the 72nd Highlanders in 1879 and subsequently saw active service in the Afghan War of 1879-80 in which he took part in Roberts's march to Kandahar where he was wounded. He saw further action in Egypt 1882 as adjutant of the Seaforth Highlanders at the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, in the Sudan (battles of Atbara and Omdurman) before returning to England where he took command of the 1st Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards). He was commandant of the School of Musketry at Hythe 1907-09 where he introduced a number of innovative training methods to improve rifle shooting in the army. After commanding an infantry brigade in Malta he returned to command the Lowland Territorial Division. On arrival at Helles his troops, totally unacclimatised and many still wearing their winter serge uniforms, were pitched piecemeal into a series of costly attacks. When he openly voiced his discontent at their handling by the acting corps commander (De Lisle) he was first reprimanded by Hamilton, then removed from his command; he was Inspector of Infantry 1916-19 when he retired, to spend the rest of his life waging a campaign against Hamilton's handling of the 52nd Division.
www.gallipoli-association.org/campaign/whos-who/