De Ruvigny Roll of Honour Vol 1 page 318

Medal Index Card

Marlborough College Roll of Honour

H M T Guildford Castle

Philip Noel Sanderson was born on the 24th May 1887 at Newcastle, the 2nd son of William John Sanderson, an Alderman of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, of Eastfield Hall, Warkworth, Northumberland, and his wife Amy, daughter of Peter Wright, of Upper Clapton.

He was educated at Malborough and Sandhurst. He received a commission in the 2nd Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers on the 9th October 1907 and was promoted a lieutenant on the 24th March 1909.

Captain Sanderson married at Lucknow, Doris, daughter of Charles Jordan of Richmond, Yorkshire. He was exchanged for the 1st Battalion and went with them to Khartoum and India. Here he made a special study of signalling and when ordered to Ismailia, in October 1914, he was appointed to General Wilson's staff and was gazetted a Captain in November.

Returning to the UK he was stationed at Rugby equipping with the 29th Division. From there he proceeded to the Dardanelles. He landed on the 25th April [Y Beach] and fell mortally wounded, On the 26th April he was taken to the Hospital Ship H.M.T. Guildford Castle where he died.

He was buried at sea about a mile off Cape Helles the following morning, with his Colonel, [Lieut.-Colonel A.S. Koe] another officer, and six of his men.

Berwickshire News 04/01/1916:-

With a battalion of Marines the battalion was chosen to land on a beach which Sir Ian Hamilton described as merely a narrow strip of sand at the foot of a crumbling cliff, not unlike some spots on the coast of North Devon.The men got on shore, climbed up some small gullies to the top of the cliff, and brought up food, water, and ammunition. Then, in great force, the Turks attacked, and they kept this up through the day (April 25th), and all through the night.

They threw bombs into the allied forces trenches, and so black was the darkness that they were able , quite unseen, to bring a pony with a machine-gun on its back into allied defences, where the party was discovered and bayoneted. Growing fewer and fewer every hour, the Borderers and the Marines fought through that terrible night, rushing forward with their bayonets to meet the Turks, who seemed to have an endless supply of men.

Then Sir Ian Hamilton, seeing that good progress had been made elsewhere, ordered the Borderers and the Marines to retire. Quickly the whole of the force was embarked on the transports with their wounded, their stores, and their ammunition, this being successfully accomplished owing to the fire from British warships and the devotion of a small rearguard of the Borderers, who prevented the enemy from lining the cliff.

In this operation the losses were heavy, and roughly speaking only half the battalion remained. In addition to:Lieut.-Col. Archibald Stephen Koe, who dies from his wounds, Captain Charles Alexander Antrobus, Captain A.S. Cooper, Captain E.A. Marrow, Captain Philip Noel Sanderson, and Captain Archibald James Sanderson, and two subalterns were killed, and six officers were wounded.

In this desperate fighting many deeds of gallantry were done, and many, alas! unnoticed in the darkness, will never be revealed, for the men who did them and the men who saw them done were no longer alive.

One of these deeds, however, may be mentioned, not as anything special, but a mere example of many others. Private S. G. Bidgood was in a trench which had been partially destroyed, and after a time he was there alone. He blocked up the broken end and kept his position until daybreak, although only twenty yards away a Turkish machine-gun was firing. He was severely wounded, and received the Distinguished Conduct Medal (D.C.M.).

On the retirement, the survivors of the battalion were taken round to another landing, where they joined their comrades of the 87th Brigade in forming the extreme of the British right. Once there they shared in the attack on the Turkish positions, including those made early in June. At this time the Borderers were commanded by Captain George Butler Stoney, who "showed great coolness and good leading, holding together in a most praiseworthy manner the battalion, which had suffered greatly."

By morning, half of the little detachment had been killed or wounded, its leader, Lieut.-Colonel A.S. Koe, seriously injured, and no reinforcements were available.

Source:- The Berwickshire News 04/01/1916 Roll of Honour.

1st Battalion. The King's Own Scottish Borderers. In ever living memory of Lieut-Colonel A.S. Koe, Captain C.A. Antrobus, Captain A.S. Cooper, Captain E.A. Marrow (Adjutant), Captain M.A.N. Becher, Captain A. J. Sanderson, Captain P. N. Sanderson, Lieutenant W.J.N. Cheatle, Lieutenant T.A.G. Miller, 2nd Lieutenant J.T. Redpath, and the Non-Commissioned Officers and Men who fell in the landing at 'Y' Beach, Gallipoli Peninsular, on the 25th and 26th April 1915.

These are the souls to whom high valour gave glory undying

De Ruvigny Roll of Honour

He had a younger brother called Lieutenant Geoffrey Euan Sanderson, see his Every Names A Story entry.

Philip Noel Sanderson is remembered at Warkworth on W16.01, W16.03, W16.05 and at Alnwick in A11.56 page 64, and Newcastle on NUT059 as well as Jesmond on J1.02 and J1.08

See Marlborough College Roll of Honour

Warkworth War Memorial
Roll of Honour
King's Own Scottish Borderers
Bailiffgate Museum
The CWGC entry for Captain Sanderson