Aysgarth School, Rugby with thanks
CWGC Headstone
Newcastle Journal Tuesday 03/07/1917
Reverend Canon Edwin Sidney Savage, M.A
1903 School Photo Aysgarth School with Thanks
Cuthbert Farrar Savage was born on the 27th July 1890, at Barrow-in-Furness, Lancaster, the son of the Reverend Canon Edwin Sidney Savage, M.A., [Born in Surrey, 28th February 1862 died 26th October 1947], and his wife Sibyl, daughter of Dean Farrar.
[Canon Edwin Sidney Savage was educated at New College, Eastbourne, University College London and Magdalen College, Oxford. Edwin Savage married Jane McEwan, who died on the 23rd November 1886, following the birth of their only child, Ronald McEwan Hill Savage. He married secondly, in 1889, Sibil Farrar, daughter of Frederic Farrar, Dean of Canterbury (1895-1903); they had a son (Lieutenant Cuthbert Savage, killed in action during World War I) and four daughters (Enid, Audrey, Rosella and Elflida).
Savage was the Rector of Hexham from 1898 to 1919, during which time he oversaw the abbey's rebuilding.
After serving with 21 ships during the First World War as Chief Commissioner of YMCA in the Mediterranean, Savage was decorated with the Serbian Red Cross Order for services in relief of its civilian population. He also received the Order of St Sava as well as the honorary military rank of major from King Peter I of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. He was also honoured with the Serbian Orthodox Church's Golden Cross, whose insignia of a large pectoral cross in repousse gold he later often wore. He also served on the International Commission to report on the Bulgarian Atrocities
Other Achievements credited to him were :-
Constructor of the Abbey Institute in Gilesgate Hexham, now home to the Hexham Community Centre, Restorator and conservator of the Church of St Bartholomew the Great, Smithfield, during his term as rector (1929–1944), [where there is a Memorial to him], Honorary chaplain to the Worshipful Companies of Butchers and Makers of Playing Cards and the Honorary canon of Newcastle Cathedral.
He was also an author see list of works.
On the evening of the 26th October 1947, Savage was found dead in a smoke-filled room after raising the alarm for a fire in his sitting room at 18 London Road in Bexhill, a town he had been associated with for the previous 20 years. The coroner returned a verdict of accidental death but his cause of death remains in doubt as there was no evidence of burning.
In 1891, they were residing at St Marks Vicarage in Barrow-in-Furness.
Cuthbert Farrar Savage was educated at Aysgarth School, in the Summer Term of 1900 and went on to Rugby School in the summer of 1904. Rugby from 1904 to 1909, [He was in Collins House (now Kilbracken), but was in Form IV at Christmas 1902, coming third in form. He went up to New College, Oxford. Matriculated 1910. Where he took a Second Class in the Final Law School in 1912. Cuthbert came in the Lent term of 1910, aged 19 years 5 months, to read Law. He passed his Law Prelims in 1910, his Finals in Trinity term 1912, and was awarded his BA (a 3rd in Law).
At the age of 14, he won the Alpine Public Schools Skiing Competition and at the same time passed the international skiing test.
[The bottom photo shows the Aysgarth School 1903 class in which Cuthbert Farrar Savage is in the photo, however the photo is uncaptioned].
He emigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1913, and was training to be a lawyer at the Bar. On the outbreak of the War, he enlisted as a private on the 24th September 1914, into the 72nd Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, but were absorbed into the 16th Infantry Canadian Scottish Battalion, which were one of the first units to come over from Canada on the 3rd October 1914.
The 16th Canadian Infantry Battalion was organized at Valcartier under Camp Order 241 of 2nd September 1914 and was composed of recruits from Victoria, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Hamilton. The battalion was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel R.G.E. Leckie.
The battalion embarked at Quebec on the 30th September 1914, aboard 'ANDANIA', disembarking in England on the 14th October 1914. Its strength was 47 officers, 1111 other ranks. The battalion arrived in France on 7th February 1915, becoming part of the 1st Canadian Division, 3rd Infantry Brigade. It was later reinforced by the 14th Canadian Reserve Battalion, and later by the 11th Canadian Reserve Battalion. The battalion returned to England on the 27th March 1919, disembarked in Canada on the 4th May 1919, was demobilized on the 8th May 1919, and was disbanded by General Order 149 of the 15th September 1920.
The battalion mascot was a goat. The battalion published "The Brazier" between 15th Feb 1916 and the 1st April 1917 (see RG 9III, Vol. 5077) and also published the "Canadian Scottish". The battalion supported a pipe band and had a concert party in France (see the War Diary of the 1st Labour Battalion, 25th Jan 1918). Its air was "Blue bonnets over the border". The battalion colours were transferred to the 72nd Seaforth Highlanders on the 17th July 1919.
The 16th Canadian Infantry Battalion was perpetuated by The Canadian Scottish Regiment].
He was also a member of the Oxford University Officers Training Corps. He enlisted and served in the ranks before being promoted Lieutenant in the 10th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. According to his Canadian Attestation papers he enlisted on the 24th September 1914.
On the 20th January 1915, he obtained a commission as a Temporary 2nd Lieutenant, in the 10th (Service) Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers and went with his regiment to France on the 25th August 1915.
"10th and 11th (Service) Battalions.The 10th and 11th (Service) Battalions were formed at Newcastle on the 22nd September 1914 as part of Kitchener's Third New Army – K3 – and were assigned to the 68th Brigade, 23rd Division at Bullswater, near Frensham. In August 1915 they moved to the Western Front and in November 1917 to the Italian Front, where they remained, still in 68th Brigade, 23rd Division. The 10th Battalion was reduced to cadre in Italy in 1918. They were disbanded in Newcastle on the 11th and 25th June 1919. They fought in the following major battles:Battle of the Somme (1916) Battle of Messines (1917) Third Battle of Ypres Battle of the Piave, Battle of Vittorio Veneto."
He was wounded in the back of the head and right arm with a grenade, at Bully Grenay in April 1916, and was sent to hospital, and returned to England to recover. Returned to France in September 1916, and was involved in the Battle of the Somme, he did staff work with his division during the winter of 1916-17. He was gazetted a temporary Lieutenant on the 12th June 1917. To take effect from the 30th April 1917. He was in 'A' Company.
Cuthbert was wounded by a shell bursting by his feet, outside of Battalion Headquarters at Dickebusch, near Ypres, he died in the evening of the 20th June of Multiple shrapnel wounds and compound fractures of the humerus and the knee, in the 10th Casualty Clearing Station near Poperinghe, aged 26.
His Major wrote:- We shall miss him dreadfully. In the old days, before he was wounded, he was the best platoon Commander in my Company, and I thought in the Battalion, and latterly, during his Staff courses, he turned out to be even more efficient. He was very popular with us all, as he was always so cheery, and only thought of others and not of himself at all.
Another Officer in the Battalion wrote:-You will be sorry to hear that a son of Canon Savage has been killed. Although he was not in my Company, I knew him well and everyone thought a great deal of him. He always seemed to be cheerful and never grumbled at having extra and unexpected work thrust upon him, which is a rare and valuable quality.
A friend wrote :- What a gallant lad-handsome as a Greek god, courteous, charming, gifted. I have memories of him skiing down steep slopes with grace and skill, and dancing and laughing and jesting with his friends or discussing serious matters with earnestness and intelligence.
In his will he left effects of £166 11s 3d to his father, Cuthbert at this time was residing at 28 Temple Fortune-lane, Golders Green, Middlesex.
Thanks to: Jennifer Thorp , Isabel, Rusty Mclean and Stuart Tate from Aysgarth School.
Cuthbert Farrar Savage is remembered at Hexham on H51.03, H51.26, H51.46 and St Johns S1.01
Remembered in Canada in Page 581 of the Canadian First World War Book of Remembrance.
Inscription – Outside the church of St. Bartholomew-the-Great in West Smithfield, London, Sir Aston Webb and his colleagues installed a memorial to parish members who had been killed in the war, including Webb's son Philip. This image shows the main dedication, and the forward-facing side of the stone. At some later point, Lt. Cuthbert Savage's name was added to the list of losses, but since there was no room left on the front face, his name is carved on the side of the monument.
He is remembered in the Anglian Roll of Honour, Oxford, New College, Roll of Service.
He is also remembered on the Aysgarth School War Memorial.
Newcastle Journal 28/04/1969 reports:
"Missing plaque shocks sister.
A woman who returned to Hexham after 20 years was shocked to find a memorial Plaque to her brother missing from an outside wall of the community centre.
It was put there by her family in 1919 to mark the death of Lieutenant Cuthbert Savage, killed at 28 in action in Flanders.
'Several times I came back to Hexham and saw it there. I last saw it about 20 years, before recently returning to the town for good.'
Mrs. Beckinham, aged 68, added: 'I was shocked to see the plaque had gone. No-one had consulted the family before removing it. Now I am hoping to trace it and keep it permanently.'
She would like to hear from anyone who remembers seeing the plaque, or who has any clues on when it was removed."
10th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers WW1
Canadian Remembrance Book WW1 Page 581
16th Canadian Battalion War Diaries WW1
The CWGC entry for Lieutenant Savage