In Grove Town Cemetery, Meaulte, Departement de la Somme, Picardie, France is the Commonwealth War Grave of Captain Cuthbert Pease, serving with the 1st Battalion Irish Guards, who died 18/09/1916.

Cuthbert Pease was born on the 2nd January 1892, baptised 30th January 1892, the third eldest of four children to a Howard Pease, born Saltwell, 12th July 1863, died 25th January 1928 in London, and his wife Margaret  ‘Marna’ Kynaston, Pease, born Eton, 19th September 1867, died 31st August 1947 at The Old Mill House, at Bray. They were married 27th October 1887.

The other children were: –

• John William Kynaston Pease, born Benwell, 9th November 1890, died 26th May 1960. Married on the 21st November 1931 to a Miss Sigrid Hudson. They were engaged on the 24th October 1931. Sigrid was the youngest daughter of Arthur Lionel and Mrs Hudson of Stockholm.
• Margaret Valentine Pease, born Benwell, 8th September 1889, baptised  13th November 1889, died 19th March 1952, (Wednesday), at  99 Cromwell Road, Kensington, London. She married at St John’s Church, Westminster London, on the 29th April 1916 a John Arthur Dodgson 1890-1969, an Artist. Born Kashmir India,13th June 1890, baptised at Murree Bengal, 11th July 1890, died 10th September 1969.
• Evelyn Audrey Pease, born  Arcot Hall, 15th August 1893, baptised 1st October 1893 at Alnmouth, died 8th May 1959 at Lerwick, Shetland Isles.  She married on the 19th December 1915 a Paul Gordon Seaton born 1886, died 1977. They had 3 children, two daughters and a son Gordon.

Howard the father was the son of a John William Pease, a banker born Darlington, 1836, died 25th March 1901, and his wife Helen Maria nee Fox, Pease, born 1838, died 1928. [They were married in 1860 and  had five children]. In 1891, the family were residing at Enfield Lodge, Elswick, Northumberland. The family eventually moved to Otterburn Tower by 1911. In 1901, the children were residing at Arcot Hall, Cramlington, Tynemouth, Northumberland.

Cuthbert was educated at Alnmouth School, [Canon Moore], Eton College from 1904 to 1910. Cuthbert won the House Fives game and played football in the field game, was Oppidans at the wall, was in ‘Pop’ in the headmasters division in School. He studied 2nd Class Modern History. He also volunteered for the Eton College Cadet Force as a Private on the 19th February 1908, no 33. Then 5 feet six inches.
The first Volunteers (the Eton College Volunteer Corps) began in 1860 and the shooting registers begin shortly thereafter. The Corps was not formally incorporated into the national Volunteer movement until 1867; it then became affiliated to the 1st Bucks Rifle Volunteers. In 1878 it was transferred to the 2nd Bucks, in 1887 became the 4th Volunteer Battalion, Oxford Light Infantry, and in 1902 returned to the 2nd Bucks. In 1908 it became the Eton College Officer Training Corps [ECOTC], part of the national OTC. This was renamed the Joint Training Corps in 1940 (there were sections for all three services) and finally, in 1948, became the Combined Cadet Force.

Cuthbert’s housemaster was Mr Lionel Stanley Rice Byrne. Then the New College, Oxford, to study History, [he joined the Snarks Cricket Club also member of the winning Football Cup team and he belong do to the Vincent’s and Bullingdon Club], where he obtained a B.A., in June 1913, [whilst there, according to an unidentified press report, “Cuthbert Pease, of New College, was summoned for a breach of the Motor-car Act. He was further summoned for failing to produce his licence.” It was said he was driving at 30 m.p.h. in an area where there was a lot of traffic and a large number of children. He was fined £1 with 8 shillings costs],  He then was employed as a Stock Broker for the company of Cowen Goschen Laming and Co.

In 1911, the family were visiting Cuthbert at College in April at Birch Hall, Theydon Bois, Epping with a Miriam Blanche Pease. Cuthbert also played Golf at the Alnmouth Golf Club.

Cuthbert Pease applied to be an Officer in the Infantry and was placed in the Special Reserve of Officers in the Irish Guards the 1st Battalion on the 15th August 1914. He was 5 feet ten inches, 158lbs, and was using 7 Crown Office Row, in London as his Correspondence address. He was previously appointed to the Special reserve of Officers on the 15th August 1914. 2nd Lieutenant from the 15th February 1915, then Lieutenant from the 19th May 1915. temporary Captain from the 16th April 1916. He relinquished this rank on the 15th September 1916.

Lieutenant Cuthbert Pease joined the Irish Guard Battalion in February 1915 in the field and was involved in the Battle of Loos. In February, the Battalion was encamped  at Poperinghe. Cuthbert Pease had been Mentioned in Despatches. On the 15th September 1916,the Irish Guards, now in the 2nd Brigade are positioned in two lines, 100 yards apart behind the Grenadier Guards 3rd Battalion on the right flank of the 2nd Guards Brigade position just outside Ginchy, where also 10 tanks were allocated to the Guards Division. Their initial objective was the Village of Le Boeufs, a village  mile to the north east of Ginchy. See Map. The nine tanks were re organised into three groups of three plus one allocated to the commander. This was the opening day of the Flers-Courcelette battle part of the Battle of the Somme, also the first day tanks were used in combat.

Half of the tanks broke down before reaching their starting points. The Guards attacked  and were met by a hail of bullets fired from Straight Trench as well as enfilading fire from the Quadrilateral to the east. The Guards suffered badly during their 2000 yards advance and lost more than 25% amongst the division. 2000 men were killed including Lieutenant Raymond Asquith, the eldest son of the Prime Minister and Harold MacMillan severely wounded. 3000 men were wounded. It was during this advance that Cuthbert Pease was severely wounded. He was taken to the 2/2 London Casualty Clearing Station on the 15th September 1916, which was located at Grovetown from the 11th September 1916 to the 3rd April 1917.  It had moved from Heilly on the 10th September 1916.

Cuthbert succumbed to his wounds on the 18th September 1916.

Morpeth Herald 29/09/1916 carries a brief obituary:
The death is announced from wounds received in action of Captain Cuthbert Pease, the son of Mr and Mrs Howard Pease, of Otterburn. The father of the deceased officer is an ex-Sheriff of the county, and has taken a wide and practical interest in the administrative, artistic, and literary affairs of Northumberland.

Morpeth Herald 06/10/1916 carries the following:
Captain Cuthbert Pease, of The Irish Guards, Otterburn Tower, killed.

On the 15th February 1921, Howard and Margaret Pease were departing from Southampton to travel on the SS Aquitania, ship number 135583, to visit the USA. Howard was 5 Feet eleven inches, Brown Hair, Blue Eyes, Fair complexion. Howard is  described as an Author. Borderland Studies was one of the books he had written.

Sources: Dimitrios Corcodilos;  British Newspaper Archive;  Western Front Association; National Portrait Gallery; Eton College Archives: Guards Museum; IWM; National Archives; New College Oxford

Pauline Priano has submitted the following:-

Cuthbert Pease was one of 4 children and the younger of 2 brothers, offspring of Howard Pease born July 12th 1863 in Saltwell near Bensham, Gateshead, historically in County Durham and Margaret Kynaston born in Eton, Berkshire, in 1867, affectionately known as Marna.

Howard was the son of banker and landowner John William Pease and Helen Mary Fox. At the age of 7 he was living with his family in the village of Benwell on the outskirts of Newcastle upon Tyne, then educated at College House, 28, College Road, Clifton, Bristol.

Howard and Margaret, who was the daughter of Reverend Canon Herbert Kynaston M.A., principle of Cheltenham College, Gloucester and Charlotte Cordeaux, the daughter of the incumbent of Haylands, Isle of White, were married, October 27th 1887 at St. Luke’s Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. The couple settled in Benwell, Newcastle upon Tyne.

Their daughter Margaret Valentine Pease was born, September 8th 1889 and John William Kynaston Pease, November 9th 1890 whilst they were living at Enfield Lodge, Elswick, Newcastle. Howard supported his family having followed in his father’s footsteps as a banker and employed a footman, a cook, a housemaid and 2 nurses/domestics to assist in the running of the household and care of the children.

Cuthbert Pease was born in Newcastle, January 2nd 1892, however, the family then moved to Alnmouth, Northumberland birthplace of Evelyn Audrey, August 15th 1893. The census of 1901 lists Howard and Margaret as guests at Nether Grange, Alnmouth, the home of his parents, their children Margaret (11), John (10), Cuthbert (9) and Evelyn (7) had remained at home at Dam Dykes Cottages, Ascot Hall, Cramlington, Northumberland in the care of their governess Emily Beckingham and nurse Amelia Ridley. The household also employed a cook, a kitchen maid and two outdoor servants, a gardener and a stable boy.

Howard, his daughters Margaret (21) Evelyn (17) and Cuthbert (19) were visiting the home of brewer Gerald Buxton and his family at Birch Hall, Theydon Bois, Epping, Surrey in 1911. Cuthbert (19) was listed as an undergraduate at the University of Oxford, his brother John William having concluded his studies at Eton then Oxford University created a life for himself in Kakamega, Kenya, South Africa, their mother in 1911 was one of several visitors in the home of Dean Thomas Charles and Julia Isabella Fry at The Deanery, Lincoln.

At Oxford University Cuthbert Pease trained with the Officers Training Corps and upon the outbreak of war, August 4th 1914, was mobilised and offered a commission as 2nd Lieutenant with the Special Reserve where he remained for 184 days then transferred February 15th 1915 to the 1st Battalion Irish Guards and departed to join his regiment on the Western Front where it had been engaged since August 13th 1914.

His regiment as part of the 4th (Guards) Brigade, 2nd Division had already participated during several important battles in France including Mons, on the Marne, in Aisne and at Ypres in Belgium all during 1914 and Ginchy in France in February 1915 prior to his arrival. May 15th 1915 the Battle of Festubert began in the Artois region with a 60-hour long bombardment by the British on the German front line in an attempt to take advantage of the diversion of German troops to the Russian front. British casualties were high and troops from the 2nd and 7th Division were withdrawn and replaced by the Canadians. Festubert was finally captured in the closing days of the battle between May 20th-25th.

August 20th 1915 the 1st Battalion transferred to the 1st Guards Brigade, Guards Division. Their first major action was at the Battle of Loos which began September 25th 1915 where the British used poison gas for the first time. The French and British troops tried to break through the German defences at Artois but despite their best efforts the battle was a German victory, this was followed by the actions at Hohenzollen Redoubt, October 18th-19th.

During the spring of 1916 plans were already underway for the commencement of the Battles of the Somme, programmed to begin June 29th but delayed by bad weather until July 1st 1916. On that morning after two huge detonations in the explosive packed tunnels under the German lines at 7.30 a.m. the whistles blew and the men went over the top. The Guards Division did not undertake their first major action until the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, September 15th-16th and 20th-22nd, followed by the Battle of Morval, September 25th-28th and the Capture of Lesboeufs, September 25th.

Having been promoted in rank, Captain Cuthbert Pease was severely wounded in the line of duty on the first day of the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, September 15th 1916 leading his Company into battle.  Taken by the Field Ambulance to the village of Meaulte where the 34th and 2/2nd Casualty Clearing Stations were situated Captain Cuthbert Pease Irish Guards succumbed to his wounds, September 18th 1916 and was buried within Grove Town Cemetery, Meaulte, Somme France grave I. C. 41. He was 24 years of age and single.

His father Howard Pease received all monies due to his late son from the Army, his awards of the 1915 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal sent to his home address of Otterburn Tower, Otterburn, Northumberland and commissioned at his own cost an additional inscription to be added to his late son’s military headstone which reads, “HIS SAINT IS SURE OF HIS UNSPOTTED HEART.”

Of the late Captain Pease, October 7th 1916, his Colonel wrote, “…. He has proved himself a most capable and keen company commander while he lost his life leading his company in one of the finest advances under heavy fire that has been made in the war. He is in every way a great loss to me and the Battalion.”

Although Cuthbert’s brother John William Kynaston Pease was also eligible to serve during WW1 no records have been found. Cuthbert’s brother in law, John Arthur Dodgson, born June 13th 1890, Murree, Bengal, India, who was the son of an Indian Army officer and the husband of his sister Margaret Valentine Pease, served during WW1 in the Army and survived the conflict. 

Howard Pease resident of Otterburn Tower, Northumberland died June 20th 1928 at 25, Phillimore Gardens, Kensington London and was buried within St. John The Evangelist Churchyard, Otterburn, Northumberland. His effects in the sum of £255715 14 shillings resworn £250230 19shillings 10 pence were assigned, March 10th 1928, to Charles Henry Dent, director Barclays Bank Limited and John William Beaumont Pease, chairman Lloyds Bank Limited.

Margaret (Marna) Pease nee Kynaston resident of Old Mill House, Bray on Thames, Berkshire died August 31st 1947. Her effects in the sum of £14239 14 shillings 3 pence were assigned June 12 1948 to Lloyds Bank Limited.

In God’s safe keeping. Rest In Peace.

Cuthbert Pease is remembered at Otterburn on 05.01, O5.02, O5.04, O5.07 and O5.09 and at Alnmouth on A10.12.