On the Helles Memorial, Turkey (including Gallipoli) is the name of Captain Philip Noel Sanderson, serving with the 1st Battalion King’s Own Scottish Borderers who died 25/04/1915.

Philip Noel Sanderson was born on the 24th May 1887 at 14 Claremont Place, Newcastle, the 2nd son of four children to William John Sanderson, (born 1853 died 9th March 1929), a Brewer and Maltster who owned the Haymarket Brewery in Newcastle, was Lord Mayor of Newcastle, and an Alderman of Newcastle upon Tyne, of Eastfield Hall, Warkworth, Northumberland, and his wife Amelia ‘Amy’ née Wright Sanderson, (born 1851, died 20th April 1928), daughter of a Peter Wright, and Annie Wright of Upper Clapton. They were married on the 22nd June 1882 at St Ann’s church, Tottenham, London.

The other chidren were Geoffrey Euan Sanderson born at 14 Claremont Place, Newcastle upon Tyne on the 3rd April 1889, William John Sanderson jnr, born 28th May 1883, died 17th January 1946, a Barrister, [who married an Edith nee Clothier, who arrrived in the USA onboard the SS Haverford, ship number 113489, from Liverpool on the 11th December 1919. Her husband was residing at 12 Old Square, Lincoln Terrace, London, till at least 1939. Edith was born 7th June 1881, she died in the Devon Manor Nursing Home in the state of Pennsylvania, USA on the 21st March 1964, she had resided at Lower Merion Township in the County of Montgomery, her mother’s maiden name was Agnes Evans], on the 8th November 1916 at St Laurence Church, Warkworth, residing at Eastfield Hall, Warkworth, he was in WW1, service number G/86908 in the Royal Fusiliers, 4 feet 10 and a half inches tall, but was discharged on the 21st June 1918 as unfit due to being sick, he was awarded the Silver War Badge B86411. He attested on the 24th June 1916 at St Pauls Churchyard. They both became naturalised USA Citizens on the 17th May 1930 and Elspeth Blanche Sanderson born 2nd April 1885 died 8th March 1952. She was in the Y.M.C.A during WW1 at Dieppe between May 1916 to April 1918. She was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal, her rank was Canteener D’Eclopes cook, with the British Committee French Red Cross.
{William John Sanderson Snr was the founder of the Home for Destitute Crippled Children, later known as the W J Sanderson Orthopaedic Hospital and School for Children. His portrait was on display at the Freemans Hospital on Level 7}.
the youngest

Philip Noel Sanderson was educated at Malborough from May 1901 to July 1905, then to Onslow Hall in Richmond from September 1905 till March 1906, then to the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. He received a commission in the 2nd Battalion King’s Own Scottish Borderers on the 9th October 1907 as a 2nd Lieutenant, and was promoted a lieutenant on the 24th March 1909.
Lieutenant Philip Noel Sanderson married on the 6th January 1914 at the All Saints Church at Lucknow, Doris Audrey Conyer, nee Jordan, born 8th July 1892, baptised 20th August 1892, at Sitapur, Bengal, India, daughter of Charles J. Jordan and Eleanor Mary Elizabeth, of Richmond, Yorkshire. Phillip was also a Freemason, initiated on the 1st July 1911, Passed August 10th, Raised September 20th. He resigned on the 31st October 1912. Fidelity Lodge no 2061 at Ranikhet.
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 Temporary 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 at [Y Beach], and fell mortally wounded, On the 26th April he was taken to the Hospital Ship H.M.T. Guildford Castle, ship number 132611, 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. He left personal effects to his brother William John Sanderson of £664 6s.

The Berwickshire News 04/01/1916 reports:-
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.

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.

On the 1st May 1915 Mrs Doris Audrey Sanderson now a widow travelled 2nd class to the UK, onboard the Persia, ship number 109528, to Plymouth from Bombay operated by the Peninsula and Orient Steam Navigation Company Ltd. She returned 1st Class, on the 3rd August 1923, onboard the Naldera, ship number 142257, to India via the port of Bombay. She had been residing at Eastfield Hall, Warkworth, Northumberland, and at the Basil Street Hotel, London S.W. Whilst in the UK she was being represented by her solicitors to sort out her pension and financial affairs of her husband. She received a pension of £100 per year plus a £250 Gratuity.

Mrs Sanderson received her husbands personal effects which were sent to her in June 1915 which consisted of 1 Ingersoll watch in a case, 1 Silver cigarette case engraved ‘Phillip from Doris 20-2-14’, 1 Leather purse, 1 Pocket knife, and 1 packet of private letters. Also found on his body was cash to the value of 932 -5 Piastres which equates to £9 11s 3d, which was credited to his account.

Mrs Sanderson now widowed, remarried on the 14th May 1927 to a Frank Bernard Lane, born 16th August 1879, baptised 21st September 1879, at Roy Bareilly, Bengal, India, son of Wilmot and Martha Lane, at Calcutta, Bengal, India. Frank had been a Captain in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers in WW1. [First commissioned on the 12th August 1899, in the 8th Cavalry as a Captain]. Died 10th April 1942.

Mrs Doris Audrey Conyer nee Jordan, Sanderson, Lane died on the 31st May 1934 at Rawalpindi, Bengal, India.

Acknowledgments : David Thompson, Marlborough College Archives, De Ruvigny Roll of Honour.

Philip Noel Sanderson is remembered at Alnwick in A11.56 page 64, at Jesmond on J1.02 and J1.08 at Newcastle on NUT159 and at Warkworth on W16.01, W16.03 and W16.05, and at Marlborough College Roll of Honour.