Lieutenant Brian Walton Onslow MiD
11th King Edwards Own Lancers (Probyns Horse), Indian Army,
Anzac Corps Headquarters.
by Robert Simpson
Brian Walton Onslow was born in Chatham Kent on 24th August 1892, a son to Gerald Charles Penrice Onslow and Flora Frances Mary Donald. He was one of six children and of four boys in the family. His parents were married on 16th November 1880 in Cheltenham Glostershire. Brian was their youngest child. Gerald served in the Royal Engineers and rose to the rank of Colonel. He comes from a family which has a distinguished military history in the navy and army with family members attaining the rank of Admiral or General. In 1687 the 1st Baronet of Onslow was created by Brian’s 5xGreat-Grandfather and it was passed down through various lines of the family. By the 1901 census Brian was already living away from home and was a border at Eredine on Filsham Road in Hastings with an older brother Eric. He was educated at Cheltenham College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. In the 1911 census he was a Gentleman Cadet at Sandhurst Royal Military College in Camberley Surrey. As stated on the census it was a college for training officers for the army.
He was listed in the Indian Army Quarterly List of January 1912 as a 2nd Lieutenant (from 6th September 1911) with the 2nd Battalion Royal West Kent Regiment and also under remarks it has unattached list. By the 1st World War he was with the 11th King Edward’s Own Lancers (Probyn’s Horse) as part of the Indian Army and was with the ANZAC forces at Gallipoli as Aide de Camp to Lieutenant General Sir William R Birdwood, K.C.S.I., K.C.M.G., C.B., C.I.E., D.S.O. Birdwwod had been with him in the same regiment in India and wanted him on his staff.
He took part in the landings at the Dardanelles on 25th April 1915. On 28th July he was killed at Gallipoli and was buried at Anzac Cove in Beach Cemetery II F 6. He was Mentioned in Despatches by General Sir Ian Hamilton on 5th November 1915, but no indication is noted on his medal index card. A few comments by Charles Bean in a couple of different books he wrote give and idea of what happened to him. Birdwood’s headquarters on Anzac were in the most dangerous area of the beach. Brian had a habit of sleeping outdoors in the hot summer. He was sleeping on the roof of his shelter that hot night in July when a shell from Beachy Bill hit and killed him.
From De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour about Brian “General Sir William Birdwood wrote of him: “A finer fellow or better example of a true English gentleman never lived. A son of whom any mother must always have been most justly proud. Never out of temper, always doing what he could to help others, able far above the average. I had hoped a brilliant career was in store for him. Every individual here regrets and feels his death. I have lost the best and bravest of officers, the truest and trustiest of friends”: and a brother officer: “Few people could be so ill-spared. I never met or hope to meet a more lovable character; best at everything he ever did, both in work and play, and always so cheerful. I never heard anyone say anything but good of him, and he was quite the most popular officer both with the men and in the mess.” Admiral …… wrote from the Dardanelles: “He was a splendid young fellow. We on board only knew him for a few months, but in that short time he made himself very popular with us all. Everybody liked him and admired him, and we looked on him as the true ideal of a British soldier. I fully realise what a great loss his services must be to Gen. Birdwood and to the Service generally.” And the Principal of Cheltenham College: “He has left and influence and power behind him that many an older man would be proud to leave.” While at Cheltenham he won a mathematical scholarship, and was one of the most prominent members of the hockey eleven and football fifteen. He was a keen athlete, a good polo player, pigsticker, golfer, etc. Two of his brothers and two brothers-in-law are (1916) serving either in the Army or Navy. His eldest brother, Lieut-Commander A. G. Onslow, D.S.C., was killed in action at the Battle of Jutland, 1st June 1916.”
Probate for his will was granted on 11th December to Flora Onslow widow (his mother). His address was listed as Camperdown Crowborough Sussex. Effects of over 385 pounds was listed. He is listed in Commonwealth War Graves index no. G1 30 Beach Cemetery Anzac page 32 and De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour, Volume 1 page 274.
Beach Cemetery
His medals were issued by the Government of India as he was part of the Indian Army and he was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, British War and Victory medals which were issued to his mother after her applying for them. The address given was “The Ladies Army and Navy Club, Burlington Gardens, W. He was noted as deceased on the medal index card and there was no qualifying date written.
All of his brothers also served in the war.
The eldest, Arthur Gerald, was born in North Western Provence India in 1886. The 1901 census shows him to be a Naval Cadet on Britannia at Dartmouth. By the 1911 census he was an Executive Lieutenant on HM Torpedo Boat 18 in Stangate Creek Sheerness. In 1912 he married Elsie Hinde Crouch. His service record is quite detailed and shows him going from various ships and how his conduct and ability grew until it stated he was a “good decisive leader”. He has a few mishaps however with a couple of collisions reported which were his fault. In 1913 he was a Lieutenant and they were living at 274 High St Kent. On 1 June 1916 while commanding the HMS Onslaught he was wounded in action at Jutland and died 10 hours later. During the battle, with other destroyers, the Onslaught sunk a damaged German destroyer and then fired torpedoes at the SMS Pommern, scoring a direct hit on a magazine which exploded and sunk it. Immediately after that a shell from the SMS Schleswig-Holstein struck the bridge causing casualties including, eventually Arthur. He was buried in plot 659 Queensferry Municipal Cemetery Edinburgh. For his service, he was awarded 1914-15 Star, British War and Victory medals.
Milo Richard Beaumont Onslow was the second son, born in 1888 in Cheltenham Gloucestershire. In 1901 he was a boarder at a school at Ticehurst Sussex. He was first commissioned as a British officer in the Indian Army on 19th January 1907 and was promoted to Lieutenant on 19th April 1909 and was with the 21st Cavalry. As part of his service in India with the Mohmund Expedition, he was entitled to the India General Service medal with North West Frontier 1908 clasp. He sserved attached to the 33rd Light Cavalry from November 1914. As a Captain in the Indian Cavalry he was awarded a MiD which was published in the London Gazette on 12th June 1917. On 5th November 1917 he was killed in action according to CWGC. His probate says he died at the 19th Casualty Clearing Station in Mesopotamia (at Samarrah) on the 5th. In De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour he is listed as Captain and Adjutant 21st Cavalry Frontier Force Indian Army. It also notes he was educated at Eastbourne and Royal Military College Sandhurst and he served with the Indian Expeditionary Force from November 1914. He was wounded in the Persian Gulf at Shaiba in April 1915 and again at the Battle of Ctesiphon in November 1916 and he died at the Casualty Clearing Station in 1917 as above, of wounds received the same day. Apparently he was wounded in an air raid on that day. He was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, British War and Victory medals which his mother applied for in 1918. They were issued by the Indian Government. He was buried in the Baghdad War Cemetery (North Gate) in plot II. C. 10.
His eldest sister, Dora Frances, was born about 1882 and married Claud Frederick Pilkington Parry. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the Royal Field Artillery and was killed in action on 20th August 1918. He had been awarded the Distinguished Service Order and was Mentioned in Despatches eight times. He was also entitled to a trio. She did not remarry and lived until 1957.
Violet Isabel Onslow was the second sister in the family and second eldest, born in 1882 in India. Maybe a twin, but no birth dates to confirm. She married Alan Goring, who rose to the rank of Major with the 20th Hussars and fought in the second Boer War. He was entitled to the Queens South Africa medal with clasps Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1901 and 1902. They both lived until the mid-1940’s in England.
The last of the family and second youngest brother was Eric Montague Onslow who was born in 1890 in Aden, India. By 1901 he was in England and a boarder at Eredine, Filsham Rd. Hastings. On 4th October 1910, while a Gentleman Cadet at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, he was promoted to be a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. By the 1911 census he was in Bombay with the 1st Royal Warwickshire Regiment. During WW1 he served with the 2nd Battalion R.W.R. and landed in France on 4th October 1914. As part of the 7th Division they served at the Western Front until 1918 when the Division went to Italy. He was Mentioned in Despatches in 1919 as a Captain in the 2nd R.W.R. It was for gallant conduct and determination displayed in escaping or attempting to escape from captivity. So he was a POW at some stage, but when he was captured is not mentioned anywhere. He returned to India after the war, where he married Nona Osborne Wilshire in St. Martins Church Kashmir on 1st September 1927. She was born in 1900 in Australia. Before marrying she had travelled a few times to England and back to Australia. By the early 1930’s they had moved back to England and he had been promoted to Major. In 1936 Eric retired on retirement pay and they moved to Melbourne. What he did then is not documented, but on electoral rolls in the 1940’s and 1950’s he is listed as a Military Officer and they are living at 15a Tintern Ave. Toorak. There are no service records for him for WW2 in Australia, but they may be with his other records in India. In the 1960’s he appears to have retired and they have moved to 38 Woodside Cres. Toorak. He died in 1969 and his remains were scattered in the Springvale Botanical Cemetery. Nona died in 1976. He was issued the 1914 Star with Clasp and Rosette and the British War and Victory medals with Emblem.
ANZAC Biographies
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