Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Bookhe Western Front, 9 May, 1915. =AINSWORTH, WILLIAM=, Sergt., No. 3198, 2nd Battn. Coldstream Guards; _b._ Leicester; enlisted 8 Jan. 1900; became L.-Corpl. 14 March, 1910; Corpl. 11 July, 1912; L.-Sergt. 18 July, 1914, and Sergt. 9 Aug. following; served in South Africa, 16 Jan. to 6 Oct. 1902 (Queen's medal with two clasps), and with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from 12 Aug. 1914; killed in action, 13 Sept. 1914. =AITCHISON, RONALD ANDREW COLQUHOUN=, Lieut. 1st Battn. The King's Own Royal Lancaster Regt., only _s._ of Gowrie Colquhoun Aitchison, of South Collingham, Newark-on-Trent, Lieut.-Col., 2/5th Battn. Sherwood Foresters, by his wife, Rose Mabel, dau. of Thomas Smith Woolley; _b._ Burbage, co. Derby, 27 Dec. 1894; educ. at Hillside, Godalming, Charterhouse, and Sandhurst; gazetted 2nd Lieut. to the King's Own, 17 Sept. 1913, and promoted 9 Dec. 1914. Went to France with his regiment in Aug. 1914; was first in action at Cambray on 26 Aug., and was through all the subsequent actions in which the regiment was engaged, including the Battle of the Marne and the crossing of the Aisne; wounded in action near Armentieres, 14 Dec. 1914, and died a few hours later; _unm._ He was buried in the convent garden at Le Bizet. He had been recommended for accelerated promotion to Capt. about a month before his death, and a Staff Officer wrote: "Ever since the beginning of the war your son has done splendidly, his bravery was well known.... The men I know were devoted to him.... He was recommended on two separate occasions for gallantry on Aug. 26, and since then was again mentioned." [Illustration: =Ronald A. C. Aitchison.=] =AITKEN, JAMES HOME=, Private, No. 6/4, 1st Canterbury Battn., New Zealand Expeditionary Force, 4th _s._ of James Home Rigg Aitken, of Canterbury, New Zealand (8th _s._ of John Aitken, of Cupar, Writer, and great-grandson of John Aitken, of Thornton, co. Fife), by his wife, Jessie, dau. of Stanley Bouchier, of Tipperary, and nephew of Col. Robert Hope Moncrieff Aitken, V.C., one of the defenders of Lucknow; _b._ Christchurch, N.Z., 15 Dec. 1887; educ. Christ's College there, and Canterbury College. Was attorney and chief agent in Christchurch of the Northern Insurance Co., and of the Indemnity Mutual, and also a member of the firm of Aitken Bros., sharebrokers, of Hereford Street. He had for a number of years been Capt. Commanding the Queen's Cadets, but had relinquished his command owing to pressure of business, and when war broke out, no commissions being available, he joined the ranks rather than remain behind and await his chance of receiving one. He was killed near Quinn's Post, Gallipoli, 5 May, 1915: _unm._ Writing to his brother, Gen. Sir A. J. Godley said: "He had been my special orderly since we landed here, and had been invaluable to me. On the 5th, the day he was killed, he was with me as usual, carrying my telescope, as he always did, and with his rifle, acting as my escort. We happened to be in one of the most forward posts when it was attacked in the afternoon by a considerable body of Turks, who, in addition to heavy rifle fire, were also throwing bombs. Some of the men were rather shaken by the explosion of a bomb in their midst, and Aitken was most cool and plucky in helping to rally them. He then helped me to extend some supports that came up, and shortly afterwards, the attack having been repulsed and having died away, I started to walk down the hill, thinking he was following me, and it was not until I reached the foot of the hill that I missed him. I then sent word back to let him know that I would walk slowly on down the valley and that he would catch me up, and it was not till I had gone some way and met Tahu Rhodes, that we began to be uneasy about him, and sent back again, with the result that, to my great grief, I heard he had been hit in the chest and had a lacerated wound, evidently from a bomb, and had died on the stretcher on which he was being brought down the valley. My two A.D.Cs., Major J. H. Hughes and Lieut. Tahu Rhodes, have carved a wooden cross, which will be placed on his grave." Aitken was a member of the 'Varsity first fifteen, and one of the best half-mile, mile, and cross-country runners Canterbury has ever produced. He served for several years as secretary of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association, and he was also actively connected with the United Tennis Club and the Hagley Golf Club. His next elder brother, Edward Bouchier Aitken, served in Egypt, and is now (1916) serving in France with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade. [Illustration: =James Home Aitken.=] =AITKEN, SIDNEY CHARLES=, Private, No. 10447, 2nd Battn. Coldstream Guards, _s._ of Charles William Aitken, of 72, Clinton Lane, Kenilworth; _b._ Warwick; killed in action on the Western Front, 23 Oct. 1914. Buried 700 yards south of cross roads, north-west of Zonnebeke. =AITON, ANDREW ALFRED=, A.B. (R.F.R., Ch. B. 1045). 143845, H.M.S. Cressy; lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914. =AKED, GEORGE=, Lieut., 5th Battn. Leicestershire Regt. (T.F.), only _s._ of George Aked, of Mapperley Park, Nottingham, by his wife, Sarah, dau. of Samuel Wilkins; _b._ 19 April, 1895; educ. at Nottingham High School, where he served in the O.T.C. for two and a-half years, and was one of the High School Contingent reviewed by the King at Windsor in 1911. He received an appointment in the Nottingham and Notts Bank at Shepshed, near Loughboro in 1911, and in 1912, when a company of the 5th Leicesters was formed at Shepshed, he was given a commission 26 Oct. 1912, and promoted Lieut. 30 Aug. 1914. He was the only resident officer at Shepshed and had sole charge of the training of the company. At the outbreak of war the battalion was in camp and after various duties in England, including night guard near Enfield, they went to France in Feb. 1915, and were immediately sent to the Front. He was killed in action at Le Bizet, 5 March, 1915; _unm._ Lieut.-Col. Jones in command wrote as follows: "We have lost in him an officer of much promise. He had developed very rapidly since he joined us. He was extraordinarily conscientious in his work, and everything his duty called him to do he did faithfully, thoroughly and well." He was buried near Armentières. [Illustration: =George Aked.=] =AKEHURST, ALEXANDER JAMES=, Private, No. 1539, 5th Battn. Royal Sussex Regt., _s._ of Alfred Akehurst, of Walters Farm Cottage, Ticehurst, Sussex, Farm Labourer, by his wife, Susannah, dau. of George Cheesman; _b._ Etchingham, co. Sussex, 22 June, 1896; educ. Frimwell School; was a farm labourer on Walters Farm; joined the Sussex Territorials, 29 Aug. 1912; mobilised, 5 Aug. 1914, on the outbreak of war; went with his battn. to Dover and then to the Tower, where he volunteered for Imperial service; left England for the Front, 18 Feb. 1915, and was killed in action at the Battle of Carency, 9 May, 1915; _unm._ He was buried about half a mile from St. Vaast. [Illus |