Vere Francis

Vere first saw service with the Royal West Kent Yeomanry, Queens Own, He was commissioned second lieutenant into the Suffolk Regiment first entering a theatre of war in France on 7th October 1915. He died of wounds received on 20th April 1917 and is buried in Etaples Military Cemetery Pas De Calais, France in Grave Reference: XVII F 8

The following is an extract from 'The Cuthbertian' July 1917 issued No 2 The following is from Col. Stubbs' letter concerning the death of V.Francis which took place in Hospital. The battle referred to took place at Arras. "Please accept on behalf of myself and my officers our deepest sympathy at the loss of your son. Words are poor bits of things on occasions like this, and it is hard to write. When your son's captain was wounded before the great fight, I had no hesitation in handing over to your son the command of the company, though he was by no means the senior subaltern in the battalion. He commanded it with skill and energy in the battle of April 9th, and there is no doubt the men had absolute confidence in his leadership. It was two days later in subsequent operations the Battalion came under heavy machine-gun fire. When your son was wounded he lay in a shell hole until dusk, when there was a heavy fall of snow which made it very difficult for the stretcher-bearers to find them, and for the wounded to endure the cold. Personally I feel I have lost a fine fellow, and as commanding officer, a company commander who had the power of leadership it is hard to replace."