MPs killed in May/June 1917

[Ron Clifton]

It was pleasant to see that tribute was paid by the Speaker of the House of Commons today to two officers who were MPs, and whose deaths in 1917 were on dates which this year will fall during the period of prorogation.

 

One was Major Willie Redmond, who was killed on the first day of the Battle of Messines, and the other was an officer of the Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars, killed in May at Epehy. I did not catch his surname but one of his Christian names was Valentine. (I could not find such an officer on the CWGC database.)

 

 

 

Ron

[Steven Broomfield]

Valentine Fleming, DSO, MP, killed at Gillemont Farm by German shell-fire. The regimental history is extremely eulogistic about him, and there is a picture, too.

Edited 26 April , 2017 by Steven Broomfield

[Steven Broomfield]

To add: his Wiki HERE

 

Ian Fleming's dad. Who knew?

Incidentally, I was at Gillemont Farm last week with a mate coomemorating the centenary of the death of an ancestor, killed with 5 Ox & Bucks on the 21st April 1917.

[Ron Clifton]

Thank you, Mr B.

 

I note he was also the son of Robert Fleming, who founded the merchant bank bearing his name, which continued until 2000 when it was taken over by Chase Manhattan. Its extensive Far East operations had been badly affected in the 1990s by political factors in that region, including the return of Hong Kong to China.

 

Ron