Major Marwood Elton lane

[Rebecca Ghavri]

Hi everyone would like to find out more . I know he joined the raf in 1915 and was in the 23rd squadron . I found out through his Harrow papers he was injured and left in 1916.

[PRC]

Hi @Rebecca Ghavri and welcome to the forum

The Royal Air Force didn't come into existance until April 1918, so what he joined as a Lieutenant in February 1915 was the Royal Flying Corps, a part of the British Army. This is what is reflected in the Harrow School Register, which also shows him as invalided home from France in 1916, rather than invalided out of the service.

Image courtesy https://www.harrowschool-ww1.org.uk/Filename.ashx?systemFileName=%2fDOCS%2fHarrowSchoolRegister1885-1925.pdf&origFilename=

However he had not been long at the school - his name is shown amongst those joining in the January to Easter term of 1889.

I'm not spotting anything in the RAF Musueum storyvault to suggest his invaliding is as a result of accident or combat, but there may well be other sources to check. He continued to serve and when the Royal Flying Corps and (most of) the Royal Naval Air Service merged on the 1st April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force he was then a Captain, although he seemed to have had a long spell in hospital. A married man, his date of birth on his RAF record is shown as the 7th April 1874. That would tie in with him leaving Harrow at the age of 16.

His record for that part of his service, (although frequent references can be seen to the earlier part of his RFC career), can be found in the National Archive here. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8282453

It's free currently to download if you sign in with your account. If you don't have an account even that can be set up as part of placing your first order - just click on "sign in" on that page of the National Archive online catalogue and follow the instructions - no financial details are requested.

I'm only looking at the preview watermarked version, but looks like he was promoted Flying Officer on the 1st May 1915. When a census was taken of the members of the new RAF members he is described as having flown BE's and FE2b's.

I note from the 23 Squadron Wikipedia page:-

"No. 23 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps was formed at Fort Grange, Gosport on 1 September 1915, commanded by Louis Strange and equipped with a mixture of types. A detachment of Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2C's were deployed to Sutton's Farm to act as night fighters to oppose raids by German Zeppelins, but no successful interceptions resulted. The squadron moved to France on 16 March 1916 flying FE2b two-seat pusher fighters. The squadron used the FE2b on close-escort duties and to fly standing patrols to engage hostile aircraft wherever they could be found, helping to establish air superiority in the build-up to the Battle of the Somme". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._23_Squadron_RAF

Hope that gets you started,

Peter

[Tawhiri]

His associated casualty form, which should contain a much briefer summary of the same information contained in his RAF officer's AIR 76 record that Peter linked to above, only notes that he was posted back to the UK (Home Establishment) on 8 July 1916, with no obvious reason like illness recorded. The last entry on the form relates to his subsequent promotion to Squadron Commander with the rank of Major as recorded in the London Gazette in mid-1917.

https://www.casualtyforms.org/form/13889

Note that his earlier service with the RFC will be contained in his Army Officer's personal file, which is linked to his AIR 76 record in the link that Peter posted. This file is also held by the National Archives, but is undigitized so it would require a physical visit to the National Archives to view. The direct link for this file is

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1171309

This blog entry notes that he went with 23 Squadron to France on 15 March 1916 as one of the flight commanders. Airhistory.org does record, however, that prior to joining 23 Squadron he had been with 10 Squadron, and had in fact gone to France with them on 23 July 1915.

https://airwar19141918.wordpress.com/tag/marwood-elton-lane/

His initial commissioning with the RFC was as a probationary 2nd Lieutenant with the RFC on 1 February 1915. A month later he was granted RAeC certificate number 1100 on 2 March 1915 while flying a Maurice Farman biplace at the Military Aviation School at Brooklands.

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29055/page/1022

It also appears that he was a tea planter in what was then Ceylon, and is now Sri Lanka, for over 30 years, from 1898 to 1928.

[Rebecca Ghavri]

14 hours ago, PRC said:

Hi @Rebecca Ghavri and welcome to the forum

The Royal Air Force didn't come into existance until April 1918, so what he joined as a Lieutenant in February 1915 was the Royal Flying Corps, a part of the British Army. This is what is reflected in the Harrow School Register, which also shows him as invalided home from France in 1916, rather than invalided out of the service.

Image courtesy https://www.harrowschool-ww1.org.uk/Filename.ashx?systemFileName=%2fDOCS%2fHarrowSchoolRegister1885-1925.pdf&origFilename=

However he had not been long at the school - his name is shown amongst those joining in the January to Easter term of 1889.

I'm not spotting anything in the RAF Musueum storyvault to suggest his invaliding is as a result of accident or combat, but there may well be other sources to check. He continued to serve and when the Royal Flying Corps and (most of) the Royal Naval Air Service merged on the 1st April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force he was then a Captain, although he seemed to have had a long spell in hospital. A married man, his date of birth on his RAF record is shown as the 7th April 1874. That would tie in with him leaving Harrow at the age of 16.

His record for that part of his service, (although frequent references can be seen to the earlier part of his RFC career), can be found in the National Archive here. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8282453

It's free currently to download if you sign in with your account. If you don't have an account even that can be set up as part of placing your first order - just click on "sign in" on that page of the National Archive online catalogue and follow the instructions - no financial details are requested.

I'm only looking at the preview watermarked version, but looks like he was promoted Flying Officer on the 1st May 1915. When a census was taken of the members of the new RAF members he is described as having flown BE's and FE2b's.

I note from the 23 Squadron Wikipedia page:-

"No. 23 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps was formed at Fort Grange, Gosport on 1 September 1915, commanded by Louis Strange and equipped with a mixture of types. A detachment of Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2C's were deployed to Sutton's Farm to act as night fighters to oppose raids by German Zeppelins, but no successful interceptions resulted. The squadron moved to France on 16 March 1916 flying FE2b two-seat pusher fighters. The squadron used the FE2b on close-escort duties and to fly standing patrols to engage hostile aircraft wherever they could be found, helping to establish air superiority in the build-up to the Battle of the Somme". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._23_Squadron_RAF

Hope that gets you started,

Peter

Hi Peter thank you soooo much for this info. Im collecting anything I can on Major Lane as my family now own Halloowella Tea estate which Major Lane owned till his death . He’s buried in the estate. 

[Rebecca Ghavri]

13 hours ago, Tawhiri said:

His associated casualty form, which should contain a much briefer summary of the same information contained in his RAF officer's AIR 76 record that Peter linked to above, only notes that he was posted back to the UK (Home Establishment) on 8 July 1916, with no obvious reason like illness recorded. The last entry on the form relates to his subsequent promotion to Squadron Commander with the rank of Major as recorded in the London Gazette in mid-1917.

https://www.casualtyforms.org/form/13889

Note that his earlier service with the RFC will be contained in his Army Officer's personal file, which is linked to his AIR 76 record in the link that Peter posted. This file is also held by the National Archives, but is undigitized so it would require a physical visit to the National Archives to view. The direct link for this file is

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1171309

This blog entry notes that he went with 23 Squadron to France on 15 March 1916 as one of the flight commanders. Airhistory.org does record, however, that prior to joining 23 Squadron he had been with 10 Squadron, and had in fact gone to France with them on 23 July 1915.

https://airwar19141918.wordpress.com/tag/marwood-elton-lane/

His initial commissioning with the RFC was as a probationary 2nd Lieutenant with the RFC on 1 February 1915. A month later he was granted RAeC certificate number 1100 on 2 March 1915 while flying a Maurice Farman biplace at the Military Aviation School at Brooklands.

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29055/page/1022

It also appears that he was a tea planter in what was then Ceylon, and is now Sri Lanka, for over 30 years, from 1898 to 1928.

Hi Tawhiri, thank you so much for this info. I’m trying to get any info on Major Lane as my family own the Haloowella Tea estate in Sri Lanka which he owned till his death .