Remembered - Lt Raymond de Lusignan, 1st R.D.F.

[michaeldr]

Remembered today on the Great War Forum:

Lieutenant Raymond de LUSIGNAN 
1st Bn. Royal Dublin Fusiliers 
who died 26/04/1915 
V BEACH CEMETERY Turkey (including Gallipoli) 

NB: he actually died on the day of the landing, 25th April 1915

In this photograph Lt. de Lusignan is standing third from the left
 

Approaching V Beach at Helles at dawn on 25th April 1915 there were six tows, each of four ship's boats in line ahead. At the head of each tow was a steam powered picket boat. The picket boat for No.1 tow was commanded by Midshipman D. Last [from the Cornwallis] and the first ship's boat of the tow was also commanded by a midshipman from the Cornwallis: Haydon Forbes.
The tow had collected half of Z Company, 1st.RDF, from the minesweeper Clackton. This half company was under the command of Capt. John Muspratt Mood and Lieutenant Raymond de Lusignan. As the six tows approached Helles, No.1 was on the right and No.6 on the left.

No.1 tow then left the other five and veered off to the east, leaving the main party to head for V Beach, while this single tow headed for the Camber (the small harbour next to the village and castle) where the half company landed.

There are two versions of how Lt. de Lusignan died. 
One was given by Acting Colour Sergeant James Finnegan (statement of 29 July 1915) saying that the lieutenant was killed by shell fire while “placing a screen to show the ships they had captured the position.” Finnegan's explanation was backed-up by another statement made by Private Joseph Cruise saying he was “beside this officer about half an hour after they had landed, standing on the cliff. He was hauling up a casual screen [signal] to stop the ships from shooting.”
The second version comes from Captain Mood's letter of 8 May 1915, addressed to de Lusignan's mother, where he describes the remnants of the half company being forced out of the village and back to the fort at midday. At this point de Lusignan tried to pull into cover an already wounded man who was being repeatedly sniped, when he too was shot and killed. 

Lieutenant de Lusignan's body was recovered and hastily buried the next day, which may account for the error in the recorded date of death.

The above details are taken from the book by our GWF Pal 'Oak':-

'Beneath a Turkish Sky: the Royal Dublin Fusiliers and the Assault on Gallipoli'

by Philip Lecane, The History Press Ireland, ISBN 978 1 84588 865 7 (2015)
 

[DavidOwen]

Thank you for posting Michael, such details add to the stories of the men and women remembered on the Forum.