LIEUT. CLAUDE DOUGLAS FENELON DE LA MOTHE, R.N.V.R. PRESUMED KILLED IN ACTION AT BEAUMONT HAMEL, NOVEMBER 13TH, 1916. AGED 28. At the School 1902—7 (Ferox Hall). Lieut. C. D. F. de la Mothe was the only son of the late Rev. Claude Haskins de la Mothe, of St. John's College, Cambridge, and Sub-Chaplain of the Chapel Royal, Whitehall, and of Mrs. de la Mothe, of Ingevah, Beachy Head Road, Eastbourne, the founder of the " Granville House" Ladies' School, Eastbourne, who died in 1918. Entering the School in September, 1902, he became a House Praepostor in September, 1905, was in the Cadet Corps, gained his 1st XV. Colours in 1906, and left from the Modern Sixth at Easter, 1907. He went up to Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he was a prominent member of the College XV., and took his degree in 1910. Soon after, he joined the staff of St. Christopher's School, Eastbourne, and two years later entered into partnership with the Rev. Lionel Browne. The notice in the St. Christopher's Record contained the following tribute:— " Here his great love of boys and wonderful athletic powers enabled him to achieve most valuable results and to win the esteem and love of his colleagues and of the boys committed to his charge. He was a brilliant Rugby football player and Captain of the Eastbourne Club, and of course took charge of the Rugby football here; he also managed the swimming and gymnasium, besides helping with the cricket." The following is from a Sussex paper;— " In pre-war days Claude looked a perfect specimen of the young Englishman with his muscular frame and frank open face glowing with health and good humour. He was one of the most prominent Rugby footballers in the south and only just missed a trial for international colours. Always merry and bright, generous of heart, and with a friendly gleam in the eye, he was one of the most popular of local ' boys'—one of the type which the country can ill afford to lose." In 1910 he took a commission in the 2nd Home Counties Brigade, R.F.A. (T.F.), but had resigned this before the War, as he found that it interfered with his school work. In August, 1914, just after the outbreak of War he enlisted in the Royal Naval Division, together with several of his most intimate friends. With the Howe Battalion, D Company, he took part in the desperate attempt to save Antwerp in October, 1914, and from that time on, with the exception of ten days' leave, he was on active service abroad, taking part in the Dardanelles Expedition and the fighting on the Gallipoli Peninsula from first to last. In November, 1914, he had been given his commission as Sub- Lieutenant, R.N. V.R., and in 1917, he was promoted to Temporary Lieutenant. His promotion to full Lieutenancy has appeared in the Gazette, but dated February 8th, 1917, two months after he became missing. He was mentioned " for distinguished and gallant conduct" in Sir Charles Munro's Gallipoli Despatch published in July, 1916, and from Gallipoli went with his Battalion to Salonika and then in May, 1916, they were transferred to the Western Front. Here too, he came safely through much hardship and hard fighting till November 13th, 1916, when he led his men over the parapet in the attack on Beaumont Hamel and with some one hundred of his men was never seen or heard of again. In spite of the most diligent enquiries through every available agency no news of him and of his men could be obtained, and it was at last presumed that he had been killed. In August, 1917, an O.T., the Rev. J. D. Wood, C.F. (Sc. 1893), wrote to say that he had found and buried the body of Lieut. de la Mothe at Beaumont Hamel, but the evidence is not considered conclusive. When he was reported " missing " his Commanding Officer wrote to Mrs. de la Mothe:— " Your son is a very gallant officer in whom I have the greatest confidence. It is no exaggeration to say that he is beloved, not only in his Company but throughout the Battalion. His absence is a great loss to us and to the Service." Many letters from brother officers and still more from privates told of his great value and popularity, and the Medical Officer wrote:— " I counted Claude as one of my greatest friends in the R.N.D. He joined up in the R.N.V.R. with me, and he was always the same—always cheerful, always smiling. . . . His men worshipped him, as I told you in my letter written before the attack, and would have gone anywhere with him."