CAPT. CALEDON ROBERT JOHN RADCLYFFE DOLLING, M.C., 2ND BATTN. ROYAL WELCH FUSILIERS. KILLED IN ACTION IN MAMETZ WOOD AUGUST 20TH, 1916. AGED 30. At the School 1900—4 (Day Boy). 2nd Lieut. C. R. J. R. Dolling was the elder son of the late Mr. Caledon Josias Radclyffe Dolling, of Maralin, Co. Down, and of the late Mrs. Dolling, formerly of Tonbridge. He was a descendant of James, first Earl of Caledon, and a grandson of Robert Holbech Dolling, D.L., High Sheriff of Co. Londonderry, 1865, who married Eliza Alexander, a first cousin of the late Rev. William Alexander, D.D., Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland (O.T., 1836— 41), whom the St. Patrick window in the Chapel commemorates. Tonbridgians of 1902 will remember well the Lenten Addresses given in School Chapel by his uncle. Father Dolling, who died that same year. The following note is from the Chapel Service records :— "Attendance was voluntary, but nearly the whole School came. The addresses were plain, outspoken, and helpful. Boys were much impressed by them." He came to the School from Stratheden House, Blackheath, in 1900, and leaving from the Army Class in July, 1904, worked with Mr. J. Le Fleming, at Eton House, Tonbridge, for a couple of Terms with a view to Sandhurst and the Indian Army. Though successful in the Examination, he was rejected for defective eyesight. He then went out to Canada, and was " pioneering " for several years, but in 1910 settled down in Vancouver, and three years later married Alma Victoria daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Clarke of Vancouver. His widow went out to Salonika as a Field Ambulance Orderly. His younger brother, Lieut. H. H. R Dolling (D.B. and Sc. 1906—10), after enlisting in a Canadian Regiment, received a commission in the Royal Irish Rifles, dated December 15th, 1914, and was promoted Temporary Lieutenant December 28th, 1915. He served with the 16th Battn. in France for a year from September, 1915, till he was invalided witl dysentery. Having rejoined his Battalion at the Front in June, 1917, he was severely wounded, receiving a gunshot wound in the right knee, resulting in permanent lameness, on July 31st, 1917, at St. Julien in the Battles of Ypres. He relinquished his commission " on account of ill health caused by wounds " in April, 1918. Three days after the outbreak of war C. R. J. R. Dolling applied for service and was given a commission in the 11th Royal Irish Fusiliers of Canada. At the time when the Dresden and Scharnhorst were at large and were expected on that coast, he was sent up to Prince Rupert as second in command. Though a very strict discipilarian, he was loved by his men, and he never asked them to do more than he himself was doing. Moreover, he and his wife, a very fine pianist, devoted all their spare time and means to organising boxing, athletic and football competitions, sing-songs, and the like. Many of the men he trained there subsequently won commissions and promotions. Dissatisfied with work, however useful, that did not permit him to get to the Front, he applied to the War Office, and in August, 1915, came to England and was gazetted, September 8th, 1915, to a temporary commission in a reserve Battalion of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, whose CO. wrote: "In him we have lost a splendid officer, a magnificent character, and a fine man in every sense of the word." On October 5th, 1915, he joined the 2nd Battn. at the Front. He was wounded in the fighting for the craters at Givenchy on February 5th, 1916. He led the counter-attack referred to in the following extract from the General Headquarters communique of that date :— " Early this morning the enemy exploded an exceptionally large mine in the neighbourhood of Givenchy, just north of the La Bassee Canal. The explosion was followed by a hostile bombardment of our trenches, under cover of which the enemy entered our trenches on a narrow front. Troops of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, however, immediately delivered a very gallant and successful counter-attack, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy and driving him completely out of our position." His Company Commander at that time wrote:— " I cannot express how much we all miss him, and especially myself, and the excellent work he has done ever since being with us. I have had his name brought to the notice of the General." For his services on this occasion he was awarded the Military Cross, and the following paragraph appeared in the Gazette of March 18th, in which this award was announced :— " Military Cross awarded to Temp. 2nd Lieut. C. E. J. E. Dolling, Royal Welch Fusiliers, for conspicuously gallant leading during a night attack. It was mainly due to his promptness and coolness in handling his men that the assaulting party took the position aimed at. He was wounded in three places, but kept up the morale of his men. On a previous occasion he led a successful bombing raid against an enemy working party and accounted for several of them." On the night of April 25th he was again wounded in a raid on the German trenches at Guinchy, in which he was described as " the leading light of the show," and his Company Commander again wrote: " I cannot say enough of his conduct and the good work he has done since he has been with us." He was invalided home, but returned to the Front early in July. He had been posted to the 9th (Service) Battn., but his Commanding Officer wanted him as Company Commander in the 2nd Battn., and he at last received the promotion for which he had several times been recommended, being promoted Acting Captain in command of his Company, from August 3rd. On the night of August 20th, 1916, he and his C.S.M. were killed instantaneously by a shell. He was buried in Quarry Cemetery, on the east side of Mametz Wood. Letters from his brother officers and men show how great a blow his death was to the Battalion. They tell of his great kindness, the value of his friendship, the encouragement of his example. " The Regiment," wrote one, " has lost a splendid soldier. I have not known a man possessed with a higher sense of duty." His Commanding Officer wrote of him : " You have the whole Regiment's sympathy. They were all fond of him and relied on him and trusted his leadership. . . . He was such a man and had no fear and loved his work. . . . I have lost a brilliant Company Commander and a friend."