2ND LIEUT. ARCHIBALD DOUGLAS, E.F.A. (S.R.), FLYING OFFICER 42ND SQDN. R.F.C. KILLED IN ACTION ON AERIAL RECONNAISSANCE, WEST OF LILLE, OCTOBER 16TH, 1916. AGED 20. At the School 1910-15 (Day Boy). 2nd Lieut. Archibald Douglas was the third son of Capt. Robert Langton Douglas, Director of the National Gallery of Ireland, now a Staff Captain at the War Office, and of Mrs. M.J Douglas, until recently residing at Longcar, Tonbridge. The eldest son, William Sholto Douglas (D.B., 1908-13 ; XV. 1912 ; Col.-Sergt. in O.T.C. 1913; Sch. Prae. 1912-13; Class Exhibitioner of Lincoln Coll., Oxford), was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant R.F.A. (S.R.) August 15th 1914, and promoted Lieutenant June 6th 1915, and Captain November 3rd 1917. He went out to France with "Z" Battery, 5th Brigade, R.F.A., November 5th 1914, but was seconded to the R.F.C. in December. He became a Flying Officer in July 1915, and a Temporary Major and Squadron Commander from July 1916. He served with distinction in France, at Neuve Chapelle and Festubert, till May 1915, and then, after a period of home service, went out to the 8th Squadron in July 1915, and served through the Battle of Loos. From January 1916, he was an Instructor at Montrose till he was appointed to command the 43rd Squadron in April. He took his Squadron out in January 1917, and was wounded over Vimy Ridge on May 5th. He was then appointed to the command of the 84th Squadron and commanded it at the Front from September 1917, till November 1918, when he was appointed to the command of the 39th Wing, R.A.F., Cranwell, with the acting rank of Lieut.-Colonel, and this appointment he held till April 1919. He was mentioned in the Despatches dated November 30th 1915, April 7th and November 8th 1918, and was awarded the M.C. in January 1916, the Distinguished Flying Cross in February 1919, and the French Croix de Guerre in July 1918. He relinquished his commission in the R.A.F. (S.R.) in March, 1920, and in the following November was awarded a permanent commission in the R.A.F. as Squadron Leader. In 1922 he was at the R.A.F. Staff College. An account of one of his exploits was given in THE TONBRIDGIAN for April 1916. The second son, Robert Oswald Douglas, (D.B., 1909-14; Sch. Prae. and House Capt. 1913-14; Corporal in O.T.O.; Classical Scholar of Christ's Coll., Cambridge), was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant in the 4th Battn. of the Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) (T.F.), October 18th 1914, and promoted Lieutenant in 1917. He served in India from December 1914, till October 1918, being Lewis Gun Instructor, Mhow Division, for a year, and King's Messenger in the Marri Expedition, May 1918. He then served in Mesopotamia till February 1919, and having been disembodied passed into the Indian Civil Service in the summer of that year. Archibald Douglas, like his brothers, was at Mr. A. M. Darling's, Clare House, Tonbridge. Entering the School in January 1910, he was elected to a Foundation Scholarship in the following June, and to the Judd Scholarship in June 1911. He became a House Praepostor in September 1913, and a School Praepostor and House Captain in September 1914. He also gained an open Classical Scholarship at Trinity College, Oxford, and won the prize for Latin Lyrics and the School Divinity prize in 1914 and 1915. In the O.T.C. he became a Sergeant in September 1914, C.S.M. in the following spring, and then Cadet Officer in his last Term. On leaving School he obtained a commission in the R.F.A. (S.R.) dated July 28th 1915, and after training at Athlone went out to France in the following November, being attached to an Ammunition Column for a few weeks, and then being sent to a Battery, with which he remained till June 1916. He then became attached to the R.F.C. and served with them as an Observer till his death. He was actually gazetted as Flying Officer (Observer) October 16th 1916, the date of his death. On that day he was engaged on aerial reconnaissance over the German lines, his Pilot being another Old Tonbridgian, 2nd Lieut.Valentine F. H. Hugill (H.S. 1907-13). An aerial bombing raid was about to take place, and their task was to locate the anti-aircraft guns with a view to strafing them. All accounts agree that their machine received a direct hit from an anti-aircraft shell at a height of about 6,000 or 7,000 feet and fell completely out of control in the German lines. The account given in a letter to Dr. Hugill by a Pilot who saw what occurred is quoted in the biography of 2nd Lieut. V.F.H. Hugill. They were officially reported "missing," and it was not till March that definite news of their death was received through the Red Cross, Geneva. The official announcement that they were now known to have been killed appeared in the Casualty Lists of April 19th 1917. They had been buried together by the Germans at Copinghem, west of Lille. A brother officer wrote: - " Archie was one of the bravest and best, taking absolutely no notice of anti-aircraft gun fire to make a success of any job he had to carry out—brave even to the point of being reckless." Another said: - "He was always so cheery and happy that it did one good to be with him, and we all feel his loss very much."