CAPT. PAUL HAMMOND, 8TH BATTN. THE EAST LANCASHIRE REGT. DIED AT ETRETAT, FEBRUARY 25TH, 1916, OF WOUNDS RECEIVED AT FONCQUEVILLERS, FEBRUARY 17TH. AGED 31. At the School 1899—1903 (Manor House). Paul Hammond was the eldest son of the late Walter John Hammond, M.I.C.B., and Lucy Hammond, of The Grange, Knockholt, Kent, and was born in Jundiahy, Sao Paulo, Brazil, October 28th, 1884. He came to Tonbridge in 1899 from Messrs. Palmer and Middlemist's Preparatory School at Cudham, and left from the Science Vth in 1903 as Captain of his House and a Corporal in the Cadet Corps. He was also in the 2nd XL and 2nd XV. His brother, Lieut. Leonard Hammond (J.H., 1903—7), of the 10th Battn. Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment), who won the Athletic Points Cup and was in the XI. and XV. and a School Praepostor in 1907, was killed in action on July 5th, 1916, in the Battle of Albert, the first of the Battles of the Somme. Their youngest brother, Capt. M. Hammond, was a scholar of Westminster, and was promoted Captain in the 7th Battn. of The Buffs, July 2nd, 1916. He had served in France from July, 1915, and took part in the capture of Trones Wood on July 14th, 1916, being mentioned in the Despatch dated November 13th, 1916. After his second brother was killed, he was recalled to England in July, 1916, and was on November 1st, 1916, transferred to the General List and appointed Staff Captain to a Brigade in England. From March, 1918, he was a Staff Captain at H.Q., Southern Command. After leaving School, Paul Hammond entered the School of Mines at the University of Freiberg, Saxony, where he took the Degree of Mining Engineer in 1907. He was also elected a member of the Institute of Mining and Mineralogical Engineers of Great Britain, and then proceeded to Brazil, where he made mineralogical surveys in the south of the State of Sao Paulo. Subsequently, after being for some time Assistant Manager of some gold mines in Uruguay, he carried out some professional work in the State of Bahia, Brazil. He then returned to England and opened an office in London as Consulting Mining Engineer. This work he continued successfully until war broke out, when he closed his office and joined the Inns of Court O.T.C. He obtained a commission as Temporary 2nd Lieutenant in the 8th Battn. of the East Lancashire Regt., dated September 19th, 1914, and was promoted to be Temporary Lieutenant November 27th, 1914, and to be Temporary Captain January 28th, 1915. He was for some time Adjutant, and, when he was wounded at Foncquevillers on February 17th, 1916, he was Acting Major. On that day he was hit in the thigh by a stray bullet, as he was leaving a communication trench far behind the firing line. Though it was a compound fracture of the thigh bone, no danger was anticipated, and, after he had been removed to the No. 1 General Hospital at Etretat, he got well over the operation ; but a good deal of bronchitis caused anxiety, and, pneumonia supervening, he died on the 25th. He is buried in the cemetery at Etretat. The Nursing Sister wrote of him : " We were able to see what a splendid man he was in the very short time we had him with us. He was one of the most unselfish patients I have ever met. His one thought was for others and fear lest he should be disturbing them. The Sisters and Orderlies cannot say enough for his patience and thought for others, and could not do enough for him." He was mentioned in Sir Douglas Haig's Despatch dated April 30th, 1916. To his qualities and services as an officer, and especially as a Company Commander, unanimous testimony is borne by the Second in Command, by his brother officers and the Subalterns of his Company, and by the Chaplain. The following is from a Lieutenant's letter: " His cheerfulness and kindness endeared him alike to both officers and men. Any credit that this Battalion may gain out of the war will always be due to him. It is impossible to put into words how much, not only his Company, but all the Battalion, will miss him and mourn the loss of one of the best and kindest men who ever lived." The French Interpreter Officer attached to the Brigade wrote of his " frank, open manner, his charming friendliness to everybody; his keenness, courage and force." " Capt. Hammond," he said, " has been my best friend in any Regiment of this Brigade. He was a splendid specimen of your New Armies Officers." The Second in Command wrote : " You will have the consolation of knowing that the whole Regiment to the youngest soldier are mourning your son. What we shall do without him, God knows. He made this Regiment. . . . To him and no other will be due any credit that may come to us. As a Company Commander he had no equal with us. All through the trying times in the trenches his Company were always the best, thanks to his personal magnetism. They are heart-broken." He concluded by expressing the wish of the officers to be allowed to put up a marble cross in the cemetery at Etretat.