Guest Holden Posted 27 October , 2003 Share Posted 27 October , 2003 I have just extensively researched the political career of Thomas 'Tommy' Charles Agar-Robartes MP (1881-1915), son and heir of the Viscount Cliden. Tommy was a gifted politician whose career was cut short by his death in Loos in September 1915. At the outbreak of war he was a volunteer in the Devon Yeomanry. Desperate to get to the front he joined the Royal Bucks Hussars, who to his horror were stationed in England. Tommy then joined the Coldstream Guards as an officer and was subsequently posted to France. There area few small pieces of info in the Churchill and Asquith collections but very little about his military career. Tommy lived and entertained his Liberal colleagues at Lanhydrock House in Cornwall, now owned by the National Trust. Indeed his bedroom is open to the public and displays a fine dressing case that returned from Loos in 1915. Can anybody help with any information. I suspect he worked in some diplomatic role, like his best friend Neil Primrose the son of Lord Rosebery (killed in 1917 in Palestine). Many thanks Paul Holden House and Collections Manager Lanhydrock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pete Wood Posted 27 October , 2003 Share Posted 27 October , 2003 Welcome to the forum, Paul. I know that all your questions will be amswered. But while we wait to hear from the experts, I would be obliged if you could post a picture of Tommy's valise - and tell the story about it to the forum. It made the hairs rise on the back of my neck when I first heard about it. I can tell you that one batman (I believe he had at least three) to Tommy was Pte Harry Bowen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pete Wood Posted 27 October , 2003 Share Posted 27 October , 2003 Name: AGAR-ROBARTES, THOMAS CHARLES REGINALD Initials: T C R Nationality: United Kingdom Rank: Captain (The Hon.) Regiment: Coldstream Guards Unit Text: Commanding No. 2 Coy. 1st Bn. Age: 35 Date of Death: 30/09/1915 Additional information: Eldest son of Thomas Charles, 6th Viscount Clifden, and Mary, Viscountess Clifden, of Lanhydrock, Bodmin, Cornwall. Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. Member of Parliament for St. Austell and Mid-Cornwall since 1908. Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: I. D. 33. Cemetery: LAPUGNOY MILITARY CEMETERY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Wills Posted 27 October , 2003 Share Posted 27 October , 2003 “Tommy Robartes was a remarkable man…devoid of fear”, according to his brother officer Lt G Barry, who recounts Tommy’s remarkable musical escapade in Chapter 29 of Lyn MacDonald’s 1915 – The Death of Innocence. Robartes wanted to form a band in his company of Coldstream Guards, and on home leave bought the necessary instruments to do so. The band, a little ensemble of about 10 players, became so good that they were allowed to accompany route marches. However, Tommy had sworn revenge for the loss of two sergeants during an eventful spell in the line, and he decided that the band would be the best means to settle the score (if you’ll forgive the pun). They advertised a musical entertainment in German, which they stuck above the parapet. The show would start at midnight, which indeed it did, and the Germans were treated to plenty of music to their liking, such as The Watch on the Rhine. However, what they didn’t know was that our front line had been evacuated, and the artillery had been primed to let rip on the opposing trenches three minutes into the concert. To cut several pages of Miss MacDonald’s account short, Tommy exacted his revenge, on 4th August 1915. Can I use this story as an example of the war's musical connections which I am collecting, and as an opportunity to ask fellow Pals for any similar material, military or civilian, which they may come across. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pete Wood Posted 27 October , 2003 Share Posted 27 October , 2003 The following are extracts from the London Gazette, to do with Tommy's military career - and his death: Buckinghamshire (Royal Bucks Hussars); the date of appointment of Second Lieutenants William C. Stokes and Thomas C. R. Agar- Robartes is 5th August, 1914, and not as stated in the London Gazette of the 22nd September, 1914. Buckinghamshire (Royal Bucks Hussars). Second Lieutenant Thomas C. R. Agar- Robartes to be Captain. Dated 19th September, 1914. FOOT GUARDS. Coldstream Guards, Captain The Honourable Thomas Charles Reginald Agar-Robartes, from Buckinghamshire (Royal Bucks Hussars) Yeomanry, Territorial Force, to be Lieutenant. Dated 5th January, 1915. SPECIAL RESERVE OF OFFICERS. RESERVE UNITS. INFANTRY. The undermentioned Lieutenants to be temporary Captains, supernumerary to establishment: — Dated 10th June, 1915. S. G. F. Taylor. Charles, Viscount Marsham. The Honourable T. C. R. Agar-Robartes, Special Reserve. NOTICE is hereby given, that all creditors and other persons having any debts, claims or demands against the estate of Thomas Charles Reginald Agar-Robartes, late of 1, Great Stanhope-street, Mayfair, W., a Captain in His Majesty's Coldstream Guards (who died on the 30th day of September, 1915, and whose will was proved in the Principal Registry of the Probate Division of His Majesty's High Court of Justice, on the 17th day of November, 1915, by Francis Gerald Agar-Robartes, one of the executors therein named), are hereby required to send particulars, in writing, of their debts, claims or demands to us, the undersigned, as Solicitors to the said executor, on or before the 20th day of December, 1915, after which date the said executor will proceed to distribute the assets of the said deceased amongst the persons entitled thereto, having regard only to the debts, claims and demands of which he shall then have had notice; and that he will not be liable for the assets, or any part thereof, so distributed, to any person or persons of whose debt, claim or demand he shall not then have had notice.—Dated this 20th day of November, 1915. SPEECHLY, MUMFORD and CRAIG, 10, New- square, Lincoln's-inn, W.C., Solicitors for the said Executor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Posted 28 October , 2003 Share Posted 28 October , 2003 There is an account of some of the case's contents on the website http://w1.865.telia.com/~u86517080/Battlef...ml#anchor137031 The article adds that Capt Agar-Robartes was killed by a sniper while bringing in a wounded private from no man's land after an attack on Hill 70. He had apparently already saved a sergeant and was recommended for the VC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pete Wood Posted 29 October , 2003 Share Posted 29 October , 2003 Does anyone have access to the war diary of 1 Bn Coldstream Guards for this day, 30th September 1915?? I'd really like to know if Tommy gets a mention. Also, if TCR Agar-Robartes was nominated for a VC (but didn't get it), does that mean he would have received another medal - or a Mention in Dispatches (MiD)....?? If so, does anyone have further info?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Lees Posted 31 October , 2003 Share Posted 31 October , 2003 Paul, Do you have a photo of his grave? Ken I have a better quality version if you would like it sending direct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Lees Posted 13 December , 2003 Share Posted 13 December , 2003 Also, if TCR Agar-Robartes was nominated for a VC (but didn't get it), does that mean he would have received another medal - or a Mention in Dispatches (MiD)....?? If so, does anyone have further info?? If he was recommended for a VC, it is unlikely that, his senior officers having decided that a VC wasn't merited, would opt for not giving him any award at all. I have seen a number of citations where the award recommended has been reduced, DCM to MM, MC to MID, etc., however the circumstances would have been very unusual for the man's immediate senior officer to have believed his actions worthy of the highest honour, only for someone further up the chain of command to deny him even the lowest of honours and rewards. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Brown Posted 13 December , 2003 Share Posted 13 December , 2003 There is a brief mention in War Illustrated but nothing to add to what you already have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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