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|
| Name: |
GODFREY-FAUSSETT, OWEN GODFREY |
| Initials: |
O G |
| Nationality: |
United Kingdom |
| Rank: |
Lieutenant Colonel |
| Regiment: |
Essex Regiment |
| Unit Text: |
Cdg. 1st Bn |
| Age: |
49 |
| Date of Death: |
02/05/1915 |
| Awards |
DSO |
| Service No: |
|
| Casualty Type: |
Commonwealth War Dead |
| Grave/Memorial Reference: |
Sp. Mem. A. 58 |
| Cemetery: |
REDOUBT
CEMETERY, HELLES |
| Additional information: Son of Col.
William Godfrey-Faussett (44th Regiment); husband of Annette Godfrey-Faussett,
of "Arran," Avenue Rd., St. Albans. |
|
| GODFREY-FAUSSETT, Lieutenant Colonel Owen Godfrey, D.S.O. |
| Commanding Officer, 1st Battalion The Essex Regiment |
| Born
May 13, 1866, in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, the eldest surviving son of the late
Colonel William Godfrey-Faussett, formerly of the 44th Regiment of Foot, and
Sarah (née Wethered) Godfrey-Faussett of Farley Moor, Binfield,
Bracknell, Berkshire. |
|
Husband of Annette Gertrude (née du Cane) Godfrey-Faussett (married
September 14, 1899, at Ingatestone, Essex) of Binfield, Berkshire, and of St.
Albans, Hertfordshire. Father of Margaret S. (born December 4, 1908) and
Annette E. (born November 10, 1910). |
| He
was educated at Wellington College and the R.M.C. Sandhurst. On January 30,
1886, he was gazetted lieutenant in 1886 The Essex Regiment, and on February
15, 1897, he was promoted to captain; to major on November 25, 1905; and the
Lieutenant Colonel on November 29, 1913. |
| He
served in the Boer War, for which he was twice Mentioned in Despatches (L.G.
February 8, 1901, and September 10, 1901), and awarded the Distinguished
Service Order for services to November 29, 1900 (L.G. September 27, 1901,
invested by King Edward VII on November 24, 1902). |
|
During the war he was present during the actions at Poplar Grove, Dreifontein,
Vet River (May 5 and 6, 1900), Zand River, Belfast, Frederick, and Colesberg
(Q.S.A. w/6 clasps, K.S.A. w/2 clasps). He served as Adjutant in the 2nd
Volunteer Battalion The Essex Regiment from June 14, 1902, to October 31, 1905,
and was then posted to the 1st Essex. |
| On the
night of May 1-2, 1915, he was shot in the stomach, and died an hour later,
aged 48 years. Name commemorated on Special Memorial A. 58 in Redoubt Cemetery,
Helles. Name commemorated on the 29th Divisional War Memorial in Ryton, near
Coventry, Warwickshire, and the Ingatestone and Fryerning War Memorial, Essex.
|
| On
May 2, 1915, Captain John Gillam of the Army Service Corps, Supply Officer of
the 88th Brigade, noted in his diary: |
| I
hear also that Godfrey Faussett, Colonel of the Essex, has been killed. This
upsets me far more than danger, and I have the nightmare question running in my
head sometimes now, when talking to my friends or seniors whom I knew so well
in England, “I wonder if I shall see you alive again.” |
| Data from Patrick Gariepy
Eugene, Oregon, USA |