Wilfrid Chaundler Messenger

Birth	1892, Neatham, Hants
Parents	Son of John and Mary Messenger
Residence	95 St George’s Terrace, Jesmond, Northumberland (1911)
Occupation	Engineer Apprentice (1911)
Enlisted	Basingstoke, Hants
Regiment	12th Battalion, Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort’s Own)
Regimental No:
Rank	Captain
Service Record	Served with Rand Rifles all through German South West African Campaign, 1914-15. Served in France & Flanders from 22 Feb. 1916. His Commanding Officer wrote: “He was a splendid soldier, keen, and has done splendidly from the first day he joined the battalion.” On 6th June, 1916, he was buried for three hours in a mine explosion in the Ypres salient, and was rescued by the devotion of his servant.

Death	16th September 1917 Died at No. 2 Red Cross Hospital, Rouen, from wounds received in action at Langemarck 16 August, aged 26
Theatre of War	France & Flanders
Commemoration	St Sever Cemetery, Rouen
Medals	Victory Medal, British War Medal

Wilfrid Chaundler Messenger was born at Bonhams, Neatham, nr Alton, on 13th August 1891, the second son of John and Mary (née Chaundler) Messenger. He was educated at Eggars Grammar School in Alton, Eastman’s School, Southsea and at Lancing College from September 1906 to July 1908. He served as a Private in the Officer Training Corps during his time at Lancing. On leaving the college he studied engineering at Wallsend-on-Tyne and in 1913 he left for South Africa. Following the outbreak of war he volunteered at Johannesburg for service with the Rand Rifles as Rifleman 132 and served during the Boer Rebellion and in German South West Africa from 1st October 1914 until 28th July 1915 when the unit was disbanded. Wilfrid applied for a commission on 11th September 1915 expressing a preference for either the Rifle Brigade or the King’s Royal Rifle Corps. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 14th (Reserve) Battalion Rifle Brigade He served in France from 22nd February 1916 where he was attached to the 12th Battalion of his regiment. Lancing College’s Roll of Honour records:
On the 6th of June 1916 his battalion was at Gully Farm in the Ypres salient when, at 12.15, the enemy opened a barrage on the Rifle Brigade positions, damaging the parapet and cutting telephone communications from the companies in the front line to Battalion Headquarters. At 3.15pm the enemy exploded two mines under the British trenches. One went off well in front of the trenches of the 6th Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry but did no damage. The other went off under the trenches of the 12th Battalion Rifle Brigade, destroying fifty yards of trench and burying Wilfrid Messenger and twenty two men. He was buried for three hours and was rescued by the devotion of his servant. Only he and ten men were pulled out alive and 77 casualties were suffered by the battalion during the attack.
His mother received the following telegram dated 26th July 1916:
Lt WC Messenger 14th Bn Rifle Brigade was admitted July 3rd to No 14 General Hospital Boulogne suffering from severe traumatic neurasthenia.
(commonly known at that time as shell-shock)
He was evacuated back to England for rest, and returned to his unit in France on 5th July but, still suffering from shell-shock, he collapsed in the trenches and was returned to hospital. On 25th July he embarked at Boulogne on board the Hospital Ship St Denis and landed at Dover at midnight on 26th July. He was taken to 4th General Hospital in London. On 28th July 1916 a Medical Board sat to consider his case:
He is suffering from shell shock ... was blown up. Came to England for rest. Returned to France July 5th 1916. Collapsed in trenches after 3 days. Headaches. Tremors!
Wilfrid was granted a month’s sick leave to be taken at home in Neatham. On 22nd August 1916 another Medical Board, in Aldershot, concluded that:
He has not recovered sufficiently to be fit for overseas service.
He was eventually considered fit for duty on 22nd September 1916 and returned to France where he rejoined his battalion in the field.
On the 16th of August 1917 the 12th Battalion Rifle Brigade was in support of an attack at Langemark which would begin at 4.45am. The initial attack went well, with the assaulting battalions securing their objectives. At 9.40am an aeroplane dropped a message at Brigade Headquarters which stated that German troops had been spotted massing some 2,000 yards to the south of Langemark near Poelcappelle and the 12th Battalion Rifle Brigade was ordered to cross the Steenbeek and be prepared to hold the grounds at all costs. Between noon and 3pm they were subjected to heavy shelling which caused twenty casualties among the men of A Company. Despite the enemy shelling, the attack progressed well to begin with but soon came under sustained enemy sniping and machine gun fire causing casualties to mount and after 50 to 100 yards they had lost most of their officers and men, mostly to enfilade fire from their right. After nightfall they were forced to make a new line where they had stopped. Casualties were 4 out of the 5 officers who started the attack killed or seriously wounded with about 100 other ranks killed, wounded or missing out of 175 who began the advance.
Wilfrid was among the wounded, having suffered a gunshot wound in the thigh and a compound fracture of the femur. He was evacuated to the 2nd Red Cross Hospital at Rouen, where he died a month later on 16th September 1917. He was 26 years old. The Battalion Chaplain wrote:
I can say with absolute truth that I have never met an officer whom I respected more, or one whom his men loved better. I could speak too of his deep and sincere religion, and his example was always for good, both to officers and men.
Froyle’s October 1917 Parish Magazine reported his loss:
Captain Wilfrid C Messenger was educated at Lancing, the most famous of the Woodard schools; and on many occasions he served the Altar of St Mary’s Froyle. .... Once buried, and constantly in action, he stood two years of front line Service remarkable well, and had not long to wait for well-earned promotion.
Captain Wilfrid Messenger was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He was laid to rest in the St Sever Cemetery, Rouen, France, Officers Plot Row B Grave 10.4.
Bonhams in 1941
I am most grateful to John Hamblin, of Lancing College, for not only allowing me to reproduce part of the college’s Roll of Honour but also for accessing Wilfrid’s file when at The Record Office at Kew.