Percy D'Aguilar Banks was killed in action on this day in 1915

Born in Bath on 9 May 1885, Percy was the only son of Col Samuel Henry O’Brien Banks of Eaton Place, Brighton, and mother Katherine Rosa D'Aguilar (née Burton), daughter of the late Senior Chaplain to the Armed Forces and grandson of Dr Henry Banks of Wicklow, Ireland.

Percy was educated at St. Peter’s, Weston, Cheltenham College and at Sandhurst.

At the 1901 Census, Percy and his mother were living at 18 Imperial Square, Cheltenham, where he attended college. Here, he won the school's rackets and fives prizes. He was in the cricket eleven here and at Sandhurst and played for the Somerset County eleven. In Lahore, he played polo, in 1913 touring Germany and winning a series of cups - the Challenge Cup, Champion Cup and Ladies Cup.

Percy was gazetted 2nd Lieut. in the 2nd Bn. Wiltshire Regiment on 10 October 1903. In the following November, he left for India where he joined the 1st Bn in 1904. He was appointed to the Guides the following year and promoted Lieutenant in 1906. He was ADC to the Hon A D Younghusband CSI Commissioner in Sind during the visit of the King, then Prince of Wales, to India in 1906.

Percy was appointed Captain on 10 October 1912.

He was killed during the Second Battle of Ypres only 50 yards from the German lines. On that day, Wilde's Rifles were in the front line of the Ferozepore Brigade. The position to be assaulted was an extremely strong one, and the assaulting force laboured under heavy disadvantages. It had been impossible to reconnoitre the ground in a satisfactory manner and little was known of the exact position of the German line beyond the fact that it was somewhere on the opposite ridge abut 1,500 yards distant.

The land was devoid of cover and rose slightly towards the German lines which had a commanding view of the entire area. There was murderous fire which saw the CO and four colleagues severely wounded some yards from the start.

Captain Banks’ Orderly, a Sikh named Bhan Singh, who had been with Banks when he was killed, although severely wounded in the face himself, waited for dark and brought his body in. Banks was buried near a farm two miles north east of Ypres.

Captain Banks was hugely admired by his fellow officers and the Indian soldiers in his charge, and was mentioned in F M Sir John French's despatch of 1 Jan 1916

For his bravery and devotion, Bhan Singh was awarded the Indian DSM

Captain Percy D’Aguilar Banks is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial.

Captain Percy D’Aguilar Banks, Queen Victoria’s Own Corps of Guides attached to the 57th Wilde's Rifles