Charles Sackville Pelham was killed in action on this day in 1914
Charles Pelham was born on 14 August 1887, the eldest son of the Earl and Countess of Yarborough. The family lived at Brocklesby Hall. Charles was educated at Eton College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
In October 1907, Charles was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant and promoted to Lieutenant in 1908. On 31 January 1911 he married Alexandra Mary Freesia Vivian daughter of Hussey Vivian, 3rd Baron Vivian and the former Louisa Alice Duff, and sister-in-law of General Haig, to whom he served as an extra ADC from 1912 to 1913, rejoining his regiment, The Royal Horse Guards, in 1913.
On 30 October 1914, the Germans mounted an offensive in an effort to capture Ypres. Charles was in command of a Machine Gun Company at Zandvoorde on this day – after the engagement, he was reported as missing. It was believed for some time that he was a prisoner of war but in January 1915, his family found out through the American Delegation in Berlin that he had been killed in action on 30 October 1914.
His body was recovered that day by a German nobleman, Oberleutnant Freiherr Sigmund von Pranck, of the Bavarian Jaeger Regiment, who, through binoculars, had witnessed the actions of Charles in the engagement and who recovered his body after the action. Charles was buried by the Germans at Zaandvoorde, with his grave marked by a cross erected by the Germans.
After the war, the grave was located and marked by a new cross. The grave was later removed to Ypres Town Cemetery Extension in 1921.
Both the original German Cross and the later cross were returned to the family and are now in All Saints, Brocklesby. There is also a memorial to Charles in this church.
After the war Lady Worsley resolved to purchase a plot of land on the site of the action to commemorate her husband and his comrades who had been killed there. This was done and was later donated by her to the Imperial War Graves Commission. The Household Cavalry chose it for their memorial which commemorates the 120 members of 1st Lifeguards, 118 members of 2nd Life Guards and 62 men of the Royal Horse Guards. The memorial was unveiled by Field Marshal Haig, Colonel of the Blues in 1924.
Lieutenant Lord Charles Sackville Pelham, Royal Horse Guards