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Derwent Christopher TURNBULL

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Surname: TURNBULL

Forename(s): Derwent Christopher

Place of Birth: Tettenhall, Staffordshire

Service No: ---

Rank: Lieutenant

Regiment / Corps / Service: Royal Army Medical Corps

Battalion / Unit: 84th (2nd London) Field Ambulance attd. to 1st Bn Cheshire Regiment

Division: 5th Division

Age: ---

Date of Death: 1915-03-14

Awards: M.I.D.

CWGC Grave / Memorial Reference: D. 26.

CWGC Cemetery: RAMPARTS CEMETERY, LILLE GATE

CWGC Memorial: ---

Non-CWGC Burial: ---

Local War Memorial: GIGGLESWICK SCHOOL, YORKSHIRE

Additional Information:

Derwent Christopher Turnbull (born 28 August 1890) was the son of William Peverill and Fanny Turnbull, née Hayes. William was born at Hackness, Yorkshire and Fanny at Wolverhampton, Staffordshire.

1901 Ecclesall, Yorkshire Census: 459, Glossop Road - Derwent Christopher Turnbull, aged 10 years, born Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, son of William Peverill and Fanny Turnbull.

1911 Giggleswick, Yorkshire Census: Holly Bank - Derwent Christopher Turnbull, aged 20 years, born Tettenhall, Staffordshire, son of William Peverill and Fanny Turnbull.

British Army WW1 Medal Rolls Index Cards: Lieut Derwent Christopher Turnbull, R.A.M.C. attd Cheshire Regiment. Theatre of War first served in: ( - ). Date of entry therein: ( - ). Correspondence: Brother - E.L. Turnbull Esq. c/o Mrs. W.P. Turnbull, Burway House, Church Stretton, Salop.

Record of Officers' Effects: Lieut D.C. Turnbull. Regt. or Corps: R.A.M.C. att Cheshire. Date and Place of Death: 13.3.15. Killed in action. Amount/To whom issued: £71 16s. 5d. Sister - Miss Margaret Frances Turnbull.

Derwent served with the 84th (2nd London) Field Ambulance, 28th Division, but was attached to the 1st Bn Cheshire Regiment, 5th Division, when he died of wounds.

Derwent is commemorated on the Church Stretton War Memorial and on his parents’ gravestone at Church Stretton (Cunnery Road) Cemetery, Shropshire. He is also listed in Shropshire's Sacrifice in the Great War, a Roll of Honour commemorating the counties war dead at St. Chad’s Church, Shrewsbury.

Photograph: 'de Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour 1914-1918' - Part One.

Data Source: Craven Herald Article

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Entry in West Yorkshire Pioneer Illustrated War Record: ---

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Lieutenant Derwent Christopher TURNBULL

Lieutenant Derwent Christopher TURNBULL

Regiment / Corps / Service Badge: Royal Army Medical Corps

Regiment / Corps / Service Badge: Royal Army Medical Corps

Divisional Sign / Service Insignia: 5th Division

Divisional Sign / Service Insignia: 5th Division

Data from Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914 - 1919 Records

Soldiers Died Data for Soldier Records

Surname: TURNBULL

Forename(s): Derwent Christopher

Born:

Residence:

Enlisted:

Number:

Rank: Lt

Regiment: Royal Army Medical Corps

Battalion:

Decorations:

Died Date: 14/03/15

Died How: Died of wounds

Theatre of War:

Notes: (Att Chesh Regt)

Data from Commonwealth War Graves Commission Records

CWGC Data for Soldier Records

Surname: TURNBULL

Forename(s): Derwent Christopher

Country of Service: United Kingdom

Service Number:

Rank: Lieutenant

Regiment: Royal Army Medical Corps

Unit: 84th Field Amb. attd. 1st Bn. Cheshire Regiment

Age: 24

Awards: Mentioned in Despatches

Died Date: 14/03/1915

Additional Information: Son of the late William Peveril Turnbull and Fanny Turnbull. Born at Wolverhampton. (CWGC Headstone Personal Inscription: BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD)

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DE RUVIGNY'S ROLL OF HONOUR 1914-1918 - Part One

TURNBULL, DERWENT CHRISTOPHER, M.B., Lieut., R.A.M.C., 5th s. of William Peverill Turnbull, of Burway House, Church Stretton, co. Salop, late H.M. Divisional Inspector of Schools, by his wife, Fanny, dau. of the late Edwin John Hayes, Town Clerk of Birmingham; b. 28 Aug. 1890; educ. Private Schools, Sheffield, the Sheffield Royal Grammar School, and King Edward’s VII’s School at Sheffield, Giggleswick School, and the University of Sheffield; volunteered in 1914, obtained a commission as Lieut. in the R.A.M.C. Dec. 1914; was for some weeks a medical officer at King George V’s Hospital, Dublin; went to France 15 Feb. 1915; was attd. to 84th Field Ambulance, 28th Division, but on 9 March was lent as a temporary M.O. to the 1st Battn. Cheshire Regt., and died at St. Eloi, 14 March 1915, having been wounded on the 10th; unm. He was buried in a burial ground at Ypres. On the morning of 10 March, 1915, while Lieut. D.C. Turnbull was in his dressing station, a message came that an officer in a trench was bleeding to death. Lieut, Turnbull, with an orderly, volunteered to go to him, and about 10.30 a.m. crossed the danger zone, and reached the trench, which was about 3ft. deep and half full of water. Lieut. Turnbull attended to the wounded man but, judging some further operation necessary, determined to remove him to the dressing station. Rifle fire, however, prevented this, and the wounded officer and Lieut. Turnbull and the orderly were unable to get away from the trenches for many hours. About 6 p.m. they made an attempt in the course of which the wounded officer received a further wound and Lieut. Turnbull was shot in the lung. Of this he died four days later notwithstanding the utmost efforts made on his behalf by his colleagues, Capt. Bickerton and Lieut. Haynes. The orderly, Private (now Corpl.) J. Needham (1st Cheshires), afterwards received the D.C.M. for his conduct on this occasion. Lieut.-Col. W. Salisbury Sharpe, R.A.M.C., wrote: “I do not know what form official recognition will take, but I can assure you of my personal appreciation that no greater instance of heroic self-sacrifice will be recorded during the war;” and Capt. R.E. Bickerton, R.A.M.C., “The stretcher-bearers of my section have spoken very, very kindly of him and admired his pluck, saying that he never let them cross a risky part of the road without being there himself.” Lieut. Turnbull was mentioned in F.M. Sir John (now Lord) French’s Despatch of 31 May [London Gazette, 22 June], 1915, for gallant and distinguished service in the field.

England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966

1915

TURNBULL Derwent Christopher of Burway House Church Stretton Shropshire lieutenant R.A.M.C. died 14 March 1915 at Ypres Belgium Probate London 17 August to Edwin Lawrence Turnbull second-lieutenant 15 battalion Rifle Brigade. Effects £160 18s. 6d.

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Ramparts Cemetery, Lille Gate

Ramparts Cemetery, Lille Gate

CWGC Headstone

Courtesy of Aurel Sercu, Boezinge, Belgium

Ramparts Cemetery, Lille Gate

Ramparts Cemetery, Lille Gate

CWGC Headstone - personal inscription

Courtesy of Aurel Sercu, Boezinge, Belgium

Church Stretton War Memorial

Church Stretton War Memorial

© Mark Church (WMR-13780)

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View Craven Herald Articles

Craven Herald and Wensleydale Standard Logo

02 April 1915

SETTLE – The War's Toll

The death was announced last week of Lieut. K. Musgrave the son of Mr. and Mrs. A. S. J. Musgrave, who at one time resided at Abbeylands, Stackhouse. Lieut. Musgrave had only been a short time at the Front. The last three officers connected with Settle, who have died for their country, all resided at one time at Abbeylands, Stackhouse – Captain Stackhouse, Dr. Turnbull, and Lieut. Musgrave.

View West Yorkshire Pioneer Articles

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West Yorkshire Pioneer Logo

26 March 1915

A Brave Giggleswick Schoolboy

The death at the Front of Dr. Derwent Christopher Turnbull, the son of Mr. W.T. Turnbull, who recently resided at Bankwell, Giggleswick, is greatly regretted by all who knew him in the district. The deceased attended Giggleswick School from 1906 to 1909, and afterwards went to the Sheffield University as a medical student. At the outbreak of war he joined the Army Medical Corps, and became a lieutenant. The story of how he bravely met his death is reported as follows:– Lieutenant Turnbull learnt about 10 a.m. one day that an officer was lying badly wounded in a trench 400 yards beyond the dressing station. It meant almost certain death to reach him by daylight. However, he took the risk and got there. He found an operation necessary, and he decided to remove the officer, but could not get beyond the communication trench. A heavy German fire was directed at him, and all through that day he lay in the trench compressing an artery of the wounded officer by hand to check the bleeding. As darkness fell Mr. Turnbull, helped by an orderly, lifted the officer and started the perilous journey. He got his patient through, but in doing so he received a shot through the lung, from which he died. Reference to his bravery was made in Settle Church on Sunday last, and many newspaper comments have been made. Much sympathy, in which we join, is felt for the family.

04 January 1918

SETTLE’S FALLEN HEROES

Memorial Service at the Parish Church

A memorial service for the Settle soldiers who have fallen in the war was held at the Parish Church last Sunday afternoon. There was a large congregation, and the service was conducted by Rev. W. E. Linney (vicar). The hymns ‘God of the living in Whose eyes,’ ‘Jesus lives,’ ‘On the resurrection morn,’ and ‘ O God our help in aged past’ were sung, and the ‘Last Post’ was sounded at the close of the service by two of the local Cadets. The organist (Mr. F. Lord) also played appropriate music as the congregation assembled and left the church.

The Vicar, in the course of his sermon, said they were met to remember the Settle soldiers, men, and boys – some indeed little more than boys – who had laid down their lives for the country at the war, whether during the year which was just drawing to a close or in the earlier stages of the conflict. When he asked them to remember those heroes that day, he knew that he was asking them to do what they were always doing. They were their own dear ones united to many of them by ties of blood – husbands, fathers, brothers, sons, as well as friends. How could they forget them? Were they not reminded of them day by day by the gaps in their home circles, which could never again be filled by them? They all desired in their hearts that God would bless and keep them, and give them peace. and happiness. The Vicar then read the following list of the Settle men who had laid down their lives:– John Edward Bell, Geo. S. Belles, Fredk. Baldwin, John Barrett, Robert Bateson, William Bradley, Frank Bulcock, George R. Bullock, Herbert Clark, John Cokell, Edward Ellershaw, Jas. Ewart, Wm. Ewart, Fredk. Frost, Harold Goss, Alfred Gower, Joseph Lord, John Morphet, John Packard, Chas. Peachey, Thomas Howarth Preston, Albert Ralph, Thos. Stackhouse, George Edward Turner, Derwent Turnbull, Wm. Troughton, Harry Walton, John Edward Wilson, Ernest Wooff, and Robert Wooff. Proceeding, the Vicar said they had a responsibility with regard to those men. They owed them a debt, and he trusted and believed that they were wishful to do all that they could to repay it. “ Our lives are being saved by their death. If we have any future before us on the earth it is because they gave up their futures to secure it. Their right to survive was as good as our own. Many of them would have been of far more use in the world than we can hope to be. The future stands to be only poorer for our surviving in their stead. We are debtors to them for all they have given us. To the future think of all it has lost in them.” How were they going to pay the debt, and in paying it to honour their heroic dead? Surely there could be but one answer – to live to give effect to their ideals. When they were asked what those ideals were, they might be well put in the words of Bishop Walshaw How’s hymn written for the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria, “To make the world a better world for man’s brief earthly dwelling.” If Prussian militarism should gain the ascendancy the world would be scarcely a fit place to live in. What they wanted was the triumph of right and liberty. That was the task they had begun, and many of them, fired by the enthusiasm of a noble cause, literally went singing to their death. The old life which had no loftier aim than a high standard of material comfort had been felt to be unsatisfactory. To ardent youth the higher spirit of self-sacrifice, which was the spirit of Christ, beckoned onward with irresistible attractiveness, and they followed the gleam. They had yet to complete the great task to which they dedicated themselves. That was the way they could honour the memory of their fallen heroes, and with confidence that they had not died in vain.

A collection taken on behalf of the Red Cross Society realised £5 15s.

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    One Response to Derwent Christopher TURNBULL

    1. M. Backler July 1, 2022 at 10:19 am #

      My name is Margaret Backler from Australia, visited his grave in 2019.

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