William Duncan GEARE

DE RUVIGNY'S ROLL OF HONOUR 1914-1918 – Part Three

GEARE, WILLIAM DUNCAN, M.A., cantab., Capt., Army Chaplains’ Dept., attd. 1/7th and 1/9th The King’s (Liverpool Regt.) (T.F.), yr. s. of Henry Cecil Geare, of 14, Chalcot Gardens, Hampstead, N.W., Solicitor, by his wife, Caroline Isabella, dau. of the Rev. William Brown Galloway; b. Hampstead, N.W., 28 Nov. 1890; educ. Westminster School, and Queens’ College, Cambridge, where he took his B.A. degree; passed into the Leeds Clergy School; was ordained Deacon in Ripon Cathedral Dec. 1913, becoming Curate at St. Margaret’s Ilkley; the following year he was ordained priest, and in Jan. 1915, took his M.A. degree; was gazetted Army Chaplain in May, 1916, and appointed to the R.A. and R.E. Depot at Ripon; served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from Sept. 1916, with the King’s (Liverpool Regt.), and was killed in action in the fighting line at Ypres 31 July 1917, while ministering to the wounded. Buried in Vlamertinghe Cemetery, near Ypres. His Senior Chaplain wrote: “He was absolutely regardless of danger, always anxious to be with his men wherever they went, and he never spared himself in his anxiety to serve them. His bravery and example have been an inspiration, and his work all the time he has been out here has been splendid,” and another officer: “He insisted on living with us in the trenches and sharing our common dangers, and he was always doing good in one direction or another. Almost every day he went round some part of the trenches on his own accord, and whenever there was a raid on he was off like a shot to the dressing station to see what he could do for the wounded.” One of his men also wrote: “It came as a terrible blow to me and my chums of the 7th and 9th King’s to hear of Mr. Geare’s untimely death. If we were in need of help at any time, Mr. Geare was the one to see us through. At one time we had no canteen to keep us supplied with ‘fags’ while in the line. But Mr. Geare soon altered that, and made us happy. If any concerts were to be organized, leave that to Mr. Geare, and everything would be O.K. In fact if anything was needed to lighten our burdens and make us happy, Mr. Geare was the one to put things right for us. So you can imagine how much we feel his loss, the loss of more than a friend, as he proved himself in his Christian charity and willingness to succour those in need of it. . . . Mr. Geare has certainly, by his heroic death and noble work at all times, shown his critics that clergymen do not, and never did, shirk their duty as patriots by hiding under the protection of the Church.” Unm.

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

1917

GEARE the reverend William Duncan of 14 Chalcot-gardens Hampstead Middlesex clerk chaplain to His Majesty’s Forces died 31 July 1917 in France Probate London 8 September to Henry Leslie Geare captain His Majesty’s Army. Effects £379 16s. 1d.