Captain A Mare (1895 - 1918)

Arthur Llewellyn Mare was the son of Charles Dennis Mare and his wife Mary. When Arthur was born, his father was land agent at Worth Park Estate, East Grinstead, Sussex. By 1911 the family had moved to Oldbury Wells, Bridgnorth - although by that time Arthur was at boarding school in Worcester.

Arthur served in the Liverpool Regiment as a Corporal. On the outbreak of war he was commissioned and joined 33 Brigade, Royal Field Artillery as a temporary Lieutenant. At the time of his death he held the rank of T/Lieutenant (A/Major).

33 Bd RFA was part of 8th Division (which was part of IX Corps). It went to France in November, 1914 and spent the whole war on the Western Front. Captain Mare went to France on 9th August, 1917. - just in time for the Battle of Langemark (part of the Third Battle of Ypres). In the following year IX Corps saw action during the first phase of the Battles of the Somme (1918).

In April, 1918, IX Corps was resting and refitting when it came under German attack at the start of the Battle of the Aisne. Arthur's death on 27th April coincides with the first day of the battle.

Captain Mare is remembered on the Soissons Memorial, which commemorates the officers and men who died in the battle and who have no known grave. His death was reported in the Bridgnorth Journal on 20 July, 1918. He was awarded the Victory and British Medals.

KILLED IN ACTION
[Bridgnorth Journal, Saturday 20th July, 1918]
We regret to have to record the death in action, at the battle of the Aisne on May 27th, of Captain Arthur L. Mare. He was the son of the late Mr. Charles Dennis Mare, of The Cottage, Bridgnorth. He enlisted in the first week of the War, as a private in Kitchener's Army, in one of the King's Liverpool Regiments, and served in the ranks for some time. He got a commission, without applying for it, in about three months' time. Then he joined the Cyclist Corps in France. Later he was made Assistant Provost Marshal at Havre and was on the Staff, but feeling that he ought to be in more active service he joined the R.F.A. He subsequently became Captain, and was Acting-Major and commanding his Battery when he fell. He was in his twenty-third year. Of course his being cut off is the more tragic coming so soon after his mother's death. Colonel F. J. Lamont wrote to the family of Captain Mare as follows: "On behalf of the Division, more particularly the Divisional Artillery and myself, may I tender you and yours our deep and sincere sympathy in the great loss you have sustained in the death of your nephew, Captain A. L. Mare. Knowing as we did what a real, good, gallant man he was, we can all the more readily realise the great loss you have sustained. He fought his Battery against enormous odds with the greatest devotion and determination, adding to the glory of his Battery and Royal Regiment. We all miss and mourn him - a gallant comrade and a good friend. He set a splendid example to his Battery and he will be avenged manifold."

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