Captain Geoffrey Philip Tregelles
"A" Company 8th(Service) Battalion
Devonshire Regiment
1st July 1916
Born in Penzance, Cornwall in 1892.
His parents were George Fox Tregelles (1853-25/07/1943) and Marion Sturge(1867-21/03/1956). They married in 1890.
He had 1 sister Olga Frances(1899-29/12/1985).
In the 1901 census the family were living at 29 South Street Barnstaple, Devon. George was employed as a bank cashier.
In the 1911 census the family home had changed to
5 Clarence Place, Barnstaple, Devon,but Geoffrey was not living here as he was away at school in Bristol and living with his mothers brother,Theodore Sturge and his family at
Fern Hollow Rockleaze Avenue Stock Bishop Sneyd Park, Bristol.
At the time that war broke out,Geoffrey was attending Cambridge University and was reading Holy Orders.He was also a member of the Cambridge University Officers Training Corps. so that when war did come he joined up straight away in the company of other university students.
He was granted a commission in the Devonshire Regiment on 26/08/1914 and he joined up with his battalion when he went over to France on 05/10/1915.
In the book"The Devonshire Regiment 1914-1918" complied by C.T Atkinson and published in 1926; Geoffrey's death is recorded on page 149."A(company) under Captain Tregelles then pushed forward,but it also came under machine gun fire
near Mansel Copse and lost heavily.Captain Tregelles,an officer of remarkable quality and devotion to duty,who had inspired the company with his spirit,was hit as his men debouched from Mansel Copse."
The Exeter & Plymouth Gazette printed the following in their 07/07/1916 edition;"The deepest sympathy is being expressed with Mr & Mrs G.F. Tregelles of No.5 Clarence Place, Barnstaple in the death of their only son Captain Geoffrey Philip Tregelles,who was killed in action on 1st July 1916.Mr Tregelles Snr is the esteemed cashier at Lloyds Bank in Barnstaple......
He joined his battalion in France in October 1915 and had a varied experience of trench warfare during the winter in several sectors of the British line.His battalion took part in the new offensive now proceeding and he fell on the first day of the battle.The deceased was 24 years of age."
George Tregelles wrote in this letter "My boy had an active original mind and took a keen interest in literature among other things.Had he lived he might have done some good work in that line."
Captain Tregelles was also commemorated in his local church at Newport where his
parents commissioned an altar frontal and a super frontal in his memory.At the dedication ceremony in January 1917 it was said that he had been preparing to become a priest...when war broke out and he volunteered for service...his chief concern was to do his duty well,even at the supreme cost of self-sacrifice.He was"faithful unto death"."
Administration of his will to his father took place in London on 23/09/1916 with effects of £168 12s (worth today around £16,494.78).
He was awarded 1914-1915 Star,British War 1914-1918 and the Allied Victory medals.