Raymond Hamilton

 

Regiment:  13th Hussars

An officer in the 13th Hussars is commemorated in Netheravon Church having served as the senior tactical instructor in the Cavalry School. Born on the 21st of January 1881 in London Raymond was the son of an Army Officer and followed his father into his own regiment, the Durham Light Infantry, in 1900. He initially served with his regiment in India deploying with the 1st battalion to the Boer war in South Africa. In 1909 he transferred to the 13th Hussars and in 1912 married Gladys Grace with whom they had a son and daughter. A great horseman he excelled at steeplechasing, and whilst at Netheravon in 1912 at the Cavalry School he also learnt to fly (his pilots licence is numbered 327). As an experienced officer he was posted to the 2nd Cavalry Brigade as a staff officer landing in France in August 1914. He fought throughout the first mobile phases of the war and was awarded the Croix de Chevalier de Legion d’Honneur by the French. Sadly on the 4th of August 1915 he was killed in a motor accident near Hazebrook and is buried in Rue-de-Bois cemetery.