Lieutenant Colonel Rowland John Beech died on 30th August 1919, aged 64, whilst Commander of the Warwickshire Yeomanry. He had served in France with the 36th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery during the First World War but was invalided home in 1918.
14th August 1919
Major the Honourable Rupert Leigh died at Stoneleigh Abbey on 14th August 1919, aged 62. He served with the War Office general staff from 1915 until his death, having been a pupil at Sandhurst and a career officer with 15th (King’s) Hussars and the 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards.
9th April 1916
Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Courtenay Brabazon Throckmorton, known as Courtenay, was killed at the Battle of Sannaiyat, Mesopotamia (now Iraq) on 9th April 1916. He was aged 49 and was the eldest son of Captain Richard Acton Throckmorton, whose brother was Sir William Throckmorton of Coughton Court, Warwickshire, 9th Baronet. Courtenay was the heir presumptive to his uncle’s estates.
The local link is that he was a member of the North Warwickshire Hunt, which was based in Meriden.
21st February 1915
Cavalry Officer, 26-year-old Rowland Auriol James Beech, the “apple of his parents’ eye” and a fine horseman, was killed in action on 21st February 1915 serving as a Captain with the 16th Lancers. He was the eldest son of Lieutenant-Colonel Rowland John Beech, who died of illness in 1919 after World War I service, aged 63, and is also recorded as a war casualty on the Commonwealth War Graves site.
