Major Guy Roger COLES (146967)
155th (Lanarkshire Yeomanry) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery

Date of birth: 21st June 1894
Date of death: 5th September 1944

Died aged 50
Buried at Kanchanburi War Cemetery Plot 8 Row A Grave 39
Guy Roger Coles was born at Caterham on the 21st of June 1894 the third son of Ernest Henry Coles, a manufacturer of Indian rubber, and Adela Caroline (nee Powell) Coles of "Arnolds" Holmwood in Surrey. He was christened at St Mary's Church, Caterham on the 29th of July 1894.

He was educated at Hazelwood School until April 1908 where he was a member of the Choir. he was a member of the Cricket XI in 1906 and 1907 and of the Football XI in 1906 and 1907. The school magazine wrote the following on his 1906 cricket season: " A rare little all round sportsman who has everything to learn as a batsman, but is already dangerous as a bowler and in the field."

Of his 1907 cricket season they wrote: - "Quite a clever bowler and very keen in the field. A resolute and courageous bat with little pretension to style."

The magazine wrote the following on his 1906 football season: - "(Outside left) - A very capable forward, swift, tricky, and effective; always conspicuous, though his right foot needs more strength and precision."

Of his 1907 football season they wrote: - "(Outside left) - Quite the finest dribbler in the team; plays with splendid pluck and resolution, and middle accurately, though not always at the opportune moment."

On leaving the school the magazine wrote of him: - "....goes to Marlborough. A fine all round athlete, he should make his mark at public school. has been the backbone of the school choir. He will be very hard to replace in every sense."

He went on to Marlborough College where he was in Preshute House from May 1908 until December 1912 and was a member of the Hockey XI from 1908. In 1913 he went on to University College Oxford where he played varsity hockey winning a Blue in 1914.

He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 1/7th Battalion Hampshire Regiment on the 29th of August 1914 and transferred to the 30th Lancers, Indian Army in 1917. He was promoted to Acting Captain while in command of a Squadron on the 10th of November 1918 and to Captain on the 29th of May 1919, returning from the Punjab in 1919 for demobilisation.

He worked for W. Warne and Co Ltd, rubber manufacturers of 29 Gresham Street London and became a Director and sales manager for the Rubber Mills, Barking, Essex. He played hockey for Beckenham Hockey Club and played for England from 1921 to 1923, playing against Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

He was married to Alice Ivy Henrietta (nee Keswick), on the 29th of September 1923 at the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Holmwood; they had a son, David James, born on the 3rd of October 1926. They lived at Chart Cottage, Dorking in Surrey and later at Woolston Hall, Chigwell in Essex.

Following the outbreak of the Second World War he served as an ARP Warden at Chigwell before being granted an emergency commission as a Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery on the 30th of August 1940. He was promoted to Acting Captain on the 16th of December 1940. He was posted to the 155th (Lanarkshire Yeomanry) Field Regiment and, in August 1941, he went with them to the Far East.

When the Japanese invaded Malaysia in December 1941 the regiment was involved in a series of rearguard actions including the action at Kampar on the 31st of December 1941 and at the battle at the Slim River on the 7th of January 1942 where their Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Murdoch, was killed. After the battle the survivors were amalgamated with 137 Field Regiment and by February they were in Singapore where they were forced to surrender at the fall of the city and passed into captivity on the 15th of February 1942.

The men were initially interned at Changi Jail but from October 1942 they were moved to camps with one group being employed on the building of the bridge at Tha Makhan on the Burma Thailand Railway. Guy Coles was initially transferred to River Valley Road Camp at Singapore on the 9th of November 1942 but was later moved to Thailand where he died from Huntington's chorea at Nakon Pathon Camp on the Burma railroad.

He is commemorated on the war memorial at Marlborough College and on the memorial at St Peter's Church, at Seaview on the Isle of Wight.

His brother, Captain Edgar Ralph Coles 3rd (Prince of Wales') Dragoon Guards, was killed in action on the 12th of May 1915.
Went on to Marlborough College

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