Captain Stephen Herbert TWINING MBE
13th (Service) Battalion Middlesex Regiment attached to the Royal Flying Corps

Date of birth: 28th July 1895
Date of death: 5th March 1961

Died aged 65
Buried at St Lawrence's Church Plot 61A
Stephen Herbert Twining was born at St Stephen's Vicarage, Vincent Square in Westminster on the 28th of July 1895 the eldest son of the Reverend William Henry Greaves Twining, Vicar of St Stephen’s Church Westminster, and Agatha Georgina (nee Bourne) Twining of “Red Roofs”, Coombe Lane, Kingston Hill in Surrey.

He was educated at Hazelwood School until April 1906. On leaving the school the magazine wrote of him: - "...has suddenly been awarded a Choral Exhibition at Lancing College. Our congratulations to him on this unexpected event."

He went on to Lancing College where he was in News House and was awarded a Choral Exhibition, leaving the school in December 1911. On leaving school he joined the family firm in 1912 of Messrs R. Twining and Co Ltd tea and coffee makers of 216 Strand London WC2, as a Director.

Following the outbreak of war he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 13th (Service) Battalion Middlesex Regiment on the 16th of September 1914 and embarked for France with his battalion on board the SS "Duchess" on the evening of the 1st of September 1915, landing at Le Havre just after midnight the following morning. By January 1916 he was serving with Battalion Headquarters as Battalion Signalling and Intelligence Officer. On the 23rd of June 1916 he was transferred to the General List for service with the 73rd Light Trench Mortar Battery. On the 17th of December 1916 he was taken ill with trench fever and was evacuated to England from Le Havre on board the HMAT "Warilda" on the 31st of December 1916, landing at Southampton on New Year's Day 1917. He was taken to the 3rd Southern General Hospital at Oxford and was transferred to the Prince of Wales Hospital for Convalescent Officers in February 1917 where a Medical Board sat on the 23rd of March 1917 which declared: -

"He is now fit for home service (1 month) and is recommended to have three weeks leave previous to re-joining."

He later transferred to the Royal Flying Corps with the rank of Lieutenant and was attached to 25 Wing in and was appointed as Acting Adjutant to a Canadian Flying Squadron at Toronto on the 18th of May 1917. He was promoted to Captain on the 8th of July 1918 while working for the Administrative Branch and was posted to 11 Training Depot Squadron on the 11th of October 1918. On the 21st of December 1918 he was declared as - "fit for ground duties only with RAF. Army Cat. B permanently." He was posted to the Headquarters of 21st Wing, Royal Air Force based at Oxford on the 7th of November 1918. He was posted to No. 2 Group on the 11th of February 1919 and was transferred to the Unemployed List on the 30th of April 1919. He was awarded the MBE (Military) in the King’s Birthday Honours List of the 3rd of June 1919.


He became engaged to be married to Angela Pearl Borlase-Stevens in early 1925 but this engagement was broken off and instead he was married to Georgiana Elizabeth (nee Gaskell) at St Stephen’s Church, Rochester Row in Westminster on the 23rd of November 1929. They had a son, Samuel Humfrey Gaskell, born on the 28th of June 1934 and two daughters, Margaret Georgiana, born on the 23rd of March 1935 and Jean, born on the 24th of February 1940.

He did much work with the Boy Scout movement with which he had a lifelong association, particularly in Westminster where he was both Chairman and Vice Chairman of the local association and 1947 he became honorary Commissioner for London. He became a member of the Business Archives Council on its foundation in June 1934, joining the committee in 1936. He was appointed as Secretary in 1946 and as Vice Chairman in 1952. He was appointed as Chairman in 1956 and was instrumental in raising money for the preservation of business archives. He wrote the books, "Some Early Twinings", published in 1927, "225 Years in the Strand", published in 1931 and “The House of Twining 1706-1956”, a short history of the business and the family published in 1956. He was elected to the Royal Warrant Holders Association and became their president in 1956. For many years he was a church warden and for 25 years was Hon Treasurer of St Stephen’s Church, Westminster.

At the time of his death, he was living at “Woolverton House”, St Lawrence on the Isle of Wight and at 155 Sloane Street in London. His funeral took place on the 9th of March 1961 at St Lawrence's Church.
Went on to Lancing College

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