Captain Claude Charles BAMBER
1st Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment attached to the 7th Gurkha Rifles

Date of birth: 29th July 1889
Date of death: 26th January 1919

Died of wounds aged 29
Buried at Kohat Cemetery Grave 173
He was born at Mooltan, West Bengal in India on the 29th of July 1889 the twin son of Charles James Bamber, Inspector General of Civil Hospitals in the Punjab, and Claudine O'Clanis (nee O’Brien) of "Barncroft", Rainford Road, St Helens in Lancashire. He was christened at Mooltan on the 14th of August 1889.

He attended the Junior King’s School for two terms from January to July 1902. He and his brother tried to gain entry to Winchester College but were not accepted and, as a result, their father sent them to school at Heidelberg in Germany where they excelled at hockey.

He attended the Royal Military College Sandhurst following which he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment on the 18th of September 1909. He was promoted to Lieutenant on the 14th of December 1910.

On the outbreak of war he was Machine Gun Officer with the 1st Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment stationed at Shorncliffe. On the 22nd of August 1914 he embarked with his battalion on board the SS "Caledonia" at Southampton and arrived off Boulogne at 8pm the same day. They disembarked the following day and went by train to Le Cateau where they saw their first action.

By the 18th of October they were in trenches at Houplines, near Armentieres where they were to be for the next month.

On the 1st of November 1914 Claude Bamber was shot by a sniper. The bullet entered above the right buttock, passed out of his groin slightly above the femoral artery and damaging the nerves in his right leg. He was evacuated to England and entered King's College hospital on the 5th of November. He left hospital on the 17th of December and was given three weeks leave. He was given a further examination on his return from leave and was placed on two months light duty on the Isle of Wight. While he was there he continued to suffer from a form of neuritis, and underwent some unsuccessful treatment at Parkhurst Hospital.

On the 2nd of February 1915 he was married to Dorothy Maud Carnegie (nee Cheales) with Bamber's close friend and battalion comrade, Bernard Law Montgomery OKS being best man. They had two sons, Claude John Carnegie, born on the 5th of September 1915 and David Morrough, born on the 12th of May 1917.

On the 19th of May 1915 he was admitted to a nerve hospital at 10 Palace Green Road in London where he was confirmed as having meralgia paraesthetica and was given an injection of alcohol which failed to improve the symptoms. He was then operated on which proved to be a success and, on his recovery he was given six weeks leave from the 7th of July.

He was promoted to Captain on the 1st of September 1915 and returned to France on the 1st of October. On the 7th of February 1916 he was gassed during a mine explosion and spent ten days on hospital in France followed by ten days leave.

On the 13th of May 1916 he was riding from his Company Headquarters to the front line trenches when his horse fell and rolled on his leg, fracturing his fibula. He was evacuated back to England and was admitted to the Eccelstone Hospital for officers until the 15th of June when he was given six weeks leave followed by a month's light duty. He suffered considerable "causelagia" in his leg during this time, and was referred to a psychiatrist. He applied for a wound payment in a letter dated the 24th of March 1917 and received the sum of £208 6 shillings and 8 pence which related to his first wound as the other two injuries were deemed ineligible.

On the 25th of September 1916 he was posted to be an instructor at the Machine Gun Corps Training Centre at Grantham, a position he relinquished on the 21st of June 1917.

He returned to France where he was attached to the 227th Company Machine Gun Corps. On the 4th of October 1917 the Company was involved in a major attack at Langemark. During the attack Claude Bamber was wounded in the front lower right thigh by shrapnel which was embedded at the back of the thigh. He was taken to No 4 Stationary Hospital at Abbeville where the shrapnel was removed. He was evacuated via Le Havre to Southampton where he was admitted to the Countess of Pembroke's Hospital at Wilton near Salisbury. He was discharged on the 23rd of November and, following a review of his case by a medical board, he was sent on three weeks leave followed by a month on light duty.

On the 18th of January 1918, following a Medical Board held at Grantham, he was declared "fit for general service.

On the 27th of May 1918, he was seconded to the Indian Army on probation and was attached to the 7th Gurkha Rifles. He was confirmed as a Captain in the Indian Army on the 30th of June 1918 to rank from the 1st of September 1915. On the 31st of July 1918 he was promoted to Acting Major while in command of a depot, a rank he relinquished on the 22nd of August 1918.

He was stationed at Kohat on the North West Frontier where his regiment dealt with the many tribal attacks which were taking place at the time. Wives were not allowed to join officers until the war had been over for a year and mail was often infrequent. As a result, Claude Bamber suffered from depression and was badly wounded by a self inflicted pistol shot from which he died at the Military Hospital, Kohat on the 26th of January 1919. Before he died he had asked those gathered round him what they wanted him to pray for. They asked him to pray for rain. On the day of his funeral it poured with rain.

His wife and children arrived shortly after, her letter carrying news of her trip not having reached him.

On the 10th of November 1919 the India Office wrote a letter requesting Claude Bamber's medical records in order to determine whether his numerous wounds and the treatment following them had had any impact on his state of mind.

His epitaph reads:-

"For while we were among you we determined to preach nothing save Christ Jesus and Him crucified"

His son, Captain Claude John Carnegie Bamber 1st Field Regiment Royal Artillery, died of wounds on the 25th of February 1941.

He is also commemorated on the Delhi Memorial (India Gate) Face 1
Junior King's School

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