Major Gerald Camber DE MATTOS MC
C Company, 9th (Service) Battalion East Lancashire Regiment attached to the 45th (Service) Battalion Royal Fusiliers

Date of birth: 8th August 1892
Date of death: 10th August 1919

Died of wounds aged 27
Buried at Yakovelskol Churchyard Extension
He was born at "Live Oaks", near Chepstow in Monmouthshire on the 8th of August 1892 the son of Harold Augustus De Mattos, a merchant, and Edith Caroline Antoinette (nee De Mattos) of "Beach Cliff, Esplanade, Penarth Glamorgan and later of Lagonda Lodge, Mersham in Kent.

He was educated at the Royal Naval College Osborne from May 1905 to May 1907, at Shrewsbury House Preparatory School, Surbiton from May to August 1907, where he won honours, and at the King’s School Canterbury from September 1907 to December 1910 where he was a Private in the Officer Training Corps.

On the 10th of December 1910 he applied for entry to the Royal Military College Sandhurst and in 1911 he passed 79th in the examinations and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the East Lancashire Regiment on the 13th of March 1912. He was promoted to Lieutenant on the 28th of May 1913 and resigned his commission on the 5th of November 1913.

On leaving the army he went to work for his father as a merchant and on the outbreak of war he was in the United States. He embarked at New York on the SS "Progreso" and landed at Liverpool on the 22nd of August 1914.

He rejoined the army and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant on probation in the 3rd Battalion King's Liverpool Regiment on the 15th of August 1914.

He later transferred to the 9th Battalion of his old regiment and embarked at Folkestone with his battalion on the 4th of September 1915, landing at Boulogne the following day. Having served in the trenches the battalion was posted to Salonika and on the 28th of October 1915 they embarked at Marseilles on board the SS "Ionian", arriving at Alexandria on the 31st of October and at Salonika on the 5th of November. On the 7th of November they arrived at Dorian and moved into trenches there on the 11th of November.

From December 1915 until April 1916 the battalion were engaged in the construction of defensive positions at the "Birdcage" at Daudli in preparation for an expected Bulgarian attack in the spring. In May 1916 they returned to the Dorian front. On the 14th of September they fought an action at Macukovo where they lost around a third of their strength.

On the 17th of September 1916 Gerald De Mattos was admitted to 66 Field Ambulance suffering from gastroenteritis. He rejoined his battalion in the field at the Krusha Balkan Hills sector of the line, to the east of Lake Dorian on the 22nd of December when he was given command of C Company.

By the end of January 1917 the battalion had moved to the Vardar sector to the west of Lake Dorian. On the 24th of February 1917 he was attached for instruction in liaison duties and returned to the battalion on the 7th of March. On the 7th of May 1917 he was appointed as President of the audit board which was assembled to audit the regimental accounts. On the 5th of June 1917 he slipped out of the trenches in the company of two other ranks to reconnoitre enemy works at Jackson Ravine. The patrol was spotted by the enemy who threw bombs at the party but all returned safely to their own lines. On the 2nd of September 1917 he proceeded to Stavros Rest Camp.

On the 30th of October 1917 he was admitted to 31 Casualty Clearing Station suffering from malaria and was moved to 28 Sanitary Hospital the following day. He returned to Base Depot on the 10th of November and rejoined his battalion in the field on the 18th of November. On the 11th of December 1917 he was admitted to 67 Field Ambulance suffering from boils and was transferred to 31 Casualty Clearing Station the following day and to 40 General Hospital on the 17th of December. On the 28th of December he returned to No. 1 Base Depot before rejoining his battalion in the field on the 17th of December.

He was promoted to Acting Major while acting as second in command of a battalion from the 1st to the 9th of January 1918.

On the 25th of March 1918 he went to No. 1 Base Depot in order to return to the UK on leave. He arrived at No. 2 Base Depot the following day. On the 18th of April 1918 he was admitted to 29 General Hospital in Salonika and was moved to an officer convalescence home on the 24th of April. On the 26th of April he was readmitted to 29 General Hospital suffering from a renal abscess and on the 13th of May he was moved to 43 General Hospital. On the 18th of May he was admitted to 42 General Hospital suffering from dysentery and was moved to an officer convalescence home on the 4th of June 1918.

On the 26th of June 1918 he was admitted to 60 General Hospital and on the 8th of July he embarked on board a ship at Salonika for leave in the UK. On the 5th of September 1918 he was admitted to 79 General Hospital suffering from malaria and was evacuated to Marseilles on the 5th of October and on to the UK on the 9th of October. On the 12th of October he was admitted to 3rd Southern General Hospital at Oxford.

On the 8th of April 1919 he attended a medical board at Connaught Hospital, Aldershot where he was marked as "fit for general service" although the board also added:- "This case not suitable for a theatre of war where malaria is persistent."

On the 14th of April 1919 he transferred to the newly formed 45th Battalion Royal Fusiliers based at Sandgate, Kent and on the 15th of May 1919 he was promoted to Acting Major. The battalion had been raised for service in Russia as part of the British North Russia Relief Force. Made up entirely of volunteers, they landed in Russia on the 5th of June 1919 and occupied the port of Archangel on the 2nd of August along with other allied forces.

Gerald De Mattos was in command of No 1 Section of the Seltso Column which was preparing the way for the allied evacuation from North Russia by means of an offensive up the Dvina River. The operation began at noon on the 10th of August with Major De Mattos’ column moving down the left bank of the river with the objective of taking Bolshevik positions near Seltso and Nijni Seltso. De Mattos was killed early in the attack when his column was still some 500 yards from their objective. After two attacks Selso fell in the early evening. The overall operation was a complete success with 3,000 prisoners being taken and many casualties inflicted which cleared the way for the safe evacuation of British forces in the area.

His parents received the following telegram dated the 15th of August 1919:-

"Deeply regret Capt. G.C. De Mattos East Lancashire Regt. died of wounds August ten. Army Council expresses sympathy."

Sources are mixed as to Gerald De Mattos’ fate, some noting that he was killed in action on the 10th of August and some reporting him as having died of wounds the following day


He is commemorated on the war memorial at Shrewsbury House Preparatory School and on the memorial at the Royal Military College Sandhurst. He is also commemorated in the Archangel Allied Cemetery Special Memorial B36 and on the Russian Memorial at Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey.
 

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