Captain Eric Lockhart Hume HENDERSON
Z Company, 1st Battalion Munster Fusiliers

Date of birth: 31st July 1881
Date of death: 20th May 1915

Died of wounds aged 33
Buried at Alexandria (Chatby) Military and War Memorial Grave Q443
He was born in South Dublin on the 31st of July 1881 the elder son of Surgeon Major William George Hume Henderson, Indian Medical Service, Jane Sydney Louisa (nee Gordon) of 10 Redcliffe Square, London SW10.

He was educated at Loretto School from 1891 to 1895 and at the King's School Canterbury from January 1895 to December 1898 where he was a member of the Rugby XV in 1898.

He went on to the Royal Military College Sandhurst in 1900 from where he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Munster Fusiliers on the 8th of Jaunary 1901.

He served in the South African War where he took part in operations in the Transvaal from May to July 1901 and in the Cape Colony from July 1901 to the 31st of May 1902. He was awarded the Queen's Medal with one clasp. He was promoted to Lieutenant on the 13th of March 1905 and to Captain and Adjutant of the 1st Battalion on the 23rd of July 1913.

He was married at St Mary Abbot's Church, Kensington to Mabel Alice (nee Paske) on the 5th of January 1914.

He was serving at Rangoon in Burma on the outbreak of war where the battalion had been stationed since 1912. In December 1914 he sailed from Bombay with his battalion, landing at Avonmouth on the 10th of January 1915. They then moved to Coventry until the 16th of March when the battalion re-embarked at Avonmouth and proceeded via Malta to Alexandria and after a short time to Mudros. On the morning of the 25th of April 1915 the allies landed on a number of beaches along the Gallipoli Peninsular. One of these, to the south west, was designated 'V' Beach and was to be assaulted by running the S.S. River Clyde aground, despatching troops from an exit in its side and down a series of lighters forming a ramp onto the beach. The plan called for a total of 2,800 men to be put ashore.

The lead battalion for the assault was the 1st Munster Fusiliers and in the van of the battalion were X Company under Captain Geddes and Z Company under Captain Henderson.

The beach was dominated by high ground and gave a perfect field of fire for the estimated 500 defenders with their 2 pom poms and 6 machine guns; protected by belts of wire. The boat ran aground at 6.30am, on a cloudless and windless morning, about 80 yards off the beach and the lighters swung across the front of the boat at right angles.

Z Company exited the ship from the starboard side, with the objective of Sed-El-Baer Fort and village, coming under heavy fire and losing men both to the fire and to drowning as they were laden down by heavy equipment which meant certain death for those who fell over the sides of the lighters.

Eric Henderson, who had got ashore first, had been badly wounded with a shattered arm soon after landing but fought on but was soon wounded again, this time in the side. Command passed to Captain R. Lane, who described his experiences as follows:-

"Henderson led his company ('Z') ordering me to follow at the end of the first platoon. One by one they popped out, and then my turn. All the way down the side of the ship bullets crashed against the side. On reaching the first barge I found some of the men had collected and were firing. I mistrusted the second barge and the track to the shore so I led them over the side; the water came nearly up to our shoulders. However, none of us were hit and we gained the bank. There I found Henderson badly hit, and heaps of wounded. Any man who put his head up for an instant was shot dead. Then came Lee with his platoons and formed up on the left of mine. The bank we were under had a small nulla running up towards the barbed wire. I worked my way up under the right-hand wall and then tried to cross it, running as fast as I could; a sniper at the top let fly at me, the bullet went through my right ankle and carried on sideways, smashing my left leg to bits. One of my platoon then came out very pluckily and pulled me into safety. I had only been on the beach five minutes and never saw a Turk."

The Munsters lost 560 men and 15 officers in just 15 minutes as they struggled to get ashore. Captain Henderson was the first officer ashore with his company on the left flank of the beach and was badly wounded when his arm was shattered but fought on receiving an additional wound in the side. He was evacuated to a hospital ship and later to the Deaconess Hospital, Alexandria where he succumbed to his injuries.

For his conduct on V Beach he was mentioned in despatches.

The Cantuarian wrote:-

"He was a quiet and rather retiring boy, but everyone liked him, and when a year or two ago , he turned up to visit his old school, those who had known him realized that he had developed, as they had hoped and expected, into a fine man and a good officer."

He is commemorated on the war memorial at Loretto School.

His older brother, Lieutenant Raymond Montgomerie Hume Henderson (OKS), of the 2nd Battalion Connaught Rangers was killed in action on the 20th of September 1914.

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