2nd Lieutenant Wilfred LUCAS
D (Howitzer) Battery, 100th Brigade Royal Field Artillery

Date of birth: 14th March 1888
Date of death: 23rd December 1916

Killed in action aged 28
Buried at Karasouli Military Cemetery
He was born at Lewes in Sussex on the 14th of March 1888 the third son of John Clay Lucas, a lime, coal and cement merchant, and Caroline Agnes (nee de St Croix) of Castle Precincts, Lewes, Sussex.

He was educated at the Junior King’s School from January 1898 and at the King’s School Canterbury to July 1906 during which time he was a member of the Cricket XI from 1904 to 1906, the Rugby XV in 1905/06 and was in the Fives Pair in 1905 and 1906. He was known at King's by the nickname of "Chubby".

On leaving school he enlisted as a Trooper in the 1st Sussex Yeomanry in 1909 before resigning and emigrating to Australia in 1912 where he became a fruit farmer/vigneron with his brother William St Croix (OKS) and worked for Angove’s, a wine producer at Tea Tree Gully and Renmark near Adelaide in South Australia.

On the 29th of August 1914 he enlisted as Trooper 314 in B Squadron, 3rd Battalion Australian Light Horse at Morphettville near Adelaide. At a medical examination it was recorded that he was five feet eight and one half inches tall with hazel eyes and dark brown hair. He served and trained initially at Morphettville and on the 22nd of October 1914 he embarked on the SS "Port Lincoln" arriving in Egypt on the 9th of December. From the 10th of December to the 31st of January 1915 he was based at Maadi Camp in Egypt and was then posted to Heliopolis. On the 1st of March 1915 he was admitted to hospital with a case of laryngitis and was released on the 3rd of March.

He travelled to England to apply for a transfer to the Royal Artillery which was granted and he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery, Special Reserve, on the 23rd of May 1915. he was posted to C (Howitzer) Battery 101st Brigade Royal Artillery and embarked with them at Southampton on the 4th of September 1915 landing at Le Havre the following day.

He embarked at Marseilles on the 23rd of November 1915 and landed at Salonica on the 12th of December 1915.

On the 21st of July 1916 he was posted to D (Howitzer) Battery, 100th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery.
He was killed by a stray shell as he walked away from a telephone post.

His parents received the following telegram:-

"Deeply regret to inform you that 2nd Lieut. W Lucas RFA was killed in action December twenty third--December twenty fourth. The Army Council express their sympathy."

His Commanding Officer wrote:-

"His loss will be mourned by all who have come in contact with him and more especially by all ranks in this Battery. He had endeared himself to the men by his never failing cheerfulness and devotion to duty."

A brother officer wrote:-

"He was one of the best liked officers in the Division."

The Chaplain wrote:-

"He was always so cheerful and keen on his work, and always doing something for his men."

Another brother officer wrote:-

"I learnt to know him and saw how the men loved him. He was taken doing splendid work and the results of that work will go on because it has been stamped upon his men."

An appreciation of his life was printed in the Times on the 5th of January 1917 and was reproduced in the Cantuarian:-

2nd Lieut. Wilfred Lucas RFA

"I have no details of the manner in which he met his death, that he was "killed in action" is all that matters. To present members of the K.S. he can be little else than a name. You can see it inscribed on the games' shields in the gymnasium walls. But to O.K.S., whose time at school includes the years from 1900 - 1906, "Chubby" is a very living memory. He had a fascination quite of his own, for whatever he took up, he always carried through with success, and yet even when this success merged into a personal triumph, it was with a lazy good humour that he viewed the part he had played and the applause he earned. It was the same at Rugger, Cricket, or Fives---in all three games he represented his school. But we remember him best on the cricket field; his brilliant hitting at Felsted and Highgate in 1905, his wonderful fielding at "3rd man and out" throughout the seasons of '05 and '06. You will probably find that he did quite well at the Easter Term Sports. I know I have a photograph of him at home clearing the high jump, in fact the general picture in my mind's eye of Chubby at school is one that depicts him playing any and every game with equal success. But best of all, he played the game. He was so clean, so fit, so dependable, and worthy of every trust, so tolerant of smaller and meaner natures that many were raised as much by his open contempt as by his general example. So fit he always looked. I saw him last when he was at home, transferring from the Australian Light Horse, to take a commission in the R.F.A. In Australia when war broke out, he saw service as a trooper in Egypt, came on later to England, went later to France and from there to Salonica, where, except for a letter some months back, I have had no more news of him until this morning. Now it is "killed in action" and Chubby, living magnificently, has gone across."

G.F.H.

He is commemorated on the Lewes war memorial, the Tea Tree Gully and the Morphetvale memorials in South Australia
 

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