Captain Patrick Eliot WELCHMAN MC DFC
466th Field Company, Royal Engineers (North Midland Division) and C Flight, 99 Squadron, Royal Air Force

Date of birth: 17th March 1895
Date of death: 29th November 1918

Died of wounds aged 23
Buried at Charmes Cemetery at Essegnay Plot I Row D Grave 3
He was born at Old College House, St Mary, Lichfield in Staffordshire on the 17th of March 1895 the son of Dr Eliot William Welchman, surgeon, and Caroline Louisa (nee Livingstone) later of 61 Primrose Mansions, Battersea Park in London.

He was educated at Lichfield Grammar School from 1903 and at the King’s School Canterbury from September 1908 to December 1911 where he served as a Private in the Officer Training Corps and won the Mathematics Prize (Division V) for the 1910/11 academic year. On leaving King’s he returned to Lichfield Grammar School to complete his education, leaving there in 1912. On leaving school he joined Lloyd’s Bank on the 27th of January 1913 and worked at their Lichfield branch.

He applied for a commission in the North Midland Field Company, Royal Engineers on the 11th of March 1913 and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the regiment on the 12th of March 1913. Following the outbreak of war he was mobilised on the 5th of August 1914 and served with the 1/2nd Field Company. He was promoted to Lieutenant on the 11th of November 1914.

His company landed in France at Le Havre on the 1st of March 1915. In April 1915 Patrick Welchman wrote to the parents of Lance Corporal Albert Morris, who had been killed by rifle fire on the 27th of April: -

"The only consolation to you, and it should be a big one, is that he died doing his country's work at the time of her greatest need."

He was promoted to temporary Captain on the 9th of June 1915.

On the 12th of October 1915 the 1/2nd North Midland Field Company received orders to move up to the front line where an attack was to take place to capture the Hohenzollern Redoubt. The Company moved forward via Vermelles and took cover in some dug outs in the old British front line. At noon on the 13th of October the supporting artillery barrage began and at 2.05pm the infantry began their attack with the North Midland engineers joining the third wave with order to block communication trenches and to wire in front of captured trenches as soon as the infantry had captured them. In the event the attacking infantry did not get as far as their own front line so heavy was the machine gun fire. With casualties mounting the engineers and infantry took cover in the British front line. During the fighting the engineers were involved in bringing up hand grenades and in acting as stretcher bearers. They were relieved at 6pm on the 14th of October having suffered casualties of two officers wounded and missing with twenty seven other ranks killed wounded and missing.

For his actions that day and through the night in bringing in the wounded Patrick Welchman was awarded the Military Cross and the citation appeared in the London Gazette of the 16th of November 1915: -

“For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty on 14th October 1915, at Hohenzollern redoubt. Throughout the night and during the morning mist he worked continuously under difficult and dangerous circumstances collecting and bringing in the wounded from in front of our trenches. This is not the first time that Captain Welchman's name has been brought to notice for similar gallantry”.

He was mentioned in Field Marshall Lord French's despatches of the 30th of November 1915.

He took command of the 1/2nd North Midland Company on the 1st of December 1915 when his Commanding Officer, Major Christopher Hatton, was wounded by shrapnel at Vielle Chappelle. Later in December the Company received orders to move to Egypt and they embarked at Marseilles on board HMS "Magnificent" on the 2nd of January 1916, setting sail at 8pm. They arrived at Alexandria on the 8th of January and pitched camp at El Shallufa Post No. 5 on the 10th of January.
While in the field he applied for a permanent commission in the King’s Own Scottish Borderers on the 12th of May 1916 and attended a medical examination, which took place on the same day, at which it was recorded that he was five feet eleven inches tall and that he weighed 148lbs. He transferred to the 2nd Battalion of his new regiment as a 2nd Lieutenant on the 2nd of July 1916 and was promoted to Lieutenant on the same day.

He then decided to join the Royal Flying Corps and trained as an Observer, undertaking a series of courses in deciphering maps, and on the examination and interpretation of aerial maps.
After training he was seconded to the Royal Flying Corps with the rank of Lieutenant on the 15th of November 1916, with seniority to rank from the 6th of September 1916 when was posted to 8 Squadron as an Observer.

On the 18th of September 1916 he and his pilot, New Zealander Lieutenant Keith Caldwell, were flying BE2d 5735 and were engaged in artillery observation when they were credited with destroying an enemy Roland CII at Grevillers-Bucquoy at 7.30pm.

He was wounded by a shell splinter on the 26th of September 1916 while flying on a photographic mission over Bapaume and was evacuated to England from Boulogne on board the Hospital Ship "St David" on the 1st of October 1916, landing at Dover the following day.

A Medical Board was convened at Caxton Hall in London on the 18th of October 1916 to report on his case: -

"He was hit when flying, as above, by a piece of shell on side of right ankle. No nerves or vessels are injured but the internal ligaments are destroyed. The fragment was recovered same day. There is a smaller wound higher up. Present state - wounds healing normally. Walks with crutches but improving."

On his recovery he was reported to be "unfit general service for two months, home service and light duty, for six weeks". On the 5th of February 1917 he was passed fit for general service by a Medical Board which sat at Adastral House and was posted to the Military School of Aeronautics at Reading in Berkshire. In mid March 1917 he was posted to the Central Flying School at Hendon and obtained his Aero Certificate (number 4464) on the 4th of April 1917 at the London and Provincial School, Hendon flying an L&P biplane. Later that month he was posted to No. 19 Training School at Hounslow and in early May he was posted to No. 35 Training School at Northolt. On the 8th of May 1917 he was promoted from Flying Officer (Observer) to Flying Officer, with seniority from the 6th of September 1916, having reverted to the rank of Lieutenant.

On the 4th of June 1917 he was flying from Northolt in a Bristol Fighter F2A when the petrol pressure failed and the machine stalled as it was turning. He crashed and was seriously injured.

A Medical Board sat at Caxton Hall on the 22nd of August 1917 which described his condition: -

"When on duty practice flying his petrol supply failed through want of pressure in defective pump when 200 feet high and his machine crashed to the ground. He sustained fracture of the nose extending into the upper maxillae and was moderately concussed. A longitudinal fracture of the lower patella, fracture of left fibula (simple), flesh wound over anterior surface right fibula. Remains in hospital."

He was not passed as fit to fly again until the 23rd of November 1917 when he reported to 7 Training Depot Squadron for light duty. He was pronounced as fir for general service on the 3rd of December 1917. He was posted firstly to 110 Squadron and, in April 1918, he was posted to 55 Squadron. He was then posted to 75 Training Squadron at Cramlington in Northumberland where he remained for six months.

He was promoted to temporary Captain on the 13th of September 1918 and arrived the same day at 99 Squadron based at Azelot where was posted as Flight Commander of C Flight to replace Captain Cregan. The following morning he took off at 9.45am to lead a flight of fourteen aircraft for a successful attack on the railway yards at Metz. On the morning of the 16th of September 1918 he led his second raid, consisting of fourteen machines, on Hargenau Aerodrome, where they scored direct hits on enemy hangers, in what was considered to be one of the Squadron’s most successful raids to date.

He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross which appeared in the London Gazette of the 20th of September 1918 and the citation read: -

“A gallant, capable and determined leader of long-distance bombing raids. Within the past month he has rendered as deputy-leader very valuable services by resolute co-operation with his leader, and the success attained was in no small degree attributable to the presence of mind and grasp of the situation which this officer displayed. Lieutenant Welchman has taken part in eighteen bombing raids, showing marked ability on all occasions.”

Due to bad weather no operations were carried out during the period from the 17th to the 24th of September. Following an unsuccessful raid on Buhl Aerodrome on the 25th there were only ten serviceable machines available for the operation the following day.

The squadron took off on the 26th of September 1918 for a raid on Thionville in support of ground operations. The raid had been planned at short notice and in the event only seven aircraft crossed the lines, led by Patrick Welchman. He was flying a DH9 registration B9347T, with 2nd Lieutenant T.H. Swann as his observer, when they encountered a formation of 20 to 30 enemy fighter aircraft. Welchman considered that the original target would be impossible to reach and signaled to the other aircraft that they would instead attack Metz Sablon. The fighting was intense with only one of 99 Squadron’s aircraft, with the observer dead in the back seat, managing to return. Patrick Welchman’s aircraft was shot down over Metz. Swann was wounded in the leg and was taken prisoner being repatriated on the 26th of November 1918.

Welchman, very severely wounded in the lungs, was also taken prisoner and was taken to Lazarette St Clement Hospital at Metz. Following the armistice he was moved to 42 Stationary Hospital at Charmes where he died on the 29th of November 1918 “as a result of the neglect of his wounds” while he was a prisoner.

He was a freemason with the Middlesex Lodge No 143.

He is commemorated on the war memorial at Lichfield (along with his father), on the memorial at Minster Pool, and on the memorial at King Edward VI School, Lichfield. He is also commemorated in the Lloyd's Bank memorial book.

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