Lieutenant Francis Harold LANGHORNE
B Company, 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles (British Columbia Regiment)

Date of birth: 30th November 1892
Date of death: 29th September 1918

Killed in action aged 25
Buried at Bourlon Wood Cemetery Plot I Row E Grave 4
He was born at Aurangabad, Deccan in India on the 30th of November 1892 the elder son of Brigadier General Henry Stephen Langhorne, Royal Artillery, and Amy Helen Frances (nee Hadow) of 26 Vineyard Hill Road, Wimbledon. He was christened at Aurangabad on the 28th of January 1893.

He was educated at the Junior King's School from May 1901 to July 1902. He went on to Bedford Grammar School where he was a member of the Officer Training Corps. On completing his education he served for two years with the Bedford Territorial Engineers and worked as a farmer.

On the 31st of May 1912 he sailed from Liverpool on board the SS “Empress of Ireland”, landing at Quebec. He finished his journey at Slocan Junction, British Columbia where he worked as an assayer of metals and lived at Silverton.

He enlisted as Private 23464 in the 12th Battalion Canadian Infantry at Valcartier, British Columbia on the 18th of September 1914. At a medical examination, which took place at Valcartier on the 5th of September, it was recorded that he was five feet nine and three quarter inches tall with a fair complexion, blue eyes and brown hair and that he had scars on his forehead and shin.

He sailed for England with his battalion on the 3rd of October 1914 and was transferred to the Canadian Corps Cyclist Company at Bulford on the 16th of January 1915. He was promoted to Lance Corporal on the 28th of January 1915. On the 11th of March 1915 he was admitted to 1 Canadian Field Ambulance suffering from diarrhea and was firstly passed onto 9 Casualty Clearing Station before being transferred to 9 Stationary Hospital at Le Havre later the same day suffering from inflammation of the intestines. He was discharged from hospital on the 30th of March 1915. He was promoted to Corporal on the 10th of April 1915. On the 24th of August 1915 he was reprimanded for neglect of duty and on the 18th of October 1915 he was severely reprimanded for the same offence. He was reprimanded for neglect of duty once again on the 15th of November 1915 and, on the 23rd of November 1915, he was severely reprimanded for disobeying an order. He was attached to the 3rd Canadian Division on the 23rd of March 1916 and rejoined his unit on the 31st of March 1916. He was granted leave from the 9th to the 18th of April 1916. He was attached to the Assistant Provost Marshall from the 18th to the 21st of April 1916 and was attached to them once again on the 12th of June 1916, rejoining his unit on the 31st of July 1916. On the 11th of September 1916 he was appointed to the command of a prisoner of war cage but the appointment ceased on the 17th of September 1916 when he was admitted to a Casualty Clearing Station suffering from influenza. The following day he was transferred to 23 General Hospital at Etaples and was discharged to No. 6 Convalescent Hospital at Etaples on the 28th of September. He was discharged from there to the Canadian Base Depot on the 30th of September 1916. He left to rejoin his unit on the 9th of December 1916 and joined them in the field three days later. He was attached once again to the Assistant Provost Marshall on the 22nd of March 1917 and rejoined his unit on the 20th of June 1917. On the 21st of August 1917 he was posted to the Divisional ammunition dump at Dieval and rejoined his unit on the 22nd of September 1917. He went on ten days leave from the 24th of September 1917. He was promoted to Lance Sergeant on the 5th of October 1917 and to Sergeant on the 11th of November 1917.

On the 5th of February 1918 he returned to England for officer training and arrived at the general Depot at Shorncliffe on the 8th of February. He was posted to the Reserve Cyclist Battalion at Shorncliffe on the 10th of April 1918 and was posted for training to the Canadian School of Musketry at Mytchett Camp near Aldershot. He joined the 9th Officers Training Class at Bexhill on the 11th of May 1918.

He was commissioned as a temporary Lieutenant in the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion Canadian Infantry on the 6th of August 1918 and was posted to the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles on the 1st of September 1918, and left for France the following day where he joined his battalion in the field to the south Vis-en-Artois on the 8th of September. He was attached to B Company.

On the 28th of September 1918 the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles was in Divisional Reserve at Marquion to the west of the village of Bourlon. At 2am on the 29th of September orders were received for their commanding officer to report to Brigade Headquarters in the village, where he received instructions for an attack. By 5.15am the battalion was on the march and had halted to unload their Lewis guns when they came under enemy shell fire and suffered a number of casualties. During the halt the commanding officer took the company commanders to a shell hole and explained the plan of attack to them. The battalion then moved to their assembly positions and was across the Cambrai-Arras Road by 6am. By this time a heavy mist had come down and the battalion had suffered 40 casualties during their move. The battalion deployed for the attack with C Company on the left, D Company on the right with B Company in support and A Company in reserve in Marcoing Trench. At 8am the battalion moved to the attack but the covering barrage was some 1,400 yards ahead of them and very thin, giving them little or no protection. Very shortly afterwards an enemy machine gun opened fire on the men from trenches and strong points in shell holes at the same time as they arrived at three belts of thick barbed wire. The wire was cut using wire cutters and the men pushed on having suffered heavy casualties among the front companies. Meanwhile C Company had destroyed a number of machine gun posts capturing five machine guns and brought fire to bear on a group of retreating enemy soldiers. A Company, waiting in reserve, was ordered forward at 9.30am and established a new line under heavy fire. By midday, with increasing enemy resistance, the attack had ground to a halt and at 7pm orders were received to the effect that the attack would begin again the following day.

During this action the battalion captured one enemy officer and thirty seven other ranks as well as forty one machine guns, a field gun, a lorry, a wagon, three trench mortars and an anti tank rifle. Casualties for the attack were six officers killed with nine wounded and forty five other ranks killed with two hundred and twenty one wounded. Francis Langhorne was among the dead.

He is commemorated on the Cenotaph at Nelson in British Columbia and on the war memorial at Silverton. He is also commemorated at Wimbledon parish church.
Junior King's School

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