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2nd Lieutenant Assheton Biddulph CADELL
10th (Service) Battalion Devonshire Regiment attached to D Company, 8th (Service) Battalion Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) Date of birth: 18th March 1894 Date of death: 19th February 1916 Killed in action aged 21 Buried at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery Plot II Row A Grave 36
Assheton Biddulph Cadell was born at Clare House, Tiverton in North Devon on the 18th of March 1894 the only child of Dr Nevil Pottow Cadell MD and Gertrude Louisa (nee Biddulph) Cadell of “Foxlease”, Camberley in Surrey. He was educated at the Reverend J.H. Wilkinson’s School at Waynflete, Woodcote, near Pangbourne in Oxfordshire and at Lancing College where he was in Heads House from September 1908 to April 1912. He was a Private in the Officer Training Corps from September 1908 to April 1912 and won his Sports Colours in 1912. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 11th (Reserve) Battalion Devonshire Regiment on the 17th of March 1915 and served for a time with the Army Service Corps at Wareham. In October 1915 he was attached to the Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment). He landed in France on the 6th of October 1915 and joined the 8th Battalion in the field at Reninghelst where it was rebuilding after the disaster at Loos. On the afternoon of the 19th of February 1916 the battalion was in the Belgian Chateau dugouts having taken them over on the 16th and were due to move into trenches at Sanctuary Wood in the Ypres salient at 5pm. At about 3pm a shell, fired from a long range naval gun, fell in the neighbourhood of B Company’s Headquarters. This was followed shortly by another which scored a direct hit on the dugout, badly wounding two officers, one fatally. As D Company’s dugout was close by, their company commander came out at once and tried to render what assistance he could. He was only six yards from the dugout when another shell landed in the entrance of the dugout, severely wounding its three occupants. They were 2nd Lieutenant Gareth Marsh Stanton, Lieutenant William Lewis Wigan and 2nd Lieutenant Cadell who according to the battalion history was a “bright cheery boy”. He was evacuated and died at 10 Casualty Clearing Station three hours after being wounded. His parents received the following telegram from Rouen dated the 20th of February 1916:- "Deeply regret to inform you that 2/Lieut. A E Cadell Royal West Kent Regt. died of wounds 19th Feb. Lord Kitchener expresses his sympathy." The officers wounded with him died the next day. The Officer Commanding the 8th Battalion wrote:- "It has been a great blow to me, and the battalion has lost a good officer." The Battalion Adjutant wrote:- "I am very sorry to say that Cadell was wounded and died on his way to hospital. An H.E. shell burst in his dug-out while we were in support. We all miss him very much, as he was a cheery person and a good officer." The Reverend G.W.B. Poole, Chaplain to the 8th Battalion wrote:- "He will be much missed by us all, by his own men especially. I saw a good deal of your son and the greatest respect and admiration for him. He was one of our communicants, and was always bright and cheerful whatever the circumstances." From Headquarters, Army Service Corps, Wareham:- “I have heard with deep regret the news that your son has died from wounds received. He was attached to me from the 11th Devons for some time before he went out. He was a most promising young officer, keen, zealous, and competent in his work. He endeared himself to us all, and I tryst you will accept the sincere sympathy of myself and my brother officers in the loss you have sustained. I attach a copy of my Order, recording his death; it was the desire of all ranks that we should express our regret formally."

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