Lieutenant Richard Thomas Folliott SCOTT
A Company, 1st Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment

Date of birth: 8th December 1893
Date of death: 16th March 1915

Killed in action aged 21
Buried at Houplines Communal Cemetery Extension Plot II Row E Grave 20
Richard Thomas Folliott Scott was born at Arlesey Vicarage, Bedfordshire on the 8th of December 1893 the eldest son of the Reverend Richard Curtis Folliott Scott Rector of Hulcote, Woburn Sands and Edith Marion (nee Wilson) Scott later of Hulcote Rectory, Woburn Sands in Bedfordshire

He was educated at the Knoll School, Woburn Sands from May 1904 to April 1907 and at Forest School from May to August 1907. He went on to Lancing College where he was in News House from September 1907 to April 1911. He served as a Private in the Officer Training Corps.

On leaving school he went to work for Messrs. Jackson and Beasley at 11 Rothsay Gardens, Bedford before applying for admission to the Royal Military College Sandhurst on the 16th of October 1911. On leaving Sandhurst, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the East Yorkshire Regiment on the 17th of September 1913.

Following the outbreak of war he embarked for France with his battalion from Southampton on board the SS "Cawdor" on the 8th of September 1914; they arrived off St Nazaire at 9.20m the following evening and began disembarking at 6.30am on the 10th of September. He was promoted to Lieutenant on the 30th of October 1914.

During March 1915 the 1st Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment had been holding a section of line at Houplines for some time. On the 10th of March the Battle of Neuve Chappelle began and the battalion was under orders to fire on the German positions at every opportunity to simulate a potential attack and to tie down German forces which might otherwise be released to reinforce their comrades further down the line. On the 16th of March Richard Scott was sitting on the fire step of his trench when he was hit in the head by a bullet, killing him instantly.

His father received the following telegram dated the 18th of March 1915: -

"Deeply regret to inform you that Lieut. R.T.F. Scott East Yorks Regiment was killed in action 16th March. Lord Kitchener expresses his sympathy."

His Colonel wrote:-

"He was sitting in the trench on a pile of sand bags talking to the men, with his back to the parapet, when a chance bullet happened to find a weak place in the parapet made of sand bags and went right through his head killing him instantaneously. I cannot tell you how sorry we all are. We had all got fond of him and admired him for his unfailing cheeriness and his pluck. The men too, I know, were very fond of him and would always work well under him. He was the last of our Company Officers to remain untouched, and I hoped he would get through."

His younger brother, 2nd Lieutenant John Hastings Folliott Scott OL 5th Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Regiment, was killed in action on the 9th of April 1917.

He is commemorated on the Hulcote and Salford Village Memorial, on the Knoll School Cross at Apsley Heath and on the memorial at the Royal Military College Sandhurst.
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