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Captain Colin Herbert SCOTT-MONCRIEFF (130221)
3rd City of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), Royal Tank Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps Date of birth: 8th November 1908 Date of death: 22nd November 1941 Died of wounds aged 33 Buried at Knightsbridge War Cemetery Plot 12 Row H Grave 25
Colin Herbert Scott-Moncrieff was born at Auckland in New Zealand on the 8th of November 1908 the eldest son of the Reverend Colin William Scott-Moncrieff MA, Rector of Whitchurch in Middlesex, and Constance Elizabeth Hanna (nee Lunn) Scott-Moncrieff of 80 St Cross Road, Winchester in Wiltshire. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy from 1917 to 1919 and at Lancing College where he was in Sandersons House from September 1922 to July 1925. On leaving school he worked in shipping offices for several years in Glasgow and Singapore before enlisting in the Scots Guards. He transferred to the Royal Tank Regiment where he rose to the rank of Acting Warrant Officer Class III before being commissioned as a Lieutenant in the regiment on the 13th of April 1940. He was married at Nottingham on the 14th of November 1940 to Catherine (nee Lambert) of Ainwick, later of The Barn, Hale Farm, Rugwick in Sussex. They had a daughter, Christina. On the 15th of August 1941 the 3rd City of London Yeomanry sailed from Avonmouth for the Middle East. They sailed via Freetown, Capetown and Aden landing in the Middle East in early October. On the 19th of November 1941 the regiment were heavily engaged with enemy tanks at Bir El Gubi, as part of Operation Crusader, where a number of their tanks were damaged and some were lost. They destroyed five enemy tanks and captured 47 prisoners during the action. The following day they skirmished with enemy tanks and came under sporadic artillery fire but no decisive action was encountered. On the 21st of November they were again in action attacking enemy tanks on the Sidi Rezegh Ridge. During this attack, which was in the late afternoon, the regiment destroyed seven enemy tanks for the loss of one tank with six damaged. At 7.25am on the morning of the 22nd of November 1941 they received reports of fifty enemy tanks moving nearby in a southerly direction. The enemy were engaged and the battle lasted until about noon. They suffered one damaged tank but could not confirm any damage to any enemy tanks. At 2pm a force of forty German tanks were seen moving from the Sidi Rezegh Ridge. The Sharpshooters were on the right flank and engaged the enemy at a range of 1,000 yards, in a battle which lasted until dusk. Only five of the regiment’s tanks emerged from the fight in a battle worthy condition. The five survivors were then ordered to link up with other remnants of 22nd Brigade and at 8.40pm they moved off, in company with three tanks from another regiment, to the rendezvous point. When they arrived, two tanks were missing, those of Colin Scott-Moncrieff and Captain Stanley Hatton Reddish. Neither the tanks nor their crews were seen again.

Sandersons House